Clark Michigan/perkins 6.354 - no start

[Fordcummins83]

I have a Clark 45c that died while I was running it, bled the air and it fired back up and did the same thing every 10 minutes or so, I changed the fuel filters and hasn't made a difference, I know I'm sucking air somewhere, so I got a hose from a fuel can and hooked it straight to the pump to eliminate filters, now it won't start at all, my question is, will this cav pump pull a suction at all or does it have to be pushed into there? We tried to start it on starting fluid and it just spins over faster but doesn't even start startin fluid anymore.. This thing has always been a bottle baby, and hasn't been wanting to start without starting fluid when it's cold, 5-40*.. Since its not starting on starting fluid I'm starting to think, my pump went south? The kill switch is all the way down..

[DT86]

The CAV pumps I've seen require a lift pump. I've replaced two of them but never a CAV pump itself. If the lift pump is shot the primer lever usually feels soft, like it isn't moving fuel when you pump it manually.


Something people seem to overlook is the possibility of a fuel line being stopped up before the filter. You can remove the fuel line coming into the filter to see if fuel is flowing freely. If not try compressed air to blow back into the tank. A rubber hose taped to a shop vac can remove the sludge from the tank.

[Fordcummins83]

It has a new lift pump, it pumps and then it goes soft, spin the engine a little and it goes hard again, it pumps fuel trough all filters but it just doesn't squirt out of the bleeders on the pump like it used to and it keeps blowing air, but the no start on starting fluid is what gets me..

[Bob Rooks]

Sounds like you have a bad case of diesel bugs. Vacuuming out the tank only gets the dead ones. You have to throughly flush and clean the tank and treat new fresh fuel with a biocide several times. The sludge you see is dead bugs.

[Fordcummins83]

Sounds like you have a bad case of diesel bugs. Vacuuming out the tank only gets the dead ones. You have to throughly flush and clean the tank and treat new fresh fuel with a biocide several times. The sludge you see is dead bugs.

There's no sludge, I'm running new fuel straight from a gascan and it still doesn't do anything, and it won't even start on starting fluid

[D7E]

Does it have a murphy switch , I know we've had to bin them on many 6354's in combines . Check the gauze screen in the lift pump for crap too . When we ran 4 of these in combines we always kept a spare injector pump under the bench it can happen and wreckers sell "LOTS" of them .

[Bob Rooks]

Some people have installed electric fuel pumps (the ones made for diesels) as a "priming" pump for the lift pump.
As an aside, are you getting any puffs of smoke from the exhaust? If so, what color?
Of course as you know, starting fluid is probably the worst way to start a diesel engine. Hot air works best. Glow plugs, hair dryer, bonfire, anything. Also, a good block heater will work wonders.

[Fordcummins83]

Does it have a murphy switch , I know we've had to bin them on many 6354's in combines . Check the gauze screen in the lift pump for crap too . When we ran 4 of these in combines we always kept a spare injector pump under the bench it can happen and wreckers sell "LOTS" of them .

No there's no Murphy switch, and we had just installed a new lift pump,
And I know starting fluid is not the best way, but this thing has always been a bottle baby and always needs a little sniff on colder days, I just installed a block heater and that helped it out a little but still anything below freezing it needs a little sniff.. I finally used the starting fluid to see what it would do then but it spins over faster like it wants to start but still won't fire off, but as it starts to spin faster I get a little white smoke.. But since it has always needed some starting fluid I was thinking maybe the timing was off, but if the pump was bad would it quit completely and not start on starting fluid??

[D7E]

starting fluid is fine as long as you dont over do it ,

[Fordcummins83]

But with my pump out, shouldn't starting fluid still start it for a second or two?