How to clean injectors

[thepumpguysc]

Before buying another injector.. swap it to the furthest hole away from the "problem" area..
Run the engine again & see/listen to it.. IF the problem followed the injector, get them rebuilt..
no need to get a NEW injectors unless its not cost productive.
MOST TIMES getting an injector REBUILT [new tip] will be less expensive.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

The tractor runs and it "surges" and blows black smoke when it does it. It seems worse the higher the RPM.

Black smoke on acceleration (what I interpret your "surges" to mean) is common. If it's black smoking all the time then an air filter check/replacement is probably the first thing to start with. Another check anyone who owns a diesel should do periodically is pull the crankcase vent off the valve cover while the engine is running and check the "blow-by" coming out which is usually caused by poor sealing of the piston/rings in the cylinder. A blown head gasket could cause this too. When blow-by occurs this means you no longer have the same air charge in the cylinder during compression (because it's passing by the piston), which can result in more black smoke (less oxygen available if it actually reaches proper combustion temp) or white smoke due to lack of compression entirely.

My theory is the injector is dropping fuel instead of spraying and the noise is from trying to compress a liquid (not good).

The injector can only deliver what the fuel pump can supply it and that is not enough to get it to a "compressing liquid" state. Unless the fuel is building up in the cylinder (possible but unlikely) it won't get to amount to cause "hydro-locking" which is what I think you're referring to. This likely will result in a bent connecting rod if it does. It can happen if you flip your tractor and oil accumulates on top of the piston. One other thing you can do is pull your injectors, hook them back up outside of the head and crank the engine. Take a look at the spray pattern and it may reveal something.

 

[tnjind]

Thanks guys.
The tractor surges while idling and while holding steady at any RPM. It throws black smoke and knocks when it surges. I tried taking a video of it running but it didn't come out well.
I will try swapping the suspect inject with the front one. Are there crush washers or anything I would need to do that?

I will also try to hook up the injector off of the tractor as suggested to check operation.

I hope the pump is not the problem. The very low fuel flow to the pump concerned me.

 

[tnjind]

Update,

I started the tractor and moved it outside so I could get the forklift out, the tractor started the "surging" again while idling, I took it back inside.

Fastfarward about an hour. A buddy came by the shop so I started it up so he could witness the issue. The tractor ran fine with no issues. I let it run about 15 minutes with no problems. I haven't ran it longer yet but the problem had always started within a few seconds of starting.

Is it possible water in the fuel would have caused this? I did drain it and changed the inline filter, maybe there was still some water in the injection pump and it took awhile to clear out? There is no water separator on the tractor just a cheap disposable inline filter.

I will run the tractor longer to see if the problem is gone.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

You may have had air in one or two of the pump cylinders. That can cause the other cylinders to work harder (possible black smoke) and can cause white smoke in the one(s) with air. Usually air doesn't work itself out of the pump without proper bleeding but you may have had just the right amount of air in it to cause such a problem. I suppose water could act similarly. The knocking part was odd though.

 

[tnjind]

Yeah, it had just come on all at once too. I never have ran it out of fuel. I use it several times a week.
I ran it for around 45 minutes this evening and not one hiccup. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks for the help.

 

[tnjind]

Another update:
I had been using this thing with it still doing the surging only as needed as I didn't want to cause any damage.

While I was visiting my Father he gave me some Marvel mystery oil. I thought what the heck and poured a small amount in the fuel tank. It's been running fine ever since.

I figured the low sulfur fuel was causing something in the pump to stick.