Cougsfan
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2008
- Messages
- 1,654
- Location
- Eastern Washington State
- Tractor
- Ferguson TO35, Branson 4720CH
My 1957 Ferguson TO35 with a Standard 23C Diesel was running along just fine for about an hour or so this morning, light load (a bush hog mowing light grass), no miss-firing, or sputtering. Then it just suddenly and immediately stopped running, just as if someone pulled the fuel shutoff. No previous warning signs, no funny or loud noises. It turns over just fine, seems to still have good compression, but does not even try to fire.
It is a pretty simple engine. No electronics to worry about, so my initial assumption is it most likely something in the fuel system. The fuel filters, injectors and low pressure pump are fairly new. (The engine was completely overhauled by a professional a couple hundred hours ago.) The only thing that wasn't replaced was the fuel injection pump. I wouldn't be suprised if it is the original pump with possibly 5,000 hrs on it. So if I had to guess, the fuel injection pump seems to be a very likely culprit. I'd just replace due to the fact of it's age, but I see they sell for around $800-900, and they aren't that easy to change and re-time. Nor do I know if they typically fail in a sudden manner like this. So it isn't appropriate just to assume it is that and move blindly forward.
I checked some of the obvious things, fuel is getting through the low pressure pump to the injection pump just fine, all the linkage is intact and seems to be working fine. No fuel leaks. The fuel tank is 3/4 full with fresh $6.50/gallon diesel. It seems unlikely it would lose its prime while running along steady.
So I thought I might come here for advice. 1) what are some other possible suspects or things to check? 2) how do you verify the injector pump is good or bad? 3) Could the drive system for the pump somehow fail or lose it's timing?
It is a pretty simple engine. No electronics to worry about, so my initial assumption is it most likely something in the fuel system. The fuel filters, injectors and low pressure pump are fairly new. (The engine was completely overhauled by a professional a couple hundred hours ago.) The only thing that wasn't replaced was the fuel injection pump. I wouldn't be suprised if it is the original pump with possibly 5,000 hrs on it. So if I had to guess, the fuel injection pump seems to be a very likely culprit. I'd just replace due to the fact of it's age, but I see they sell for around $800-900, and they aren't that easy to change and re-time. Nor do I know if they typically fail in a sudden manner like this. So it isn't appropriate just to assume it is that and move blindly forward.
I checked some of the obvious things, fuel is getting through the low pressure pump to the injection pump just fine, all the linkage is intact and seems to be working fine. No fuel leaks. The fuel tank is 3/4 full with fresh $6.50/gallon diesel. It seems unlikely it would lose its prime while running along steady.
So I thought I might come here for advice. 1) what are some other possible suspects or things to check? 2) how do you verify the injector pump is good or bad? 3) Could the drive system for the pump somehow fail or lose it's timing?
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