Lister D needle valve & non starter

I would look at the float valve. It sounds like it is passing and flooding the engine to the point where it hydraulics at TDC.

Thanks John, I`ll give it a coat of looking at. By the way its new petrol. Regards Pete

"New" petrol is that stuff you pay for at a garage. "Old" petrol is that stuff that's been sitting around for years in a can or petrol tank. Seriously, I'm not sure of the chemistry, but petrol deteriorates with time to the extent where an engine won't run on it. I think the more volatile factions evaporate leaving stuff that doesn't hence poor combustion. A general rule is to be suspicious of any petrol over 12 months old.
John

OOPS Misread your post and thought you asked What is new petrol.
Goes away muttering spectacles, spectacles, spectacles.
John

I'm rather surprised to find that petrol nearly three years old worked just fine when tipped into our modern Hondalike Chinese genny, ran all day without difficulty & repeated the performance the next day. It was in a steel gerrycan tucked away at the back of the shed.
It might not have been so cheerful in a new car, but I don't know. Certainly, a motorcycle racing acquaintance refuses to race on fuel more than a week old, but that's a bit special, innit?
Regards,
Kim Siddorn May the fourth be with you.

It needs to be kept (in an ideal world) in one of those metal jerry cans with a lid that provides a hermetic seal - that way the aromatic compounds don't go AWOL!
My old 1100 Guzzi Sport pinks like a bugger if I use the fuel in the tank that has 'overwintered' (summer biker me!) so I now drain it all and add fresh. This year the idle jets on the Dellortos became plugged with goo over winter so they needed a clean. Next winter I'm going to drop the float chamber down so they dry out properly and see how that works.
The old fuel will work fine in a low compression engine, like a lawnmower. So that's what I use it for.
I had an old 750 Guzzi once that really needed the (unavailable) 5* fuel. I used a blend of 100LL AVGAS and 4* in that. 100LL has a much longer shelf-life and is the best fuel for your racing friend I would say.
Julian.

I checked the float and the float valve today and both are OK. Regards Pete

Being in the bike trade for years, I used to deliberately run the carbs out of fuel by simply turning the tap off. Otherwise, the fuel evaporates & the additives react with the non-ferrous components in the float chamber. Getting a carb bank off a jap four is not for the impatient or easily irritated.
Funny we should be talking about this, I'm after a Suzuki GS750 (mid eighties, so it might actually fit me!) which is propping up the wall in my mate's shop. I bet that is thoroughly crudded ..............
regards,
Kim Siddorn
Only a Biker knows why a dog sticks his head out of a car window.

Kim Siddorn wrote (snipped): Kim, surely this does not empty the carby? Merely lowers the fuel level a little, to the weak-cut-off point. To drain the carby, you have to drain the carby.
JW² ===

Well, although it might not actually empty the carb completely, it drops the residual fuel level to below the jets so they cannot get bunged up in the days to come as they moulder in the shop! Proof of pudding etc, it used to work for me & I eventually persuaded the other mechanics to do the same thing.
One should exercise care when doing this on petroil two strokes.
Regards,
Kim Siddorn
Only a Biker knows why a dog sticks his head out of a car window.