Farmtrac Diesel Engine Missing (665-DTC)

   / Farmtrac Diesel Engine Missing (665-DTC) #1  

weathda

Silver Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Messages
235
Location
Alabama
Tractor
Farmtrac 665DTC, Kubota L2550, John Deere 310SE, Dresser 175C
History:
Bought this tractor with 362 hours. Replaced fuel filters. Tractor now has 422 hours on it. Has run strong. Had one fuel related issue at about 400 hours with a bad connection on the selenoid's 12V clip. The tractor would go dead on me. During the troubleshooting process I drained the tank and replaced the fuel filters AGAIN.

After 20 or so good running hours later, the engine has started missing. Between 1100 and 1500 RPMs, the engine sometimes flutters and will puff white smoke when doing so. It drops a couple of hundred RPM off an on. It doesn't do this all of the time and doesn't seem related to load. It will do it when loaded or when stationary and pressing the accelarator pedal. In trying to troubleshoot this I thought it was trash in the fuel because "the miss" started when I was going up slight hill. I flushed the tank and found some rust flakes. Took the valve off on the bottom of the tank and put a pickup tube on it. I blew the fuel line out to the pre-filter and it was all clear. Didn't see any trash in the valve body. The pre filter looks like new. Put it all back to together and it's still missing.

About 30 hours ago, the injector pump started making a terrible rattling noise. It has the Mico Bosch Rotary Pump. This engine is loud as is and this noise in the pump is overwhelming. Sounds like the pump is about to fly apart, but has been running fine so I put my ear protection on and let 'er rip. Just figured it's the low sulfur fuel and the VE pump cam hitting the piston or the the roller rings. The last couple of fill-ups I've been putting Stanadyne in the tank to help with lube, but the noise hasn't subsided.

My question is could this be the pump or injectors? I'm about ready to pull the pump and injectors have it checked if nothing else to have the noise addressed. Anybody have any experiences with this or have a noisy VE pump?
 
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   / Farmtrac Diesel Engine Missing (665-DTC)
  • Thread Starter
#2  
I have a few pics.

Trash in tank before flush.

trash-1024.jpg

Screening the flushed fuel. We flushed it about 4 times with a gallon of fuel each flush. I used a wire to loosen up the sediment. By the end we had little to no trash in the tank.

screened-1024.jpg

The valve body was soft enough to screw a steel pipe in it. Worked perfectly for a pickup tube.

threading-1024.jpg

pickup-1024.jpg

The Motley Crue with the sickly one.

surgery-1024.jpg

Don't know what left to do other than take the pump and injectors in for a testing. :confused3:
 
   / Farmtrac Diesel Engine Missing (665-DTC) #3  
I had nothing but grief from my FarmTrac with similar problems. It would run great for about 20 minutes, then loss of power. I cleaned out the tank, replaced the filter multiple times and it would be fine for a few hours, then go out again. When I traded it in for my Kioti, the dealer ( a former FarmTrac seller) said they had had problems with the injectors to the point that the company sent out replacements for what they had on the lot. Don't know if that's true, but the only thing that fixed mine was to replace it with an Orange Tractor.
 
   / Farmtrac Diesel Engine Missing (665-DTC)
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Thanks for feedback. After we cleaned the system Saturday, I started up in the pasture with it and it started missing. Determined to run it till it quit I started pushing on a brushpile and then on to the next one and the next. Seem to run good in 10-15 minutes increments then it'd start missing for a few minutes. Ran good enough to get my jobs done, but it would start missing right as I was in a precarious position (edge of ditch, pointed up hill, etc)...little unnerving. I picked up the tractor cheap, so I have a little room to throw some bucks at it. We'll see what the pump shop says.
 
   / Farmtrac Diesel Engine Missing (665-DTC) #5  
maybe this has nothing to do with your tractor but,I had a dtc445 some what simular problems and mine was blowing head gasgets about every 2501 hours.Found out the injector pump timing was a little off.It adjusts like a distributer on a gas engine or I should say that mine did.It ran alot better after it was in time.But after alot of other problems I too replaced it with orange
 
   / Farmtrac Diesel Engine Missing (665-DTC) #6  
I need to correct the hrs I ment every 250hrs
 
   / Farmtrac Diesel Engine Missing (665-DTC)
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Just got the pump and injectors off this week. Took it into City Diesel in Decatur on Friday. We'll see what they say about the noise.

Have found several Mahindra threads on spitting and sputtering tractors. Most all seem to be timing related. If I'm not mistaken these tractors also have the Mico Bosch injection systems that were made and timed in India. I wouldn't be surprised if mine turns out to be missing because the bolts holding the pump on where slightly loose. Could have caused the pump to move slightly??

Echoman, the timing does seem to be adjusted like you mentioned using the kidney slots in the FIP gear. Did you use the special gauge (Mico Part No. 9689035033) to measure the plunger setting? How did you go about getting it right?
 
   / Farmtrac Diesel Engine Missing (665-DTC) #8  
i would guess that trash was your problem.city diesel, is that the shop at 24 and the beltline.if so i have used them before with good results.i mostly use muscle shoals diesel.
 
   / Farmtrac Diesel Engine Missing (665-DTC)
  • Thread Starter
#9  
That's the place - 24 and the Beltline. Yeah, they seem to be a reputable shop around here. We've had some injectors rebuilt there before.

It's seems we got to the bottom of the problem. Short story - timing and fuel filter.

Long Story - City diesel took the pump apart and checked all the internals and said it looked like new. They ran it up on their test bench and they said it worked great and they saw no problems with the pump. Same story with the injectors - no issues. They also said they didn't hear any unusual noises other than what a rotary pump typically makes. This was bitter sweet news. Good that nothing was wrong with it, but we didn't know where to go from here. We reinstalled the pump and got it started and still missing. Strange thing, the noise was gone. We left the front engine cover off where the pump mounts so we could experiment with different timing positions (moving it within the kidney slots). We found the sweet spot on the timing but it was still missing at anything above idle.

The next step was to check compression on all the cylinders for a blown head gasket, but we thought we'd try one more thing.

Right after I bought the tractor I bought a set of Wix filters. I replaced those Wix filters because I had a fuel related issue that turned out to be a bad connection on the shut-off solenoid. I replaced the filters with an AGCO cross part number. The pre-filter was a Mico Bosch and the secondary was an AGCO filter. We had one of the old Wix filters laying around in the box and decided to swap out the filters. Replaced the secondary AGCO filter - no change. Next, swapped it out for the Mico Bosch filter. Upon starting we knew that was that was the culprit. Tractor ran like a new one. Started better, ran better and no miss. We haven't cut it open yet, but it really doesn't look dirty. Perhaps it's too restrictive? It's a bigger filter than the wix and Mico filters that come on the tractor. I think I'll stick to the Wix filters or the OEM from here on out.

We removed the tank and thoroughly cleaned it. We had to remove it to tighten up a bolt that connects the transmission and engine. I'll be cutting with it next weekend and that will be the true test, but it's really running good now.
 
   / Farmtrac Diesel Engine Missing (665-DTC) #10  
be sure and blow the fuel line out between the filter and tank.
 
 
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