Saving A Ford 3910

[shovelmike]

Thank you, I am new here too, and having a good time reading over all the forums. I am from North Carolina, I was in Missouri a few years back, great state.

I have family in Columbia SC, sister, brother, niece, nephew, and all their children. My little sister here in Missouri and her family fly when they go over there....I always tell them it's a shame to fly over the smokies when you can drive through them...yours is beautiful country too!

 

[RickB]

Thank you, I am new here too, and having a good time reading over all the forums. I am from North Carolina, I was in Missouri a few years back, great state.

We are probably fairly close to each other.

 

[PM Wells]

We are probably within 75 miles of each other, I am in Wilkes County nc.

 

[RickB]

Nice area.

 

[PM Wells]

I am in the north central part of the county, not far from Stone Mountain park and the Elkin area. The mountains of Allegheny and Ashe Counties can be seen to the northwest, and the Brushy Mountains to the south.

 

[Happy Gilmore]

PM Wells, the 3910 is a nice lil tractor! Keep the progress updates coming and post some pics.

 

[PM Wells]

UPS dropped off my rebuilt injection pump along with three rebuilt injectors this morning. I had cleaned up the area behind the pump and the new starter and painted it with some blue paint that I thought was pretty close to the Ford Blue. I started installing the pump about noon today taking my time to make sure everything lined back up on the timing marks, I also had an extra mark that I put on just in case. I then installed the new injectors with new washers and seals that Dudley Carr with D&C Diesel had sent with them, he also sent a gasket for the timing gear cover. It is almost ready to try to bleed the lines and see if it is going to run. Oh btw, I had some onlookers watching as I worked, I think they wanted a treat.

 

[RickB]

Did you decide against a compression test?

 

[PM Wells]

Yes, Mr Carr sent me everything I needed to do the compression test, as I went along I thought, I will have to have everything installed except the injectors, then if the compression is low there is nothing I can do about it except to rebuild the engine. So I decided to go ahead with everything and see what happens. Hopefully it will run and if not I will have to go from there. I kept thinking the man I got it from said he was using when it stopped, so maybe it will run. I did blow out the injector lines, one was partially blocked.

 

[PM Wells]

One thing I noticed with the rebuilt pump is that the lever that the stop cable attaches to actually felt like it was connected to something inside the pump. Before it was loose and didn't seem to do anything. I used carb cleaner to flush out the injector lines and the return lines. I started on the return lines inside the neck of the fuel tank, and worked my way through each section of the lines, there was some really dark old fuel that flushed out. If this tractor did run, it could not have run too good. I did drain and flush the fuel tank earlier, then poured in about five gallons of fresh fuel, I was told to fill the tank almost full before I started to bleed the system. I plan to do that today and see if it will run. I painted the injection pump with one coat that was not quite dry when was installing it so the paint was a little tacky.

 

[PM Wells]

Well the Ford 3910 is running and running fairly good I thought. It seemed to have some blowby in the beginning. I changed the oil and filter, that seemed to help, oil that was in it was thin as water. I took it for a little ride up the road, clutch takes hold out on the end, probably can be adjusted, power steering does not work, may need fluid, brakes work pretty good, left grabs some, transmission seems to be good in hi and low, and lift works with draft control. So over all I think it will be ok, I will know more about it as I tinker with it, don't know if I will paint it or just use it as is. I kept thinking about what RickB has in his signature, Spring is the season of optimism. I was thinking that can be true anytime of the year, so as I headed out to work on the tractor, I ask the Lord's will be done, either way and I would accept it.

 

[RickB]

Best of luck to you and the 3910!

 

[ovrszd]

I look forward to hearing of your progress.

 

[Texasmark]

Give things time to limber up. I bought a 3910 this spring, a '88 with 900 hrs. Do the math and it sat most of the time. I changed all the fluids immediately. The oil pan had about ¼" of sludge in it and I flushed it out with a can of Sea Foam in the oil for about 30 minutes before I drained the oil the second time. Pretty much got rid of it and the oil stays pretty clear now...realizing a detergent oil is supposed to get dirty. Brakes were grabbing at first but with new premium trans/hyd fluid and some working, they limbered up and work fine. Glad you got it running. Yes a great (gutsy) machine.

 

[PM Wells]

This morning I went out and started up the 3910, there was a lot of light blue white smoke that took about 5 minutes or longer to clear out, and then still traces of it as I drove the tractor around. Finally after about 10 minutes the smoke all but stopped with a little diesel smoke as I accelerated. Here is my question, could I have an injector leaking fuel into one cylinders, or could the rebuilt injection pump be dumping too much fuel into the injectors at startup? once it runs for about 10 minutes it seems to be fine. This evening I started it again and it was about the same, like it takes a few minutes to burn off the fuel.

 

[RickB]

A cold engine with possibly marginal compression will show a little smoke from incomplete combustion. Heat from compression of the air charge is what ignites the fuel. At startup there is less heat than a few minutes later. If you cleaned the lines properly and were careful about not contaminating the connections the injectors should be fine. I would say you are describing a normal 3 cylinder Ford engine that has some hours on it.

 

[PM Wells]

If I understand you correctly, the engine compression could be down some but still able to start, just not able to burn the fuel as fast as an engine with better compression. Is it possible that the rebuilt pump and clean lines may add to the problem somewhat?

 

[RickB]

No. Don’t over think this. Use your tractor, get used to its characteristics. All diesels are inefficient when cold. Some more than others. If you had done the compression test you would know the results. That is not meant as a criticism, just an observation. I think you have very little to be concerned about.

 

[thepumpguysc]

Try adjusting the pump timing a smidge.. it should be "at" or real close to "0"*.. but as with everything this old there WILL BE gear train wear..
There is a name plate on the inj. pump w/an arrow..
WITH THE ENGINE OFF..
Loosen the mounting nuts/bolts on the pump & rotate the inj. pump OPPOSITE the direction of the arrow on the np.. about 1/2-1*.. NO MORE..
TIGHTEN the fasteners, start the engine & see what that does for ya..
IF NOTHING.. move it back to "0*"..
Good luck..

 

[PM Wells]

This sounds really interesting to me, while I am no expert on Ford diesel tractors, I have owned several over the years. This is the first one that I have done anything with the fuel system. I do know kinda how they are supposed to run when they are running good. This one is the first that smoked this much, and then cleared out to run about normal after about 10 minutes. I will try to back the timing off a very little and see what happens. I know it is just guessing on my part, but I wondered if the new pump and injectors could be a little much for the old engine. Thanks again.