jpscotty21
New member
Hello All, new to the forum and new to the Satoh world as well. I just picked up this ol' girl yesterday. Had been sitting in a barn for 10 years. The gentleman said that it belonged to his brother in-law who bought it new in the early 80's. Looks clean for its age, has almost 3800 hours on the clock. Supposedly they had new rings and rods done way back when before it got put up. It was strictly used for mowing as far as he knew.
Today I replaced the fuel lines along with a new settlement bowl, fresh fuel, bleed everything, had the battery charging since the night before. Gave her an official start crank and she started smoking immediately which was a pleasant relief. But, it sounded like one of the cylinders had low compression. Unfortunately I fried the glow plugs by accidentally leaving the key in the wrong position for a couple of hours the night before and did the same thing this morning. The glow indicator doesn't work and the PO by passed it. :mur: So I got my heat gun and aimed it down the throat of the intake and gave it another try.... OFF SHE GOES! I scrambled around to smother the intake quickly as I was prepared for a possible run away. I couldn't get it to respond no matter where the fuel lever is position up on the engine itself. I smothered the intake and allowed enough air for it to run slowly to warm up, after a bit I let it go and she got up to about 2600 rpm's, top operating speed according to specs. So I'm not sure what to pull off to look at what's stuck. Do these have a fuel rack or is it controlled through the governor? I guess on the left side where the fuel lever goes into the housing is where I need to explore? Its an odd setup that the fuel lever is on the left side of the engine and the injection pump is on the right? I'm guessing that's the governor on the left side. Anyone familiar with the fuel system on these things?
Bad news is I confirmed cylinder one is not firing and looks to have a blown head gasket. After messing with it some and she got warmed up, I was trying to determine the bad cylinder while it was running about mid speed. Next thing I know there's a 20ft anti-freeze geyser shooting from the rad (has wrong radiator cap). Shut it down and after everything clears and defogging my glasses, I saw and smelled just a whiff steam coming out from the intake. Tried it a couple more times and same results, steady gurgle when at idle after its warm and starts blowing over as the rpm raises. Also sounds like the intake valve may be sticking or is stuck on that same cylinder, it's popping the compression out of the intake fairly loudly. Other bad thing is that if you remove the oil cap while it's running and smothered, it takes off again. So its pulling a vac on the crankcase through what i'm assuming is the bad cylinder because of the stuck valve. Hope it's not too severe. Not hearing any knocking, clattering or any odd noises like something came loose. Hopefully just a bad head gasket and I don't mind doing some rings. Won't be looking forward to any machine work if required. Runs like a well lubed sewing machine overall though. Oil looks good and no signs of water or raw fuel. Didn't see any silver showing in the oil either, but I'll confirm that when I drain it. Sorry for the long post, but figured I would share my first start of this adventurous experience. I'm waiting for a shop manual but in the mean time i'm going to make a spot in the garage to start digging in. I'll post some pics of my progress along the way here shortly for those needing this kind of info. Hopefully I'll have some up tomorrow. Thanks y'all! :thumbsup:
Today I replaced the fuel lines along with a new settlement bowl, fresh fuel, bleed everything, had the battery charging since the night before. Gave her an official start crank and she started smoking immediately which was a pleasant relief. But, it sounded like one of the cylinders had low compression. Unfortunately I fried the glow plugs by accidentally leaving the key in the wrong position for a couple of hours the night before and did the same thing this morning. The glow indicator doesn't work and the PO by passed it. :mur: So I got my heat gun and aimed it down the throat of the intake and gave it another try.... OFF SHE GOES! I scrambled around to smother the intake quickly as I was prepared for a possible run away. I couldn't get it to respond no matter where the fuel lever is position up on the engine itself. I smothered the intake and allowed enough air for it to run slowly to warm up, after a bit I let it go and she got up to about 2600 rpm's, top operating speed according to specs. So I'm not sure what to pull off to look at what's stuck. Do these have a fuel rack or is it controlled through the governor? I guess on the left side where the fuel lever goes into the housing is where I need to explore? Its an odd setup that the fuel lever is on the left side of the engine and the injection pump is on the right? I'm guessing that's the governor on the left side. Anyone familiar with the fuel system on these things?
Bad news is I confirmed cylinder one is not firing and looks to have a blown head gasket. After messing with it some and she got warmed up, I was trying to determine the bad cylinder while it was running about mid speed. Next thing I know there's a 20ft anti-freeze geyser shooting from the rad (has wrong radiator cap). Shut it down and after everything clears and defogging my glasses, I saw and smelled just a whiff steam coming out from the intake. Tried it a couple more times and same results, steady gurgle when at idle after its warm and starts blowing over as the rpm raises. Also sounds like the intake valve may be sticking or is stuck on that same cylinder, it's popping the compression out of the intake fairly loudly. Other bad thing is that if you remove the oil cap while it's running and smothered, it takes off again. So its pulling a vac on the crankcase through what i'm assuming is the bad cylinder because of the stuck valve. Hope it's not too severe. Not hearing any knocking, clattering or any odd noises like something came loose. Hopefully just a bad head gasket and I don't mind doing some rings. Won't be looking forward to any machine work if required. Runs like a well lubed sewing machine overall though. Oil looks good and no signs of water or raw fuel. Didn't see any silver showing in the oil either, but I'll confirm that when I drain it. Sorry for the long post, but figured I would share my first start of this adventurous experience. I'm waiting for a shop manual but in the mean time i'm going to make a spot in the garage to start digging in. I'll post some pics of my progress along the way here shortly for those needing this kind of info. Hopefully I'll have some up tomorrow. Thanks y'all! :thumbsup:
Last edited: