Ford 3600 injection pump leak, slow smoky start, related?

[petebert]

Acquired a 3600 this summer. Right away it was slow to start, needed about a full minute of cranking with white smoke coming out of the exhaust. I replaced the thermostart and it got better but not great. Maybe 10-15 seconds of cranking, I'm guessing it should have been better in than that in the summer? Just noticed fuel leaking from the bottom of the injection pump and its taking 30 seconds or so to start with a lot of white smoke again. Related issues or two separate one?

I'm pretty sure the fuel is actually coming from the bottom and not just trailing down from the top, it seems pretty dry up top.

 

[CCWKen]

Blowing white smoke on cranking sounds like low compression. It also sounds like it's getting worse. Pull the injectors and do a compression check.

As a suggestion; No need to crank a diesel for more than a few seconds, at most. Any more is hard on the starter and shortens life. A diesel that doesn't start in a few seconds means something is wrong. Mine will fire on like the second revolution or about 1/2 second of cranking.

I don't see any "drops" at your pump so the leak is most likely gasket seepage and unrelated to your starting problem. If it were dripping, It could cause the injectors to lose prime and cause hard starting. But you're blowing white smoke which means you're getting plenty of fuel. I replaced the lower gasket on my pump because of an occasional drip but the seepage didn't keep the engine from starting. It was just a dirt accumulator.

 

[CCWKen]

Forgot to mention that you will need a special adaptor to test compression on the Ford diesels. AND a good gauge. Better if you can borrow a test kit as they are pricey but Harbor Freight has a kit with the required bridge adaptor and gauge. Or you can make the adaptor if you're handy with metal and tools. Just be sure the gauge you have can handle the higher compression pressure that diesel engines may exhibit.

The adaptor you need is in the far right of this kit: Diesel Compression Tester Set - 14 Piece

 

[petebert]

It will drip fuel but only while it's running.

The smoke isn't white while it runs, only during cranking if that makes any difference. I'll try and post a video of the exhaust while I ran the brush hog the other day.

 

[CCWKen]

Have you performed air filter maintenance on a regular basis?
Does your oil smell like diesel?

White smoke = Unburned fuel
Black or no smoke = Burned fuel

There's three things that have to occur for a diesel to start and run.
1. It needs fuel at the right time.
2. It needs air.
3. It needs high compression to ignite the air/fuel mixture.

Added:
I don't need to see a video. I need to see the compression numbers, dry and wet.

 

[petebert]

I will check the oil. The tractor is newish to me, I've done all the fluids and oil filter, I haven't done the fuel or air filters yet.

 

[petebert]

Got the fuel filter ordered, the air filter actually looked pretty good, especially the inner filter.

Here's a pic showing the drips of fuel while it's running, any idea where they would be coming from? Are there any gaskets on the lower side to look at or is it more likely a single gasket leaking higher up?

 

[petebert]

Looks like everything is fixed, still need to wait for a cold day to really test it. Haven't checked compression yet because I don't have the tester set.

I had made another post about some starter issues I was having. It seemed like it was turning over fine but the starter would randomly disengage. So I figured I should replace the starter before messing with anything else. Was also a good time to replace the fuel filter since that has to be removed to get to the starter.

After replacing those two it seems to be good to go now, starts up pretty easily. It's also stopped leaking at the pump. I don't know if it's possible for their to be some sort of back pressure issue if there was a fuel filter issue or if it's simply because I loosened and re-tightened the input line.