New Member and stalled Fordson Major

[Majorfan95]

Hi everyone, my names KJ and I'm from Australia!

I'm a massive Fordson fan and really love old vintage tractors and machinery!
I have a 1957 Fordson Major Diesel, it's a great tractor and the farm's workhorse.
However, last week I was discing a field with a twin disc trailed implement that wasn't very deep in the ground and the tractor coughed and spluttered to a stop?
I was discing for about an hour before hand and everything was running fine; I tried to restart it, but it had no smoke and was turning like the stop control was pulled and no diesel was pumping. So I pushed in the cold start button and retried it; this time it fired up for about 2 seconds at a very low RPM and then stopped? Fearing for the worst, I took the cover off the injector pump and observed the rack and plungers, when the starter was operated they all moved up and down correctly and followed the cam. Then I noticed that the glass bowl on the lift pump was only half full of diesel and there was no resistance in it, which was quite odd as the tank had nearly 20 litres of Diesel in it? So I decided to bleed the system, when I took the bleed screw out of the secondary filter on the outlet side there was a lot of Diesel pressure and it sprayed up. I then operated the lift pump; resistance was felt and it's glass bowl filled up with diesel, it also started running out the bleed screw, so I re-tightened the screw and then opened the bleed screw on the injector pump. At this point, when I operated the lift pump bubbles started coming out of the bleed screw and then flowing Diesel. So I tried to start it, but again it only ever attempted to start with the cold start button pushed. So I disconnected the outlet pipe on the lift pump to see if there was a blockage, but when the priming handle is operated it spurted out a bit of Diesel. I then disconnected the inlet pipe into the lift pump and Diesel was flowing out of the tank easily? I'm thinking the lift pump is faulty as resistance is only felt when the priming handle is close to the lift pump body? Any ideas?

I really hope that it isn't anything major, but I don't think it would be as it was running very well before.

[AdrianNPMajor]

Lift pump diaphragm may be holed.
Best, Adrian.

[super6954]

Hi Majorfan95
Welcome to the forum , Don't panic just yet . You could have some junk floating round in the tank that temporarily starved it of fuel or plugged the tank outlet. sometimes undoing a bleed screw will make the junk go back in the tank. or the junk moves on it's own when the tractor stops, and sits a few mins .
from reading your description of bleeding, and what i think you mean about the pump handle resistance the last time. The hand primer pump is driven off a lobe, and arm on the cam shaft to pump fuel while the tractor runs.
At or near certain points of lobe full height the internal pump arm is at near maximum travel. Depending where the motor stops. when you have that situation, you get much more hand prime lever Free movement, before the resistance is felt. If its right up on the cam there is no pump action at all felt at the hand lever, from memory. Try turning the motor by hand, if you have that situation. You should find full travel returns to that hand primer lever. Some where before you make a full motor turn in gradual movements.

Usually on a major if the Diaphragm has a hole in the fuel level drops in the tank and the motor oil rises on the dipstick,when the fuel runs into the oil over a period of time. leaking injector return lines/ fittings, under the Valve cover can cause this to over time. so you can get that from 2 common sources so can be confusing to diagnose, the last one being only by removing the rocker cover and running the motor and looking for the leak .
Hopefully the tractor has a clean tank and good clean fuel filter elements , some I have seen have been an act of a religious symbol that they ran at all .
You might have to slack the injector lines at the top end and crank a bit to bleed those lines to get it to fire as well. one of mine can be temperamental( ok just plain ignorant ), if it runs out of fuel .
If you get it running and a short time later it stops again with air then I might think about the diaphragm and a hole, or if you know the oils rising when it wasn't before, so check that to. Sometimes a major leaks or burns a bit of oil to. you might notice the oil getting thinner/ appearing to not use as much as before, rather than rising in that case depending how much it looses, or you will smell the diesel in the oil to. depending how much goes in.
Hope this might help you. please let us know how you get on .
Regards Robert

[Majorfan95]

Thanks for the tips everyone, I really appreciate it!
The good news is after I charged my battery and got the air out of the system, it fired right up! So I took it for a run around the field in 4th gear; I do have to admit that it didn't feel as powerful as it usually is. However, as it was running I took special notice of the lift pump and I discovered that bubbles were appearing in the glass fuel bowl. So I stopped and put the throttle back to idle, that then resulted in the tractor coughing and spluttering to a complete stop like last time. I got off and operated the primer handle and some diesel started dripping out of it. I checked the oil level and it had slightly risen, so I don't think I'll run this machine again until I get to the bottom of this saga. I know Majors tend to use a bit of oil, and this one has a little bit of light blue smoke when running. I can't see the filters being choked as I replaced them as well as the oil in June last year and the tractor hasn't had that much use since then. Would you be able to bleed the system if they were choked?

(I do admit that this tractor has been hunting at idle since I replaced the diaphragm in the injection pump in September last year, but I was told it needed the large bolt on the front of the governor housing adjusting. At idle, it goes to stop but picks up again. Yet once the revs increase it runs smooth.)

Majorfan95

[fenhayman]

I guess that the filter in the fuel tank is getting blocked. Once some dirt is caught in the filter the remaining clear spaces are quickly blocked and you get fuel starvation. When the engine is stopped some dirt will fall away from the filter, only for it to block up again when the engine runs again.
If you want to keep the tractor running, until you have time to properly clean the tank, give it a blast of air.
Take the output pipe off at the tap below the tank and with a cycle pump, with 1/2inch of connector attached, give a few pumps up into the tank. You don't need to make an airtight joint.This will blow all the dirt off the filter and then you have some working hours before it blocks again.
If you are near the barn use an airline. I always kept a cycle pump in the toolbox.

[BearCreek Majors]

I'm thinking Adrian hit it rite on the head, with a bad diaphram it will suck air, thus the bubbles you are seeing in the bowl, and it will also let the fuel drain through the pump housing and into the crankcase, this may be the cause of the higher oil level you are seeing. I would sugest a lift pump rebuild/replace and drain and replace the engine oil as it is probably thinned down with fuel.

Pat

[Majorfan95]

Thanks for all your advice!

I think I'll probably try and clean the fuel tank as fenhayman says
So what I've done today is emptied the fuel tank of diesel with a pump and then put some fresh diesel in; I admit that the fuel I pumped out was quite clear, but then again the sediment could still be on the bottom of the tank. I also fitted a new lift pump, bled the system and it started up. It's idle is slightly more even than last time it was running. I ran it for only about 3 minutes as I was running out of daylight. I noticed the old lift pump had a lot of sediment in the glass bowl, I guess that happens with 57 years of farm work! Hopefully everything well be fine, so fingers crossed.

I'd like to add some photos to the forum of it, but I'll have to figure that out.

[henk]

You have to clean the filter on the tap from the dieseltank. Otherwise the problem can return. It's on top of the tap. To clean it you have to remove the tap. Than you can also flush the tank.

[Dandy Dave]

I had a piece of leaf in my tank that drove me nuts for a time. I finally found it when the tractor refused to start while sitting in the shed. It would sometimes float over the tap and then get sucked down stopping the flow of fuel. The tractor would quit usually while I was on the highway going between properties. I would get off, pump the lift pump a few times, and it would start and run again. After it refused to get sufficient fuel in the shed that day, I got some jugs together and siphoned the fuel out of the tank to check the tap which looked fine. Putting the fuel back in the tank I used a paint filter in a funnel that that evil Devil of a leaf revealed itself. I have not had a problem since. I do agree that you did need to replace the lift pump as when my quit, I did not have to bleed it until the last time I had the problem and drained everything. Dandy Dave!