Me and my dad bought a 1971 john deere 3020 diesel a couple years ago that has around 4000 original hours on it. It has new batteries, new-rebuilt starter/alternator and still sluggish to start and sometimes doesn't in cold weather. I'm just wondering if it has had a lot of ether/starting fluid shot through it. I've always heard my whole life that Diesel engines get addicted to it. If so, what has to be done to get an engine "unaddicted"??? Does a person have to "rebuild" the engine from ground up????
Too much nose candy can break rings. If it's ran too long with broken rings, then you'll get flat spots in your cylinder wall. Could need a ring job anyhow. I've seen poor ol' tractors that have seen little effort in keeping good air filters installed. I've even seen one filter that has had a hole in it ran so long it trashed the rings. Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk
I just wish I had the money to give it a good over-haul. I'd say the air filter never was changed when needed and ether was used a lot on it
First question, do you know to jimmy the steering wheel while starting to relieve hydraulic pressure? That can keep them from turning over fast enough to start. Are your battery cable connections clean? Obvious I know, but... Broke rings are obvious when it is running as it will have a weak cylinder. Our older heavy built diesels are more likely to lock down while starting when ethered too much rather than break rings like the rice grinders will. How much blowby does it have when running?
Valve adjustment is real critical, the seats and valves wear, get a little tight and then hard to start, I would give it a top end adjustment to start.plus make shure you have clean filters.
Does the starter spin the motor over fast enough? We have a 4640 that we bought 2nd hand. From day one it was sluggish to start,replaced batteries, cables, took alternator and starter to local, well respected auto sparky and it would perform ok for a few months then refuse to start, particularly in cool weather. More new batteries, take starter to different, but also well respected, auto sparky with similar results. Finally decided to buy a brand new starter, despite the sparky saying that the old one tested fine. I couldn't believe the difference, like a new tractor, starts first turn of the key even on cold mornings. Cheers, Greg
The 3020 should have an oil bath air filter- they do an excellent job of filtering the incoming air. As overworked said, valve adjustment is critical. Does it burn oil or smoke excessive when running? Check the fuel pump to insure it is in good working order, it should be a Roosa MAster pump and is appox 5-600 to rebuild if needed, check the injectors also.
The 20 series never did start good in the cold. The piston design was at fault. They kept the rings too far down on the piston. Give it full throttle and a small sniff of ether. Once the pistons were replaced with aftermarket they started much better.