AC5050 will only start with ether, please advise- we need this thing to run.

   / AC5050 will only start with ether, please advise- we need this thing to run. #31  
etpm said:
Did I detect a slight note of sarcasm in your post? Before I got my Yanmar YM2310 I knew almost nothing about diesel engines. I had heard that ether can blow the tips off of the injectors from one person but have never heard it from anybody else. After my YM2310 purchase I learned on this site to NEVER use ether on this tractor because it could break the rings. Even though my tractor starts easily in weather above 45 degrees I might have been tempted to use ether in colder weather if I had not read here to not use it. I think it's too bad the OP has been using so much ether unless the engine is made to be able to use ether. I hope the OP didn't get bad advice from someone about ether use. In any case you made your point. But it seems to me that maybe you were a little harsh. I think the OP is desperate and I wish I could help.
Eric
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No harshness here. When you have either and the machine responds, it’s mighty tempting to keep on. I do not own a can of either. I am not a diesel mechanic but I prefer them over gas for several reasons. We have all bought our lessons and all I can do is wipe the egg off our face and keep on. Heat to the intake from a blow hair dryer helps me inthe winter.
 
   / AC5050 will only start with ether, please advise- we need this thing to run. #32  
5030 said:
Could be rings, could be a blown head gasket or even bent con rods from using either. Whatever it is, it needs to come apart, no choice in that matter.
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Epic I watched a utube with an engine that would not run. All the injectors were rusted up.
 
   / AC5050 will only start with ether, please advise- we need this thing to run.
  • Thread Starter
#33  
Ok.. an update. Got the tractor running!

Turns out the gear that drives the injector pump was NOT lined up properly according to the marks on the gears that line up together. Two marks WERE lined up, but they were not the CORRECT marks to line up together. What we think happened is that the fuel supply restriction at/in the fuel tank exit point is what caused the tractor to initially die and then not be able to start back up. Then we had the injector pump rebuilt, replaced the lift pump, searched for fuel leaks and/or air entry points, blew compressed air into the tank and broke loose some type of blockage or restriction in the fuel supply (I drained most of the tank contents and looked inside & removed a 8" plastic fuel can spout laying on the bottom of the fuel tank. It's not from us, and we've had this tractor for about 13 yrs!), pulled the injectors and turned the engine over to observe the injectors spray out in 3 opposing directions, we temporarily installed a straight fuel line from the fuel tank exit to an inline fuel filter, and a small 5-10 psi bullet push pump to create positive pressure to the lift pump (eliminating some of the fuel line system to try to narrow the problem area down) But because the injector pump drive gears weren't lined up properly when it was re-installed, that is what continued to keep the engine from starting after we cleared the fuel restriction because the injection timing was too far out of sync. We lined it up properly this evening and it started immediately on the first try. It was like the sound of angels singing when that thing fired right up.
 
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   / AC5050 will only start with ether, please advise- we need this thing to run. #34  
BCinVA said:
Spent my career working in the Heavy Truck manufacturing business. I worked for a long time in a factory that built class 8 trucks. Back in the day before the intense vertical integration, we installed several brands of engines in the trucks. Detroit Diesel, Catapillar, Cummins etc. One of the factory options in those days was ether injection. It was basically a system that provided a canister of ether mounted on the truck, and able to be injected with a switch from the cab to aid in cold starts. It was obviously more popular with fleets based in the more Northern cold climates. Not advocating ether by any means, just thought some might find this interesting.
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Those system were designed so that it only released a metered amount of starting fluid, the proper procedure with those was to start cranking the engine over then tap the ether button, you could tap it a few times while the engine was cranking and sometimes even when it was doing a stumbling run.
 
   / AC5050 will only start with ether, please advise- we need this thing to run. #35  
Late to the party but it is good to hear you figured out the immediate problem....BUT...you still have low compression that is going to have to get dealt with at some point, so I would plan to deal with that during the off season. Either re-run the test if you don't think you did it right, or plan on rebuilding.
 
   / AC5050 will only start with ether, please advise- we need this thing to run. #36  
I would venture to say that the compression test is ok. Compression tests are supposed to be done on warm engines. Since the OP couldn't get the engine running it was done cold. Therefor low compression. If the tractor started right up like he said the compression is good enough.
 
   / AC5050 will only start with ether, please advise- we need this thing to run.
  • Thread Starter
#37  
pmsmechanic said:
I would venture to say that the compression test is ok. Compression tests are supposed to be done on warm engines. Since the OP couldn't get the engine running it was done cold. Therefor low compression. If the tractor started right up like he said the compression is good enough.
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I hope you are right on the compression, that would be the best possible outcome. Doing the test cold was the only way we could get any information at the time- but we will still be keeping a close eye and ear on everything from here on out just incase there are any other underlying problems that could develop further. It did start RIGHT UP. I mean, IMMEDIATELY. We were pretty thorough on trying to get all the air out up to the injector because we had taken a lot of things loose on the fuel supply trying to figure it out. It turned over one time and started.
 
   / AC5050 will only start with ether, please advise- we need this thing to run. #39  
UrbannGuerilla said:
It did start RIGHT UP. I mean, IMMEDIATELY. We were pretty thorough on trying to get all the air out up to the injector because we had taken a lot of things loose on the fuel supply trying to figure it out. It turned over one time and started.
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I've been thinking about this some more. If you cranked the engine a lot previous to finding out the timing problem there could be some diesel in the bowl of the piston. That would increase the compression to help with the immediate start. It'll be interesting to hear how it starts cold after sitting idle for a few days.

Also: What is your location? If you're deep south and the engine is always relatively warm compared to where I live in Canada then low compression would be less of an issue.
 
   / AC5050 will only start with ether, please advise- we need this thing to run. #40  
pmsmechanic said:
I've been thinking about this some more. If you cranked the engine a lot previous to finding out the timing problem there could be some diesel in the bowl of the piston. That would increase the compression to help with the immediate start. It'll be interesting to hear how it starts cold after sitting idle for a few days.

Also: What is your location? If you're deep south and the engine is always relatively warm compared to where I live in Canada then low compression would be less of an issue.
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I’m in Mississippi. Hot now. You have a problem but once you find it be easy. I don’t think it’s a big problem.
 
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