Busted piston maybe?

[Rocky59]

Yesterday I had my starter rebuilt on the 470D buck tractor. Jumped it over and it started right up, after pulling it up next to the garage I got my meter out to see how much charge was in the battery. Not much, so I pulled the battery and replaced it with one from the garage. It then would not start. Father inlaw gave it a small shot of ether in the breather but nada. Today I pulled the line to the breather, put a little diesel in the hose and the tried to start it. It turns over and tries hard to start but will not start. Any chance we cracked the piston with the ether? Opinions and or ideas welcome and needed. Seems like it has good compression

 

[Rocky J]

Is there any chance you put the battery from the garage in backwards ?

 

[Rocky59]

No chance lol. As I said it tries to run if I put a little fuel in the cylinder

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

What does the smoke look like while trying to start?

 

[oliver28472]

It should start if it did before. It's not out of fuel is it? Are you using the glow plugs?

 

[topbuilder]

Maybe a compression check. The rings can go before a full piston failure. Diesel in the breather? If it is not atomized, it will do nothing.

 

[Rocky59]

Smoke is dark after adding diesel, but white if not. Anything to add that will help it start?

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

That's odd. Dark smoke indicates enough heat is being generated to combust the fuel and generally once that happens it doesn't go back to white if your cranking speeds are good, glow plugs are working, and you're getting a proper fuel supply. I have learned that black smoke doesn't necessarily mean the engine will run, just the fuel is burning which is one of the biggest hurdles to get over towards starting obviously. Glow plugs themselves can cause the fuel to burn but not sustain running due to excessive blow-by as one example. Is the smoke heavy or pretty light? It should be pretty thick to indicate it is getting enough fuel. Very light white smoke can indicate lack of fuel. Can you shoot a video and post it?

 

[Rocky59]

The smoke is light when there is no diesel in the breather lol. Testing the glow plugs, they seem okay. Sounds like light fuel, going to drain the tank tomorrow, clean the filter and add new fuel. See if that helps, although it seems as if there is plenty of fuel at the bleeder

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

Typically there are three bleed locations, two on the filter and one on the pump. Make sure all three are free of air. My experience has been it's rare to see filters or lines plug although I'm sure it can happen. Some of my tractors still have what appears to be the original, non-replaceable element (2-cyl version only I think) fuel filter and work fine. A little air in the system will prevent the injector pump from working and must be bled completely. It helps to have a full tank of fuel while bleeding because of the somewhat higher liquid pressure (head pressure). I've also noticed the connection to the injector pump can be at a higher elevation than the bottom of the fuel tank on some tractors. Therefore having an inch or so of fuel doesn't necessarily mean you're ok. These pumps don't seem to have any ability to pull a vacuum so the fuel level must be always higher than the inlet to the pump.