Hello all,

Once again I need help and while it isn't a Mercedes, I think the concept is similar. Please excuse me for taking this off topic.

I have a Ford tractor, it has a three cylinder diesel and I believe it is runing on only two cylinders.

A little back ground, this tractor was born in 1986. I purchased it about ten years ago when it had 70 hours on it, it now has 135 hours. For a bunch of reasons the tractor hasn't been used for many years.

Last spring I graded my brothers lot and everything was going fine until about half way through the job it started to loose power. I changed the fuel filter and it seemed to once again spring to life. About two or three hours later we were back to square one, no power and no RPM's.

I changed the fuel filter again and it had no effect. Scratching my head I though ok the air filter must be plugged. I removed the air filter just to verfiy my thoughts and low and behold it ran fine, this of course was short lived.

It seems that the problem hasn't changed but just for whatever reason it has come and gone. Where we are now is that the tractor is running like crap, no power, no RPM's.

I hate to admit it but I know little about diesels. So here is what I've done to narrow down the problem. I changed the fuel filter three times. I checked the fuel flow from the tank to the pump and it seems fine. I removed the air filters and while there was a change at one point, it was just a coincidence I believe.

The tractor runs but has now power and will not tach up. I touched the exhust manifold and it seems that one cylinder had no heat to it so I walked around to the other side of the tractor to look into this.

I un-screwed the banjo nut for that injector and not much of anything happened. There was a little fuel coming out but nothing like I thought. I then un-screwed the nut on one of the other injectors and the engine died almost as soon as I cracked it open.

At this point I figured that the problem lies in the injection pump so I did what any normal person would do, grab a hammer. Anytime there is a device that has lots of lines coming in and going out, a smack of the hammer is sure to evoke a change. Low and behold a tap on the pump caused the RPM to build. I was very careful to tap the pump on the upper body, Lucas was written on the lower half and at this point I had no desire to piss off the prince of darkness.

I guess I need some questions answered. Should the fuel be squirting out of that line when I crack it open. Does it make sense that when I open the other injector the engine dies. I suppose it makes sense that it can't run on just one cylinder. I just don't under stand why the problem has come and go. It seems to me if the pump has failed that should be the the end of it but it has bounced back. Although it hasn't changed a bit in the last two days since I started working on it.

Any thoughts on my 12k pound garden tractor?

Thank you,

Ron

on a mercedes there is a pipe you install and you do a drip test..

what i would do if I were you is that I would clean the injectors...before i condemn the IP....

take them out and soak them in a good part cleaner....then you could build a
pop tester using an old grease pump...

the manufacturer circled the problem for ya.. it should be contained in a blue oval..

But does it make sense that there is not a large volume of fuel blowing out of the pump when I un-screw that line? The engine will loose some RPM's when I undo that line but it doesn't die. If I undo the other lines it will die as soon as I crack the nut.

There should be the same volume of fuel out of each injection line. Definitely sounds like that cylinder is not hitting 100%. Some other thoughts:

Have you taken off the fuel line and blown it out? Maybe a piece of dirt got in the line. Wouldn't hurt to have the injectors cleaned and checked. Maybe a partially plugged injector.

Is there a way to unscrew the nipple in the top of the pump like older Mercedes? Again, maybe dirt.

Have you adjusted the valves lately? This tractor probably does not have hydraulic valve lifters, and if one valve gets tight, it will cause that cylinder to lose power and/or miss.

I seriously doubt it is the pump, with only 135 hours. It is possible the pump is getting gummed up. Wouldn't hurt to run some diesel fuel conditioner through the engine to help relieve any gumming that is occurring.

Had the same problem on a new holland at work. Would run great for about 15 minutes then would stop until you let it sit for a while. Turns out there was a bunch of dirt in the tank; pulled the pickup out and flushed the tank, screwed a new filter on and it ran like it was new. I would check that.

ok, switch the injector... take the one that is not firing and switch it with the one on the end....and see if it does not fire....

then clean your injectors, clean the fuel tank, change fuel filters, then use a feeler guage and loosen the valve springs on that cylinder... measure the other valves at the cam shaft lobe and make sure the offending cylinders valves are set similar....as they operate over time the bolt tightens on the spring so you will be loosening..(at least on the benz)

go to diesel giants page and buy gome lubromolly, and get a plastic juice container and put both the inlet and outlet into the juice container and let it run on lubromolly which will clean out the IP and the injectors...

There is a number of possible things that could be wrong, no compression in that cylider, valves set incorrectly, bad injector, dirty injector, dirty fuel line, clogged IP.... You did say this thing sit for a while... so the fuel in the ip could have jelled and turned to mush.... there could be fungus growing in the tank...

then if all this fails call a professional....

I do hope you put it back in, before you drove the tractor in the dirt
them diesels really don't like dirt in the cyllinders...
John

I've got a 3 cyl diesel Ford tractor, and the innards of the blue oval have had no ill effect.
I like the above idea of swapping a couple of the injectors, to see if symptom goes with injector or stays with cylinder.
The trashy fuel tank sounds like the most likely, and fits your symptoms. Especially since it sat for some time.

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John