Diesel cut off and wont start

Nissan11

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2005
Location
Marston, NC
My dad called me today and said that he was having trouble with his tractor. Its around a 1970 John Deere 2040. Here is what happened...

Yesterday he ran the tractor towing a drag on the horse ring in the heavy snow/sleet for about 45 minutes. He parked it under the overhang and decided to put a 5 gallon can of diesel in it. He put the funnel on the tank and started pouring. He said that the last bit of off road diesel to come out of the can would barely go through the funnel screen and it was a gel, like honey. He went to the store and got 4 oz. of diesel treatment which said "prevents gelling in cold weather."
He put that in the tank and started the tractor while it was warm to let the treatment work through the injectors. He walked away and after only a couple minutes the tractor had cut off, and this tractor NEVER cuts off on its own. He can not get it started, and has tried spraying ether directly into the intake a couple times, which usually does the trick in real cold weather.
Who can help diagnose this? Im thinking that the injectors are clogged, but the manual says not to take them apart.
Does diesel fuel gel when it gets cold? It had been sitting in a can on the ground for a couple days and it was 28 degrees at the time this happened.
 
Diesel fuel will gel when cold.It's a common problem if not pretreated.I would suggest tryin to blow some heat on the engine/fuel system and see if it thaws out.
 
When I used to run up north we used to add 1/2gal of gas for every 50gal of diesel,it will make it run hotter.Got to be careful not to put to much it will melt the pistons.

robert
 
Kerosine will work better ( and safer ) than gasoline. Kerosine is pretty much a cleaner diesel fuel with much less parafin ( what gels in the diesel fuel)

pull the fuel filter, either replace with new or empty and fill with kerosine, you'll probably have to bleed the injection pump/injector lines.

now that it's a little warmer out right now it should start right up doing this add more kero to the diesel fuel as well.
 
Should he put some kerosine in the tank too? Also, if the filter was the problem, shouldnt the tractor at least fire for a few seconds from the starting fluid?
 
Warm the machine up and try again. Fuel filter is plugged with wax. You can swap it or just put the machine in a warm garage for an afternoon. If you swap it, you MAY need to bleed the lines and injectors. However, I think the JD compacts have the self priming fuel system, so it may be ok.
 
i would say something was in that can that shouldnt have been. and like you said the injectors are clogged.
sounds like the crap that came out was not gelled fuel. i'd pull the filter pour it in a glass jar just to see what comes out. try the hair dryer on all the lines,all along the fuel rail and the pump.put on new filter see what happens. if either would not crank it that would make think what ever that sludge was it plugged the injectors.
 
x2 will not gel at 28 otherwise none would be driving our trucks the last two months
start at the tank
go to the filter and make sure its getting through
continue to the pump make sure of the same
then to the injectors
if it got clogged somewhere along the way you will need to remove the clogg of course
refill filter bowl with fuel
then reassemble and disconnect at injectors hold thumb over line while turning over once you get fuel reconnect
sounds like you have a clogg causing it to run out of fuel
diesel tractors or mine anyway will not reprime themself after they suck air
hope this helps
 
I agree, fuel doesn't gel at 28°, I missed that in the original post.

but water does freeze at 32°, and I have seen that plug up a fuel filter. I do agree it sounds like a fuel issue.

as for it not starting on ether, if the engine isn't spinning fast enough to create heat from compression, ether won't light either. weak battery, little too much blow by, or a combination of the 2 will not help the situation.

I'm dreading trying to start the Sprinter in the morning, it's weak turning over on a 30°morning, 10°may just kill it, and No, it doesn't have a block heater, it's not standard equipment on them.
 
Fuel was not getting to the transfer pump. We pulled the hose going to it and blew compressed air back into the tank to clear anything that might be clogging the screen. Then we tried to start the tractor. It fired on ether but would not run on fuel. We primed the lines but the gasket on the top of the transfer pump is leaking and I suspect is sucking air too. I can see air bubbles shooting up through the fuel filter when we try to start it. Gona try to find a new gasket and try again.
 
The gasket fixed the leak but the tractor still wont start. Fuel is making it to the injectors but it doesnt seem like much. Pops bought a fuel filter this evening and we will try that in the morning.
 
may have to purge the air out of the system.while trying to crank it crack open one of the injectors till you have only fuel and no bubbles (air) comming out.close it back before you stop spinning the motor. may have to do more than one but usally will crank while your bleeding the first one.
 
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