Ford 3000 Diesel-Hard to Start

[Griffin]

I bought my old 1972 Ford 3000 last year. It blows a little smoke but runs strong. Lately it has become a real bear to start. A lot of smoke coming out of the tail pipe when it turns over, but it doesn't want to fire up. Sometimes it will go ahead and crank up, but most of the time it gets very close and acts like it wants to start, but it won't. Any ideas!!

Thanks for your help.

TG

 

[DieselMonk]

Hi there!

You don't give out much information about your situation, but maybe you have a "getting weak" battery and worn injectors. Try jump staring the tractor to see if the engine will turn over faster then and start better. You didn't say how much hours have on that old thing, but I think it must be quite a bit. So the injectors are probably worn, and dripping more or less the Diesel fuel into the combustion chamber, which is not that easy to ignite that way and thus causing the engine to start hard. I had an old MF165 and it had the same symptoms.

Hope that gives you a little idea.

Max

 

[rambler]

Weak battery.

Worn injectors.

Cold weather?

Broken thermostart (preheater).

Combination of above.

--->Paul

 

[ccsial]

I assume you have glow plugs. You might want to check those too. When my 1910 started getting hard to start I pulled the injectors and my dealer tested them for free. Two were bad. New injectors did the trick. That was around 1100 hours.

 

[Egon]

Compression??

Egon

 

[Griffin]

I'm sure this thing has 3000+ hours on it.

The battery was replaced just a few months ago. It seemed to drain down for some reason so I have to use my truck to help jump start it. After 5 - 10 tries it will finally start. The constant turning over doesn't help the battery life, but I think I have something draining my battery.

I just put a new starter on two weeks ago.

I live in south Texas so glow plugs are not needed. It's the end of December and the temp today is in the 70's.

I think the injectors sound like a likely culprit. I'll take them out and have them tested as one of the posters suggested.

Thanks for the suggestions. This is my first tractor and of course I had to buy an old fixer upper.

 

[Griffin]

Thanks for all the great advice. It sounds like the injectors may be the problem. Is this something I can check myself? How do you remove the injectors? Is this a one piece unit or are they separate? Are they connected to the injector pump? How much money could I expect to pay to repair or replace?
/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
Thanks again,
TG

 

[Tazz]

Hi TGriffin, I use to have a 3000 that had the same starting problem. A shot of diesel starter spray helped but they say it's not good for the engine in the long run. My problem was low compression..Lots of blue smoke when cranking can mean the injectors are working OK, it's just not firing off. There are no glow plugs in the 3000, only an induction pre heater which is rare to see in the south. The injectors are held in place by two studs on either side of them. The injector itself is close to four inches long with much of it extending into the head below the flange holding it down. That lower part is tapered with a tight fit that may need some penetrating fluid to slide it out.
The other half of the problem may be the injector pump not putting out enough pressure due to worn parts or clogged filter.
Both pump and injectors can be removed in about an hour. I recommend taking them both to diesel injection repair shop for testing.
If they check out OK then it's weak compression.
Hope this helps.

 

[DieselMonk]

Tazz :
On a tractor he has with these symptoms, I think automatically:
Worn injectors / compression rings, dirty fuel / air filter, bad battery (not delivering enough power to run the starter fast enough. He says he is jump starting the tractor every time as something keeps draining the battery. Many things to fix first. It could also be a little combination of everything listed above.

Forgot about the money issue: Could be not much (a few filters, battery and the electrical issue) it also could be a quite a bit for rebuilding the injectors, new rings on pistons. Prices here in Canada are a little different than in the US so this is just a general answer.

Max

 

[Tazz]

DiesleMonk,
Your absolutely right. It was late at night and I guess I got focused on one thing. As I recall with mine, even with a good battery I would have to keep the starter engaged for 10-15 seconds until the rpms would slowly build up to where it would run on it's own.