I have an 80's skytrak 9038 with a ford 4cyl diesel I believe a 256 with a minimech injection pump. A friend borrowed it and tried to start it on a real cold day. It was plugged in with a block heater. Could not get it started after a can of either. I know that you are not supposed to do that ( He did it) . I have never had a problem starting it when it was cold as long as it was plugged in. It would fire but not run. As soon as you would let go of the key it would run for 5 seconds and die. Never made and odd noises. So I decided to take the pump and injectors out and get them rebuilt - Did that and the injectors needed to be rebuilt but the pump was ok. Re installed them and it is exactly the same. I bypassed the tank and filter to rule those out . That made no difference. Retimed the pump and again no difference. Checked to make sure I had return fuel and I do. Added an electric pick up pump to help the supply. No difference. I can get it to run for 5 seconds max it will not allow you to give it any fuel as soon as you hit the throttle it dies. I am at my wits end any help would be great.
If you’re going to run an electric supply for diagnostic purposes, bypass the the tank and filters and go directly to the injection pump inlet.. U can run the return back into your jug that’s feeding the electric pump. Remove the side cover on the inj pump and run the rack by hand.. depending on your unit, this may require 2 people.. 1 to turn the key and 1 to run the pump. Do u know about the cold start rod on the pump.? It’s the small push rod coming thru the center of the shut off.. It should have a rubber bellows around it.. If u move the throttle off of low idle, u can push in on the rod and u should hear a click.. THATS the control rack moving to excess fuel.. Now try to start it.. Good luck
Yes I did all of that-Bypassed the tank and filter directly to the pump. Also did push the rubber button on the shut off-no luck
Did u time it before/after u took it off.?
Great question. Did not time it before we took it off. But did time the motor and pump after. I believe it is correct went thru the process 3 times.
If in doubt, pull #1 injector and the valve cover.. Rotate engine until #1 valve opens then closed.. Go underneath and look for any timing marks.. Drop a WOODEN DOWEL down #1 injector hole and ROTATE SLOWLY until the rod stops moving.. look again. Once u find the timing marks, see if the pump timing line is inline with its marks..
Don’t forget, it’s very important that u rotate the engine in the correct normal rotation.!! OTHERWISE you will build in gear train backlash, which will throw the timing off big time.. Good luck
Yes did that, The weird thing is that it is doing the same thing it was before we sent the pump out which leads me to believe that we are timed right, Maybe something else
So went back there today-No luck again with 2 diesel mechanics there, Finally ended up pulling the head. No visible problems with the cylinders or head or head gasket. Sent the head out to get it tested. This is crazy that noone can figure it out. The reason the head was pulled is because the exhaust was creating a vacum. Did not make sense
How about the compression ??
It takes air, atomized fuel at the right time, and compression to make a Diesel engine run. You are not getting at least one of those. Are you sure those 2 are diesel mechanics? Dont forget that you need good cranking speed too.
So that was the problem they did not do a test and removed the head because there was suction from the exhaust so they sumised that there was something wrong with the head gasket
Right so the speed was an issue initially. Beginning to question the competence of these2 but they were not related I just had both of them come because we were not getting anywhere. The guy who borrowed it confessed to me today that he had run it out of fuel and sprayed 2 cans of starting fluid into it. Not good
Ouch.!!
Yup so now the head is at the machine shop and I think I have to re ring out of precaution
anywhere to get a workshop manual? Ford bsd 444 4.4