I purchased a 1991 1845c here about two years ago. Other than a few hoses it has never let me down. Here a week ago I fired it up and backed it out of the shed and let it warm up for a few minutes. I noticed it didn't sound strong like it normally does. I tried to give it throttle and it went up a few hundred RPM but nothing after that. I shut it down and checked for leaks. Found nothing. I started it back up and after a few minutes it died. I called my brother in law and he was sure it was a fuel filter. I went ahead and changed that and I'm not even going to lie, I thought he told me these were best NOT to prefill. Opened more problems right there. For the past week now it will start and instantly die. I get fuel to the filter head, fuel to the bleeds on the injection pump (bottom bleeder seems weak flowing), I crack the injectors lines and get 'some' fuel there. I went ahead and replaced the fuel shut off solenoid with an aftermarket, new case fuel pump. If it sits overnight it will start and run longer, but still die. Then it's back to starting and instantly dying over and over. I have 12 volts to the solenoid. Tonight I got extremely upset and just hooked up a 12v fuel pump straight to the inlet of the fuel filter head. Bled the system. Got again 'some fuel' at the injectors. Back to it's old tricks. Starts and instantly dies. I was going to pull off some of the return lines but each line I touch is almost welded to the nut and it just starts to twist the line. Those lines are over $100 each and I would be looking at roughly $500 if they all broke. I have ran external power to the solenoid also just to verify the key wasn't killing it off some how. The external fuel pump hook up tonight was external power also. Cranks over just fine and instantly starts every since time. It just continues to die. I did remove the hose heading back to the tank and fired it up tonight. Fuel would trickle out of there and then it suddenly stopped, then the engine slowed down and died once again. My next step would be to gut the old solenoid and reinstall that just to see. I don't feel that new solenoid is clicking very hard but it sparks when I have the key on. Not sure if that click is the connection noise or the solenoid actually moving. It's faint. Any help would be appreciated. I don't know what to try anymore. My last thought before I mentally shut down over this issues was maybe the brand new fuel filter was bad or instantly plugged. It just seems like the inlet of the injection pump is not getting fuel properly. During all this I can open up the bleeder on the injection pump and fuel squirts out. I don't notice any air. Sorry if some of this just isn't making sense. I'm frustered and despressed because I have a small back groud in diesel engines and this just doesn't seem like it should be this hard. I should add that somebody suggested to check the air filters. They looked brand new. Here maybe last Tuesday somebody also suggested to see if it would run on ether for a few seconds. Runs perfect on external juice.
What’s the name of the inj pump..? If u can, get some #’s off the name plate..
3042F331 Lucas CAV
Last night it seemed like it was starting to running a little longer at a time after I hooked the manual pump back up. After awhile it went right back to dying right away. I guess my next step is to install a pressure gauge once. Monitor live what is going on after the filter. Started wondering about those olive seals right at the injection pump last night. They are probably 32 years old also but I would assume I would have seen a leak.
Not necessarily.. u can suck air and not leak fuel.. Did u say u changed the lift/supply pump.?? Make damn sure the orings on the filter are correct..
New lift pump, tried two different filters. Also cleaned up where the filter meets. Problem is I don't know if the original issue was the filter. I should cut it open and look. Latest filter last night is good and tight along with the drain. New fuel feed line from the tank to the lift pump but irrelevant after I bypassed all that and tried running with an 12v pump off a 5 gallon fuel can. Talked to a pump shop and they were questioning some back pressure valve. They told me to open the top bleeder on the IP but that didn't make any difference so it's not a return issue. Either I still don't have fuel getting to the IP or the pump itself is bad. The way it instantly fires back up is leading pump shops to tell me it's a fuel issue. Other than the olive seals which I did tight up, I don't know where else to look unless the filter housing build into the head has developed a crack.
I do appreciate any and all ideas.
Check your prvt msgs..
I was contacted offsite from a gentlemen down South Carolina about a hidden filter these things have. Turns out that diesel engines need diesel to run. After several attempts to bleed the system it finally fired up and I had it running last night for about an hour. Thanks to the for the help.
Lol..
Would be awesome if you'd share with us where this hidden filter is. There are a lot of 1845c still running around and your answer could save others a lot of headache.
Well if he did THAT, it wouldn’t be “hidden” now would it.?? Duh.. lol
I would like to know where it is since this is very close to the symptoms I have experienced.
I have a similar issue. Been over a year, held your secret long enough? Can you please share location of the filter that was shared with you?