got a 96 bm michigan/volvo l90 loader. just acquired it a few days ago. up here in CT right now it gets down into the 30-40s at night so its really not that cold. i use the preheater that it has and shell start but it cranks a long time. I'd love for it to not crank that long and I'd really love not to have to use preheater...any adjustments on the pump for helping? i think its a td61 or td71. Shouldn't be so hard to start thanks
Depending on what injection pump is on it.. Does it have a lift pump bolted to the side of the inj. pump w/ a hand primer?? Just pump the HP before trying to start.. THAT"LL give you an idea of if its a fuel bleed back problem.. Some of the pictures on-line show an electric cold start solenoid on the side of the inj. pump.. That must be activated to allow the control rack to go to "starting fuel".. In other words>> need more information.
ok so it's an L90C as the straight old L90's weren't produced in 96 and the L90c Volvo BM 's were last produced in 96, so it has a TD63kbe engine and the important bit that pumpguy will need to know is its got the bosch 0 401 846 994 pump on it, can't see any reference to the cold start solenoid on the parts drawings?
I'll look it up when I get to work & let you know..
it has the primer on the pump....it did not make a difference starting it. still long crank and hard start. There also is a two wire solenoid on the side of the pump.
The "994 pump" does not have a cold start devise{CSD} BUT IF YOURS DOES..{no pump #'s} try 12volts & see what happens.. SOME are 24v, so get some cleaner & see what it says.. its stamped. The throttle then needs to be put in the wide open position to start. Hope this helps.
The solenoid, is it on a bracket at the governor end of the pump? if so that will be the stop solenoid.
The CSD if equipped, is about as round as your thumb & half as long w/ 2 connections..
Do you by chance have a fuel line going up over the engine to a little device at the intake air manifold?
It'll be a steel line 1/4" or so in diameter
I'm going to attach some photos. it looks like there's a larger wire going to the preheated coil on the intake. also, there is a small 1/4 pic line that runs to the intake and back to the injection pump side, my finger is on one of the photos for this line. sorry for bad pics, I have a flip phone.
Ok, that clarifies a lot. First, those rubber lines are not your friends. They're old and deteriorating on the inside. You do NOT have to get factory hose. Just cut the crimp band from the banjo fitting. You'll have a nice barb there. Perfect for fuel grade push-lok hose. Do one at a time. From the tank and back. Make sure you replace all the copper seals and don't overtorque the screws as you'll deform the banjo where nothing will reseal. Second, you have the grid heater style pre heater. Those are the best. They work. You'd be surprised how long you should wait after the light goes out. Lastly, the more invasive things to look at. The primer pumps on the lift pump are known to allow air intrusion. The overflow valve , if weak will cause hard starting allowing drain back when off. Of course this is all AFTER servicing fuel filters and slurry bowl first. Nobody ever services the slurry bowl. Good luck
**'r gonna put me outta business.. LOL.. That "gizmo" on the side IS the cold start devise.. BUT as FWF stated, you could have air in the system.. Make sure you have voltage TO the CSD.. I don't know if it runs off the key switch OR a manual "push button" switch.. As a side note> theres no law against pressure washing your engine BEFORE you work on it.. Lol
Dude, I hope I'm not **'r . I ain't tryin to "hurt" anybody. If i crossed a line i apologize.
HAHAHA.. THAT was meant in the lightest of tones.. Your new here so I could see where you may have taken it the wrong way.. I have a VERY WARPED sense of humor.. Things "sound better" in my head but translate "alittle" differently on paper.. especially after work when my fingers have gotten to the frig. 3 or 4x.. if ya know what I mean?? Believe me. I was laughing when I typed it.. What it translates to is> your insight is VERY HELPFUL & probably on the money.. keep up the good work.
ok, didn't quite follow you on cutting the crimp ends on the banjo but I'm sure ill figure it out. So, Im going to check voltage to a. the preheater grid on the intake, as well as b. the csd on the pump. If i understand correctly, on that pump, with the two wire's going to it, thats the csd? Ill work on cleaning it up and replacing whatever lines and seals need to be replaced.
Ok, cool, thanks. I see you contribute a ton here. I dont wanna pi** any one off. As big as the world is, the internet makes it dinky. As a dealer mechanic i hated giving up information. But i see so many guys struggle, then get gouged by some tech who doesn't know what he's doing but has the position of "dealer mechanic " . They should know what they're doing but they're learning on the customers dime. That drives me up a wall. BTW pumps are the one thing I won't go into. Not my forté it's all black magic and voo-doo. I am not so thin skinned, just throwing a jab in, in a world of snowflakes and us. OP sorry we got off-topic. Since your machine runs , I think you'll do fine, if you follow what we have provided. BTW pics helped tremendously to help you.
One more thing as I reread your post. Are you using the preheat function properly. It is not like cars and trucks. Turn the ignition to the run position, then just past ignition is called "half-start" hold it there then press the pre-heat enable button. You should hear the solenoid engage with a dull thud. At this point you can release the key to run position. Then, wait 30 long seconds. Then she should fire right up. *****NOTE**** VOLVO engines with pump line and nozzle are traditionally low compression by diesel standards. They need the heat to get going. Never, NEVER EVER use ether. !!!! That stuff is like crack. Use it once and your engine is dependent on it. Not to mention you can cause terrible internal damage. Never let a tech spray that crap. In your engine, no matter how good they say they are.
In the pic, the red line runs the length of the crimp band. Cut carefully , the length then flip it over and cut again, this will let you remove the hose from the nipple. Hope this helps.
Im doing it properly. At least I think I am. There's two buttons in the cab. If I press that preheat button in the up position and click the key just past, it glows for about 50 seconds. I do this multiple times and she still wont fire. its getting colder up here and its effecting her much worse.
What if you pump up the hand primer before starting?
im going to try that this morning when i do it
ok, good news. granted its not too too cold this morning, but it usually still takes a while to start. last week when i tried priming it, i must've not done it long enough. I went out there this a:m and primed it for a good 30 sec to a minute. I could here the fuel rushing through the pump and lines with air. She fired right off. So, this goes back to losing prime. Sounds like i have some lines/fittings/seals to replace. My next question is, is there any place that I could hook up a pump of some sort and try to see where I here air or fuel coming out vs just replacing stuff?
I would strongly look at the two mentioned items. Lift pump and overflow. Now, since your primer pump is NOT all wet with fuel, I would not consider that as primary concern, I'd look more towards the overflow valve. Just my 2 cents.
IF you really wanna solve this problem, your gonna need a pressure gauge & another banjo bolt to adapt the gauge to.. The BB is a 14mmx1.5mm thread.. I've got a hundred of them IF you reeaally cant get ahold of one.. Drill & tap it for a fitting to fit your gauge & replace the INLET BB w/ YOUR test one.. hook up your gauge & SEE what the pressure reading is.. & IF IT HOLDS when you shut the motor down. The overflow valve is usually the culprit if its below 40psi & drops like a stone.. You should also get a clear line from the parts store & put banjo connectors on it & replace your existing line from the filter head TO the injection pump.. That will SHOW YOU that's theres air in the system.. Just keep moving the clear line until you find the portion that DOESNT have air in it & move forward.. That's about all I got.. good luck..
On top of the filter head, should be a plug in the same drilling as the bleeder screw. 1/8" BSPP iirc. Take that plug out and screw a 100 psi gauge in there . It's common to the injection pump inlet. That would accomplish what pumpguy is telling you to do without trying to score a banjo screw. He'll, if it's not a problem , leave it in there for future use. Just tape your threads. Use the plug as a sample to match up your gauge. 1/8 BSPP is not the same as NPT. 1 thread per inch difference.
ok, great guys. i appreciate you putting in the effort. Im going to screw the gauge into the top of the filter head and see what happens after I run it!
Whatever is easiest for ya.. as long as its after the lift pump & before the injection pump.. 99% of the stuff I diagnose take the 14x1.5 banjo style connector, so that's why I suggested it.. drill & tap a spare bolt.. unscrew the old one, screw in the new "tool" & screw on my gauge hose, done.. Let us know how you made out..
Out of professional interest, can you see the engine serial number stamp, as from your pictures that looks a TD71G engine from a L120B, if you look where the block meets the head up to the right of the injector pump the engine model code etc will be stamped into the flat surface there. should be something like TD71G * 285 * 12345
ok folks. had some time after work today to tinker. I was picking up all filters and the overflow valve at the dealer and said *** it, i wanted to put a new lift pump as well incase that one ever crapped out, i'd have an extra during a snow storm. the overflow valve ended up being the culprit! went out there next morning, cycled the pre heater twice and she fired off like a cannon. The previous owner mentioned he never, ever, sprayed starting fluid to get it going. He did say on cold mornings, it was common to have to pre-heat 2-3 times. is that pretty standard? when its very cold, its not that enjoyable sitting there for 50sec cycles lol. Maybe the preheater is getting weak?
Very common, if you're not listening and having fuel issues. When you turn on the preheat function, you should hear a clunk. That would be the large relay energizing. Depending on temperature, 45 seconds up to 2 minutes later you hear the second clunk. That's shutting off. The light is only minimum wait to crank. Glad you got her squared away. Good job.
ok, i will dig more into the solenoid on the pump. how does the preheater on the intake get engaged then? im assuming thats the other side of that switch on the dash?
Sorry no. The relay for the preheat. You have a manual shut off cable , correct? If you follow the heavy cable from your grid heater at the intake manifold it will lead to the preheat relay. The point is, during increasingly cold weather, the preheat time gets longer. A lot of people think that if the light goes out, the pre heater has shut off. Not the case. The pre heater can stay on yup to 2 maybe 2 1/2 minutes. Depending on the temperature. You don't want to mess with your pump now that she starts right up. I only mentioned the on time so you would understand that you don't necessarily have to keep cycling the key and switch. Just listen and wait. Again good job on following suggestions and fixing it yourself.
ok, i will go out there tomorrow morning and listen/try. Supposed to be in the high teens for temps. Yes i have a manual pull cable for shutoff.
Thanks for the update.. Good job.. ya probably saved yourself about a grand in diagnostic labor & parts changers..