Ford 1310 Lack of Power

jayjaysin · Jan 23, 2012

I have a mid-80's Ford 1310 with a 3 cylander diesel. I let my Father-In-Law borrow it and he took the liberty to change the oil, oil filter, and pressure wash the entire engine. Thanks, right? Wrong, it came back and doesn't have any power. He claimed it was because it needed the fuel filter changed. I changed the fuel filter. No difference. It had a leakey injector line before I sent it, but it never effected performance. I leaked at what I would call the manifold from the main fuel line. I think he tighted the inject up a little and it stopped leaking.

So when I got it back, I could tell from the sound of the idle right away that something wasn't right. I tried to mow with it and it didn't have any power climbing hills. It acted very similar to having air in the fuel lines. I bled the lines at the screws at the filter, and I bled the line at the single screw near the fuel line manifold. Finally I tried to bleed the lines where they go into the cylinders. I first tried the line that used to leak. I broke it loose and had fuel bubble out and there was no change in RPM's. I went to the next line and as soon as I cracked the line loose and fuel bubbled out, the RPM's dropped and it stalled. I tightened it up, started it, and went to the last line. Once fuel started to come out, RPM's dropped. I tightened it back up and the RPM's came back up to idle.

So I'm confused as to why the first line had fuel coming out, but no change in RPM's like the other two? I'm guessing that cylander isn't firing. But why? Bad glow plug maybe? Not enough fuel pressure? Please help with any suggestions.

kc5sii · Jan 23, 2012

Are you certian he didn't get water or some othr contaminat in the fuel? You may now have plugged injector.

I'm not the diesel expert. Hopefully someone else will weigh in on this.

How long have you had your 1310? Do you have a FEL? So far I've had to deal with stripped engine mount bolts, busted steering colum gears and a cracked head... I'll be the expert soon!

Dave

Hooked_on_HP · Jan 23, 2012

With the tractor idleing crack the line on the first injector untill there are no air bubbles then tighten it back up. If there is no change in rpm's you probably have a bad injector. Take the injector out and have it tested. If you don't have someplace to get it tested switch the injector from a different cyl. and see if the problem moves. If it does buy a new injector and install it. If the problem stays on #1 you have a pump or line problem.
Bill

jayjaysin · Jan 24, 2012

I did crack the line and it's tough to tell when there's no bubbles because the fan is blowing directly back on it. Regardless, the RPM's didn't change when the first line was cracked, so it's not firing. The injector is part of the block and can't be removed. Someone suggested to me it's a bad poppet to the first line from the injector.

Hooked_on_HP · Jan 24, 2012

The injector unscrews from the head. You need to buy a service manual. Google "ford 1310 service manual" You will get plenty of options.
Bill

Jerry/MT · Jan 25, 2012

jayjaysin said:
I have a mid-80's Ford 1310 with a 3 cylander diesel. I let my Father-In-Law borrow it and he took the liberty to change the oil, oil filter, and pressure wash the entire engine. Thanks, right? Wrong, it came back and doesn't have any power. He claimed it was because it needed the fuel filter changed. I changed the fuel filter. No difference. It had a leakey injector line before I sent it, but it never effected performance. I leaked at what I would call the manifold from the main fuel line. I think he tighted the inject up a little and it stopped leaking.

So when I got it back, I could tell from the sound of the idle right away that something wasn't right. I tried to mow with it and it didn't have any power climbing hills. It acted very similar to having air in the fuel lines. I bled the lines at the screws at the filter, and I bled the line at the single screw near the fuel line manifold. Finally I tried to bleed the lines where they go into the cylinders. I first tried the line that used to leak. I broke it loose and had fuel bubble out and there was no change in RPM's. I went to the next line and as soon as I cracked the line loose and fuel bubbled out, the RPM's dropped and it stalled. I tightened it up, started it, and went to the last line. Once fuel started to come out, RPM's dropped. I tightened it back up and the RPM's came back up to idle.

So I'm confused as to why the first line had fuel coming out, but no change in RPM's like the other two? I'm guessing that cylander isn't firing. But why? Bad glow plug maybe? Not enough fuel pressure? Please help with any suggestions.

Make sure that you have an adequate supply of fuel from the tank and make sure that your air filter is not clogged. It takes air and fuel for an engine to make power.