Old girl won't start

[JonnyM]

Good afternoon all.

I wss using my 63 super major yesterday with no problems. Got tired so shut her down and left her in the paddock overnight. Had a bit of rain but nothing to worry about.
Get up this morning and she wont start. Cranks ok, bled the fuel but no smoke or attempt at running.
Does anyone have any ideas. The engine covers are off as i had to fix an oil leak so I'm wondering if waters got somewhere it shouldn't. I'm going to bleed some of the tank in case water has got in.
Can i tow start her and if so, how do i do it?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

More info. Thought that the fuel cut off may be stuck closed preventing the fuel from flowing. Cracked the injector pipes at the block and getting less than a dribble.
When i move the cut off arm i get no movement until the last 5-10mm of travel. Is this normal. Zero movement through 45 degrees.

[AdrianNPMajor]

This looks to be a fuel flow problem.
Begin at the beginning! The fuel tank. Remove tap and look for filth around the filter. From there, clean glass bowl gauze (if fitted) and replace fuel filter cartridge.
Best, Adrian.

[blackbob]

The only way rainwater would affect your engine starting, is if it had got into the inlet manifold, either by the big hose not being fitted, or via the air cleaner (do you have the 'mushroom' pre-cleaner fitted?)

You don't mention the cold-start button - do you use it? And if you push it in, does it pop back out if you move the cut-off lever rearwards? I'm not sure I understand what you mean about the travel of this lever..

But yes, try cleaning filters and bleeding first, if you don't get even a wisp of smoke from the exhaust while cranking after that, come back to us and we can investigate further

[JonnyM]

Afternoon all.

Checked fuel flow. All good to the injection unit. When i crack the bleed screw and turn the engine i get good diesel flow. I have the mushroom air cleaner on and secure so, i agree, not much water would get in that way. Bled some diesel and checked, no water in the tank.

I cracked no.1 injector pipe out of the top of the injector and get nothing on cranking.

I don't use the cold start button. I'm in Australia and cold is something i miss.

I'm thinking the control rod is stuck shut as i get very little movement with the cut off. No movement till the cut off lever is nearly at full travel, then it m ove a little bit.

Does the govenor work the control rod as well as the cut off? Its a simms with mechanical govenor.

The old girl worked fine on Friday but nothing on Saturday which is making me think the cut off. Its the last thing i touched. Just very wary with digging too far into it as i'm sure it'll be very fiddly to pull apart.

Thanks for the help so far.

[Pavel]

Have you checked,and renewed, the oil in the injector pump, Jonny?
On the top, to the left, is the filler plug. On the bottom bulbous casing there are 2 more, smaller, plugs -- top one is the level plug with the bottom one the drain. Fill with engine oil.
Pavel.

[JonnyM]

Thanks Pavel. Didn’t realise they had oil in them. What came out didn’t look like oil. Anyway, full flush and refill completed. Still didn’t fix it.

Removed the injector pipes and cranked her over. Small amount of fuel coming out. Didn’t think that was enough to run an engine this big. About to pull the whole injection unit off and commence an overhaul when I decided to put it back together and throw some engine start down the air intake.

Old girl started then stayed running. Wouldn’t idle properly for a couple of minutes and needed another shot of engine start, but after a few minutes she was running like her old self.

All I can think was a very big airlock somewhere that needed the engine running to push it out.

Thanks to all who responded. I’ve learnt something today.