1968 Ford 3000 Diesel. Engine Problem

[ZigZaggin]

The other day I was starting the tractor and it was turning over hard. Then while cranking the engine there was this loud & distinct "pinking" noise. Almost as if someone stuck a piece of steel with a ball peen hammer. To me it sounded like maybe a valve had hit a piston. My buddy was standing there with me and we decided to crank the motor to see if it would happen again/ I know, not a great idea but I was already frustrated. So... while cranking it made the loud "pinking" noise 2 more times and then it wouldn't do it again. The pinking noise DID seem to follow a pattern as it didn't happen every stroke. It would turn over for a few seconds before the noise was heard. Feeling quite sure the engine had dropped a valve I pulled the head and see no evidence of a valve problem. The pistons look good and so do the valves. No marks that I can see.

Events that led up to this:
In recent weeks while running the tractor I noticed the motor was "stumbling" a little bit but would recovery quickly and then run ok. Also, over recent weeks I noticed that the motor was starting to crank over harder and harder and was becoming more difficult to start. I can't think of what would cause such a loud high pitched and distinct noise like that. Anyone ever experienced this issue? I'm not sure where to go from here except full teardown and rebuild :/ Thanks in advance for your time and valuable knowledge.

Lastly: I attached a pic of the injection pump. Is this the SIMS or CAV pump?

thanks!

 

[Tx Jim]

Inj pump is a CAV. Simms is a piston pump. My guess is the "pinking noise" is an injector with the valve sticking. I would suggest some good fuel conditioner or take injector to diesel pump repair place.

 

[suprnova]

You can use a stethoscope to try and isolate the tone. I don't know that a sticking injector would make that noise, I also don't know that the pump overhaul would repair the sticking injector. Granted my knowledge is mostly limited to newer generation CR type systems. ZigZaggin, do you notice any excess black smoke, rough idle or any white smoke since noticing the sound?

 

[ZigZaggin]

There did seem to be execess black smoke while trying to start the tractor. When it did start it would rough idle a lil bit and then smooth out.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

This might sound a bit stupid, is the muffler stopped up? My next door neighbors 245 Ferggie had lost power sounded like it was pinging and would heat up, the exhaust pipe was bent. Pinging might be a timing issue.

 

[bjr]

I had a '64 4000 diesel that I tried to get the pump serviced at a pump shop. The guy was kinda adjitated even looking at a farm tractor fuel pump and wanted $800 up front to work on it. I politely thank him for the quote took my pump and quickly left and maybe a year later I sold the tractor. Morale of the story, "be aware of the pump shop prices". bjr