New to Forum, a bit diesel illiterate, I have only worked competently on gasoline engines. I am a total D.I.Y. type of person. Here is the situation. Bought a 1979 Case 580C with an extendahoe for $4,300. All hydraulic circuits work, tractor runs, but you can understand the condition of the machine based on the price. It is very worn out. I have to start it by jumping the starter solenoid because all of the wiring is cut, missing, or burnt. Changed Fuel and oil filters, but should change hydraulic filter and I should change the antifreeze. Anyways, since I have owned it....1 year, if I operate it at full throttle for approximately 10 minutes, it will stall. If I let it sit for a minute, it will restart just fine. So basically, I don't run the engine at high RPM for any length of time. I do, however, seem to have an engine surge issue. It would only do it if I ran it hard, then stopped and idled it. It surges a bit at Idle sometimes, but surges quite a bit in mid range RPM. I think I have a decent idea of how a diesel engine works, but have no practical experience. With this tractor, I assume that the engine is completely mechanical. I am guessing that the fuel injection system runs consistently on a specific fuel to air ratio (no choke circuit like a gas engine). I do not know how to diagnose or even take proper care of it. Besides air, engine, and fuel filters, I am unaware of other engine maintenance procedures I should perform. I know the expense of a fuel injector pump, but do not know how to test it or if there is anything I can do to keep it in good mechanical shape. I have been busy rebuilding cylinders, new starter, bushings, etc. I would eventually like to fully rebuild it because it is so darn useful. I am right in the middle of a construction project and I try to keep up with the hydraulic hose bursting.....(yeah, I am very careful of myself and others). I want to make sure that I do not damage the engine inadvertently due to the engine surge. Any advice on engine operation and maintenance is greatly appreciated. I bought a huge online manual for it. It is OK, it has helped me with parts breakdowns, etc, but not "diesels for dummies" section. thanks..... brian
Brian.. The surge could be coming from a broken flex ring inside the injection pump or a slight blockage in the fuel tank.. Not a whole lot you can do about the flex ring, short of, taking the pump apart.. they aren't THAT EXPENSIVE if you know "a guy"..lol You could try to remove the check ball fitting on top of the injection pump to see if that helps with the shutting off problem.. and be sure and look in the tank for any garbage that may have accumulated over the years.. If someone has already knocked the checkball out of the fitting, that would be a classic symptom of a broken flex ring and the cause of the surge.. The first symptom is shutting off while idleing.. or starting and shutting off within seconds.. if someone knocks the ball out, it allows the broken pieces to go back to the tank.. then the surging starts.. then the uncontrollable engine rpms start.. If you find yourself unable to control the rpms, like, it runs wide open.. shut it down and pull the pump.. don't fool with it to TRY to get it to work.. a couple of hundred now will save you thousands in engine parts later.. Good luck and let me know if you need help with the pump.. TPG
Thanks TPG. I was getting a little worried when I saw a lot of views and no posts! I think that the issue is the later, a dirty tank. When you open the fuel cap, it looks like a crystallized mineral mine. I replaced all the filters, but haven't wrapped my head around what I am going to do with the fuel tank. I did undo the fuel line and let fuel run out. I filtered it several times, but I know that is not a full proper fix. I thought that a tank with fuel oil would not rust like that, but it was probably sitting around for a while low on fuel. I should explain that it doesn't always surge. Today I used it to set a LVL beam and it ran well, so I am reasonably sure that there is a slight blockage as you said. I really appreciate the information and I am going to check on the things you said. My tractor is not very pretty, ripped off door, missing windshield, the whole nine yards. I am fixing little things at a time and don't want to cause further damage. It is obvious that I will have to creatively repair the tractor. I thought I was working on a Mercedes when I went to the Case dealer for parts. I want to learn more on my case 580c and diesels in general. Any advice, places to search, where to buy parts, would be extremely helpful. thanks again TPG brian