dieselcrawler
Elite Member
My dad's 1974 MF135 diesel has issues. This is long, but I want to be detailed in my explanation and give full context.
Dad passed away about a year ago, neighbor has helped out a bit, as I am unable to visit often, and uses the tractor some. Mom isn't real sure what all has been done recently, but it stalled out when a second neighbor was helping brush hog, and wouldn't restart.
My sister visited yesterday, and it did start for her, after extended cranking, it fired up. She and mom were able to swap the brush hog for 5' tiller and tilled part if the garden, when it acted up again. Engine RPM would rise, then fall off, then run a bit, then repeat, then stalled and not restart.
I got there today, and did the basic checks, oil ok, drained fuel bowl (no water), and cranked it over. After cranking longer than it should (20-30 seconds?), it caught, stumbled, but fired up. I got it out of the garden and back to the pole barn, left it running... noticed an occasional miss at idle, revved it to about 1300-1400 RPM and let it run a few mminutes, it started the higher revs, then drop off, the back to steady, then repeat, then started to stall and I shut it down.
It puts me in mind of how it acted when I ran it out of fuel, a very memorable experience as a teenager (30 years or so ago), and geesh was my ol man p!$$ed, we had to bleed the fuel system out in the field... some things you never forget! So when I've heard that high rev/stumble/normal cycle, I stop and fuel up right then!
But fuel level is fine. Fuel pump looks newer, but I have no idea how new. I know dad had the injection pump rebuilt, but that could have been 10 years ago. Fuel pump would be easier to change, to rule out if nothing else, but what are injection pump symptoms?
Any feedback, ideas, experiences, or suggestions are welcome.
Dad passed away about a year ago, neighbor has helped out a bit, as I am unable to visit often, and uses the tractor some. Mom isn't real sure what all has been done recently, but it stalled out when a second neighbor was helping brush hog, and wouldn't restart.
My sister visited yesterday, and it did start for her, after extended cranking, it fired up. She and mom were able to swap the brush hog for 5' tiller and tilled part if the garden, when it acted up again. Engine RPM would rise, then fall off, then run a bit, then repeat, then stalled and not restart.
I got there today, and did the basic checks, oil ok, drained fuel bowl (no water), and cranked it over. After cranking longer than it should (20-30 seconds?), it caught, stumbled, but fired up. I got it out of the garden and back to the pole barn, left it running... noticed an occasional miss at idle, revved it to about 1300-1400 RPM and let it run a few mminutes, it started the higher revs, then drop off, the back to steady, then repeat, then started to stall and I shut it down.
It puts me in mind of how it acted when I ran it out of fuel, a very memorable experience as a teenager (30 years or so ago), and geesh was my ol man p!$$ed, we had to bleed the fuel system out in the field... some things you never forget! So when I've heard that high rev/stumble/normal cycle, I stop and fuel up right then!
But fuel level is fine. Fuel pump looks newer, but I have no idea how new. I know dad had the injection pump rebuilt, but that could have been 10 years ago. Fuel pump would be easier to change, to rule out if nothing else, but what are injection pump symptoms?
Any feedback, ideas, experiences, or suggestions are welcome.
