Simple diesel question

[GRW]

That's the 3,pot Perkins Shibaura unit I think. Where I worked had a Ford branded one. I did a bit of wiring and work on it.
You turn the key left for preheat, yes?
How much heat are you giving it?
The old one I had acted much the same.... you needed to give it maybe 15-20s of preheat, and about half-throttle (even then it often took 2 goes to fire up). Once "caught" I'd back off the throttle immediately & let her warm up a bit gently.

 

[Other Daniel]

Do you know the condition of the injectors ?
Nozzles may be worn and in need of calibration after
all this time with questionable quality fuel.

 

[Guzrik]

That's the 3,pot Perkins Shibaura unit I think. Where I worked had a Ford branded one. I did a bit of wiring and work on it.
You turn the key left for preheat, yes?
How much heat are you giving it?
The old one I had acted much the same.... you needed to give it maybe 15-20s of preheat, and about half-throttle (even then it often took 2 goes to fire up). Once "caught" I'd back off the throttle immediately & let her warm up a bit gently.

I knew about the Ford one, Perkins involvement I didn't, do you care to elaborate a bit on that, migth be interesting if I ever need parts for it? It is only a 2 cilinder btw.
Key is normal clockwise to preheat.
Useually I do 20 seconds and the throttle doesn't matter so I do minimal.

Do you know the condition of the injectors ?
Nozzles may be worn and in need of calibration after
all this time with questionable quality fuel.

Injectors (and glowplugs) were tested when I rebuildt it, it only got new bushes and springs. In twentyfive years it has only done 400 hours and rarely worked hard, only recently I have a flailmower and so I am catching up on maintanance now.
I will replace the filter and come back even though I now don't think it will make a difference.

 

[m_c]

The fact it fires a couple times, suggests that the preheat is working fine.
My guess is it's something a bit sticky inside the injection pump when cold.

You could partially strip the injection pump and see if there's any dirt in it (or get it fully overhauled), but personally as long as it does start after a few attempts, I'd be reluctant to touch it as you do risk creating other problems.

One test could be to gently warm the injection pump with a heat gun/blow torch prior to starting.

 

[addjunkie]

If youve not used it much, your fuel in the tank will have condensation water drop out and possible diesel bug…black fuel is a give away sign.
It might make it better it might not, but drain the fuel, clean the fuel filter, bleed it all through and try it.
Try simple low cost first!

 

[Barking Mat]

So no fuel filter, just a sediment bowl ?

If you remove the supply pipe to the injection pump, you'll probably find a fine mesh filter full of carp.

 

[GRW]

I knew about the Ford one, Perkins involvement I didn't, do you care to elaborate a bit on that, migth be interesting if I ever need parts for it? It is only a 2 cilinder btw.
Key is normal clockwise to preheat.
Useually I do 20 seconds and the throttle doesn't matter so I do minimal.


Injectors (and glowplugs) were tested when I rebuildt it, it only got new bushes and springs. In twentyfive years it has only done 400 hours and rarely worked hard, only recently I have a flailmower and so I am catching up on maintanance now.
I will replace the filter and come back even though I now don't think it will make a difference.

Shibaura built some of the smaller Perkins Engines up to & including the 400 Series 3 & 4 pot motors. I used to come across them in some small industrial gensets quite a bit.
The 404D I replaced with a turbo variant back in the summer in a JCB 35D Teletruk was a Perkins-Shibaura as well.