Oil & Fuel diesel engine fuel injection pumps

[machmeter62]

Does the diesel fuel injection pump last the life of the engine at a constant pressure; or does the pressure/flow diminish with age, which would affect the power of the tractor? Or are the injectors prone for weakness? I have a 30 year old engine/ 30hp, with several thousand hours? With normal usage of the tractor, and proper care of the fluids etc; what will normally fail on the engine first, excluding water pumps/ starters/ generators/ etc? The expensive internal maintenance is my concern: valves, rings, camshaft, and bearings? Thanx for any insight!

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

Fuel pumps and injectors wear out. How long they last depends on how well the engine is maintained.Dirty filters make the pump work harder. It also depends on the type of injection,whether it is direct injection(a line to each inj.) or a rail sys.( fuel passage in the head the inj. goes through). In large trucks and equiptment replacing pumpsand injectors is concidered normal maintence like changing sparkplugs in a gas engine.

 

[rexcramer]

Injection pumps can be rebuilt, your pump is probably a very simple unit.

With injectors keep an eye on your engine oil level. If the level rises you should suspect fuel in the oil, and a leaky injector is the likely culprit.

My injectors on my 580 are close the 7000 hours, so the only thing that would kill yours are things like seal failures or contamination.

On the engine you may want to check your valve clearance, this should be done every couple thousand hours

 

[BTDT]

Keep fuel clean. Stay away from starting fluid. We used to do work for one of the City of Dallas fire stations, every year they would bring in a Perkins engine and want the injectors replaced (this unit ran a compressor that they used to keep their air respirators charged up). It was a priority item for them, they wanted it to work when they cranked it. We did the work.

 

[BayouMan]

I replaced my injectors and had my injector pump repaired last year. Per the repair shop, my injectors were worn and had I continued to run them. I would have experienced cylinder liner failure. The injector pump would leak fuel when the tractor sat up. There is an inspection window on your injector pump. Supposedly, you will see small black particles if the pump is failing. Since the pump works on millionth of an inch clearances, you can destroy the pump with those particles. The particles are from seal materials inside the pump. My repair ran about $600.00 for a four cylinder engine and the injectors were about $40.00 each. If the pump had cratered, I was looking at a minimum of $1,500.00 for a new one.

 

[machmeter62]

I replaced my injectors and had my injector pump repaired last year. Per the repair shop, my injectors were worn and had I continued to run them. I would have experienced cylinder liner failure. The injector pump would leak fuel when the tractor sat up. There is an inspection window on your injector pump. Supposedly, you will see small black particles if the pump is failing. Since the pump works on millionth of an inch clearances, you can destroy the pump with those particles. The particles are from seal materials inside the pump. My repair ran about $600.00 for a four cylinder engine and the injectors were about $40.00 each. If the pump had cratered, I was looking at a minimum of $1,500.00 for a new one.

Did you experience a noticable loss of power before the repair shop got involved, or was it hard starting, rough running, smoking, or other issues?

 

[Dirthog]

Injection pumps and injectors are very trouble free we have machines with thousands of hours on the and no trouble at all. the main thing is keep the fuel clean!! dirt and water are very hard on injectors and pumps. machmeter62 that price seems very low for injectors even the ones in are small equipment the tips alone are $25-30 each and that does not include labor to replace and set them also most pumps do not have a window to look inside them to see anything some do have a timing window but that is all. The injectors will start to slober when the wear but it take a LOT of that to tear up a cylinder wall have only saw it happen 1 or 2 times in 32 years as a mechanic first you will have other troubles like hard starting more so in cold weather and a lot of black smoke.

 

[FULLPULL]

When our injector pump went on our 3000 ford it seemed like the fuel filter stopped up it was missing with loss of power all the sudden and wouldnt start.We had the pump rebuilt it started and ran but not as good as it used to. We rebuilt the injectors a couple of years ago only helping it slightly.I would check the fuel ,filter and injectors first if you hadnt already.then go to the pump.Our dealer checks the injectors in about 15 min or so if you take them to him.It had 3000or so hrs on it.

 

[Soundguy]

As with anything. PM will make a huge difference on what lasts and what doesn't on an engine.

i have many antique tractors in the 50-60 year old range that are just now getting to the point where they are getting tired.

my ford diesel ford 5000 is 31ys old.. still runs strong.

Not uncommon to see small diesels run 3000-4000 hours strong.. and large diesels hit 9-12k.. etc

That said.. 100 hrs of 'new or inexperienced user' problems can ruin a 30K$ machine..

Soundguy

Does the diesel fuel injection pump last the life of the engine at a constant pressure; or does the pressure/flow diminish with age, which would affect the power of the tractor? Or are the injectors prone for weakness? I have a 30 year old engine/ 30hp, with several thousand hours? With normal usage of the tractor, and proper care of the fluids etc; what will normally fail on the engine first, excluding water pumps/ starters/ generators/ etc? The expensive internal maintenance is my concern: valves, rings, camshaft, and bearings? Thanx for any insight!

 

[workinallthetime]

another good indication and something to remember is the return side of the fuel system. If your fuel tank is contaminated or your pump is coming apart inside then the check valve on your pump on the return side will fill up with debris. When this happens the engine will slowly derate and will not return to full power and get worse the longer you drive it. If the return fuel cannot get out of the pump then the engine will derate. stop the tractor turn it off pull the return check vale off and inspect it, clean with brake clean or b12 and use air to dry. the check valve is located on the pump usually and just looks like a fitting between the return fuel line and pump. a new cheak valve is about 12 bucks from deere. You should also be able to determine from that weather or not its the pump or somethng in the tank by the material you remove in the filter. if its crusty its something in the tank if its metalic its the pump.

fuel fire air doesnt work here,lol

 

[machmeter62]

another good indication and something to remember is the return side of the fuel system. If your fuel tank is contaminated or your pump is coming apart inside then the check valve on your pump on the return side will fill up with debris. When this happens the engine will slowly derate and will not return to full power and get worse the longer you drive it. If the return fuel cannot get out of the pump then the engine will derate. stop the tractor turn it off pull the return check vale off and inspect it, clean with brake clean or b12 and use air to dry. the check valve is located on the pump usually and just looks like a fitting between the return fuel line and pump. a new cheak valve is about 12 bucks from deere. You should also be able to determine from that weather or not its the pump or somethng in the tank by the material you remove in the filter. if its crusty its something in the tank if its metalic its the pump.

fuel fire air doesnt work here,lol

Thank you for the reply; I think you may have solved the problem? This gives me the starting point I wanted! The tractor has always had proper care by me, clean fuel, filters, oil, and storage. However, my sons have borrowed it for some of their projects, but I didn't want to lay the blame on them. It will be a couple of weeks before I can check it out. Once again, thanx! Also thanks to other for all the suggestions, I always need all the help I can get!

 

[workinallthetime]

a good way to test this also is to just losen up the inlet side of the return chack valve and allow the fuel to flow out onto the ground ( wear old clothes because the fan will spray the fuel all over you) and listen to the engine. if the rpm's start to raise as you are losening the valve then you knwo the problem most likely lies in the return side of the tank.

take a picture of your pump and i will point it out to you, ive been through this with a john deere 318a (79ish industrial 35 maybe 45 hp)

 

[pat32rf]

Been lucky with tractors so far but my son bought a 99 Chev Tahoe with the diesel. Two months later it quit and the dealer says no problem, give us $4000 and we will install a new injector pump. Local diesel shop will do the same for $3000....(truck has 220,000kms on it, GM warrantee was 10yrs or 200,000kms)

 

[BTDT]

Been lucky with tractors so far but my son bought a 99 Chev Tahoe with the diesel. Two months later it quit and the dealer says no problem, give us $4000 and we will install a new injector pump. Local diesel shop will do the same for $3000....(truck has 220,000kms on it, GM warrantee was 10yrs or 200,000kms)

I wonder if you could try a junkyard for a used unit. Might save a bunch of money, then again you might have to have it rebuilt in 6 months.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Does the diesel fuel injection pump last the life of the engine at a constant pressure; or does the pressure/flow diminish with age, which would affect the power of the tractor? Or are the injectors prone for weakness? I have a 30 year old engine/ 30hp, with several thousand hours? With normal usage of the tractor, and proper care of the fluids etc; what will normally fail on the engine first, excluding water pumps/ starters/ generators/ etc? The expensive internal maintenance is my concern: valves, rings, camshaft, and bearings? Thanx for any insight!

No set rule of thumb on what fails first. Different brands (and models with-in the brands) of diesels have different strengths and weakness's. Different use and maint. of each individual unit dictate their wear. It's not carved in stone that 2 IDENTICAL engines used in IDENTICAL circumstances will wear out the same way.

Oil pumps fail. Timing gears/chains wear. Camshafts, lifters, pushrods, rockers, springs and valves wear. Rings and bearings wear out in time. So will a piston or cylinder bore. All can have their usefull life extended with proper care.

#1 OVERLOOKED aspect in keeping a diesel in good condition is air cleaner/filter maint. Take any old diesel tractor and remove air passage between filter and engine. Don't be shocked to see dirt built up that you would have expected filter to stop. Dirt/water in fuel is a slow killer too. Injector pump doesn't like dirt more so than any component in the fuel system. Keep fuel filters changed on the tractor AND on your fuel source if that's with-in your control. Use clean, fresh, quality fuel. Keep cooling system serviced and in good working order. ESPECIALLY if you have a wet-sleeved engine, watch PH level of coolant. Acidic coolant, along with a few dirt particals and the natural tendency for some diesels to cavitate, you erode metal from the cylinder liners. Finally that causes coolant to dump into crankcase. Seen many with this malady. SOME brands have oil that needs changing IN THE INJECTOR PUMP ITSELF. Be aware of that. Change as required.

The Perkins AD3-152 diesel in my Massey has over 3000 hrs. I've owned it since new. It's about to turn 36 years old. Compression test is still spot on original specs. Oil pressure is steady and same as new. Injectors cleaned and serviced 2 years ago. Re-installed all 3 originals. Engine has all the power it ever had. No blowby, no oil consumtion. With proper care, should see ANOTHER 3000 hours with no significant trouble.

Even with the best of care, take an engine and put it under hard workload and they'll finally wear out SOMETHING. Take proper care of it and you'll eliminate all the avoidable problems though.

 

[pat32rf]

Most of the units that go to the boneyard seem to get sent to the rebuilders directly. They are one of those items that are worth pulling and recycling. There is one place on the internet that sells used ones with no warranttee, just so you can have one on hand to get rebuild without a core charge.

 

[JC-jetro]

I guess one needs to understand and see the anatomy or parts break down of a particular fuel injection pump or system. Aside from injectors, pumps are prone to problems with it's internal mechanism. Injector pumps are driven either by electric motor or driven off of engine rotation (i.e meshed with timing gear, crankshaft or timing gear). in general the injection pump is of Positive displacement variety concept with a few different flavors such as gear,diaphragm or piston type. In my Ford 1700,, it is the piston type (usually solid piston , same as a pressure washer ). A wobble disk or cam changes rotational movement to reciprocating one. My F-1700 injector pump has a camshaft and a couple of lobes on it that cause reciprocating action of the piston that suck and blows fuel out of reservoir with spring loaded valve port to accommodate a pumping action. The key is this mechanism acts and works like a small engine and the moving part need to maintain proper lubrication.On some model engine crankcase oil provide lubrication to fuel mechanism and in my case is completely separate. Simple things as not changing oil in the fuel pump can cause cause permanent pump damage same as you running one's engine with very dirty oil or no oil at all.