NH T2310 Cold Weather Starts - Motor Won't Slow Down

[Falkster]

Hi all,
This is my first post to the site. I bought a New Holland T2310 Boomer in 2008 and it has been a great tractor except for one issue. When it is 10 degrees or colder or thereabouts it will start pretty easy without plugging in. The problem is after it starts it will start revving up uncontrollably, even past it's max speed. So when I start it I have to stand there and watch it so it doesn't blow itself up. I can stop it and restart it several times and it does the same thing. It has blown the hydraulic filter seal out two times and that is a pain with oil all over the floor.
The first year or so I had it I kept it in the heated part of the shop but the following years it has been in the unheated side. When I told New Holland what was happening they really didn't have a clue of why until the second oil filter blew and so did I. Then they came up with NH Bulletin that said something about the oil was too thick. I have used Shell Rotella T 15W40 in all my six or seven other Ford diesels with no problem. New Holland said I should use 10W30 and that should fix my problem. Well it didn't. Even though it will easily start with the glow plugs it still has to be plugged in to the wall socket for the block heater. That's not really unrealistic for my other tractors but there is something miss-engineered in this Shaurabaura (sp) compact diesel.
My short term trial for the rest of this winter is Shell Rotella T6 Synthetic in 5W40. I have used synthetic oil in my Chevy pickup and golf cart and they both start so much easier so I thought as a last resort, why not try it in the Boomer.
Oh, by the way when New Holland finally admitted there was a problem it was just after the warranty ran out.
I have looked on the net since this started and never found any info, so I thought I would give this forum a try. If anyone has had a similar problem with a New Holland or similar compact diesel engine of this type I'd like to hear your problem and maybe a solution. I'll check this site every day or so and also report any progress on my end. The new Rotella T6 goes in tomorrow. Thanks, Falkster in Indiana.

 

[skyhook]

Could it be the injection pump,
try blowing hot air on the injection pump next time with a hair dryer (before starting it) and see if it cures the problem.

 

[ThomasH]

I agree with Skyhook, it must be the injector pump sticking due to thick oil. I would warm up the pump for a few minutes with a hot air blower (at least the power of a high power hair dryer) and see if it starts normally. If that turns out to be the problem, I would use some seafoam or marvel mystery oil and see if cleaning out gunk from the pump helps with the sticking parts. If that doesn't solve it, you might try switching to a diesel rated synthetic for a while, over time it should clean the pump internals.

 

[Falkster]

I changed the oil two days ago and the synthetic Rotella T6 seems to have fixed the problem. It was around zero the night before last and the tractor was in the cold side of the barn and it started normally. I know one test is not conclusive but it is a step in the right direction. I have overhauled several diesel engines and one difference between the compact design and the Ford design is where the governor is located. On the old Ford engines dating back to 1958 it was part of the injection pump and was immersed in diesel fuel not engine oil as it is located within the pump. The compact design has the governor located outside of the pump attached to the drive gear turning the pump camshaft. There are ball bearing fly weights used in the governor assembly and it runs in engine oil not diesel fuel. It has a linkage to the injector rack system. Any sticking in this system could possibly cause the governor to stick resulting in engine speeding up.
I will keep starting it when it is near zero to see if the oil change actually helps. The suggestions both you discussed are appreciated and make sense to me also and I think I will also add it to my winterizing scheme. Any thing to prevent damage to the engine is cheap insurance as the parts for these New Holland compact diesels are outrageous. Thanks for the advise and I'll monitor the results and post back here.

 

[Tx Jim]

I think your tractor has a governor that is sticking due to cold oil. Unlike some other models the governor(parts key 4) isn't an integral part of inj pump.