It's been a long time I've been on-and-off troubleshooting why the 003 I bought from GL doesn't run and I've never seen run. A friend of mine and I have gone through the troubleshooting in the TMs and think we have come up with a solution as to why it doesn't run.
We checked the air system and found there to be some rust in the intake pipe, so I took a metal brush and cleaned up all the loose rust I could get to in the pipe. So, that's clean.
We then went through the fuel system. We pulled the bottom caps off the fuel pumps and cleaned the magnets and filter elements in the pumps, then moved on to the strainer and both filters. Filters got replaced. We then purged the system of air up to the second filter can. When moving the master switch to prime and run, the pump clicked very fast while it filled the cans with fuel again, then slowed down to 1-2 clicks per second and fuel could be heard draining back into the tank.
I previously pulled the pump and found it to be seized both in rotation with the ring gear and also in the plunging motion. My friend soaked it in Varsol while I was at work one day despite my explicit instructions not to, but, it freed up the pump it seemed. We then timed it per the TM by lining up the PC mark on cylinder 1 and installing the pump with the back of a 1/8" drill bit in the timing lock hole on the pump.
We also pulled the injectors and found the retaining brackets to only be hand-tight holding the injectors in their bores. All were soaked in diesel and could only get the heatsink off the injector for cylinder 1. We found a crack in the heatsink for cylinder 4's heatsink and the end of the heatsink is cocked at an angle. So, we found a problem and determined replacing at least the injector and heatsink for cylinder 4 would be prudent. After cleaning up the injectors with diesel, they got reinstalled in their bores and tightened down. So, I need to still get at least 1 injector and heatsink for #4.
Despite knowing about the injector issue, they were reinstalled so we could do a compression test. We did not have an appropriate adapter to test compression via the injector hole or glow plug hole, so we used one of those blow-tip looking adapters used with gasoline engines that you simply jam in the spark plug hole and hold tight. We got around 180-250 psi in the cylinders, but I claim there were issues with the reading thanks to the lack of a proper adapter and not being able to follow step 1 of the compression test in the TM which reads "RUN ENGINE TO WARM UP". How am I supposed to run the engine first if the engine doesn't run? Anyways, I think had I had the right tools and been able to first run the engine, compression would read within an acceptable range.
Proceeding along, we hooked all the fuel lines back up and attempted to prime the injector lines. I pulled the delivery valve spring and we barred the engine over slowly with the injector lines cracked. We got some fuel out of injector lines 3 and 4, but not 1 and 2. Hmm, sounds bad. I reinstalled the delivery valve spring and we attempted to turn the engine over. Nothing. For kicks, we loosened the injector lines and spun the motor with the starter more. No fuel came out of any of the lines. So, I think I have a bad injector pump.
We also double-checked to make sure the glow plugs and preheaters were getting nice and warm and they were. The ambient temperature outside was also in the mid-80s, so there should have been no lack of heat to get the engine started.
So, in summary, it appears I need at least 1 injector and heatsink and a new injector pump. Did I follow a good troubleshooting process and come up with a reasonable diagnosis? I'd hate to throw such expensive parts at this genset just to find I didn't diagnose the issue properly. Thanks for any help I can get.
We checked the air system and found there to be some rust in the intake pipe, so I took a metal brush and cleaned up all the loose rust I could get to in the pipe. So, that's clean.
We then went through the fuel system. We pulled the bottom caps off the fuel pumps and cleaned the magnets and filter elements in the pumps, then moved on to the strainer and both filters. Filters got replaced. We then purged the system of air up to the second filter can. When moving the master switch to prime and run, the pump clicked very fast while it filled the cans with fuel again, then slowed down to 1-2 clicks per second and fuel could be heard draining back into the tank.
I previously pulled the pump and found it to be seized both in rotation with the ring gear and also in the plunging motion. My friend soaked it in Varsol while I was at work one day despite my explicit instructions not to, but, it freed up the pump it seemed. We then timed it per the TM by lining up the PC mark on cylinder 1 and installing the pump with the back of a 1/8" drill bit in the timing lock hole on the pump.
We also pulled the injectors and found the retaining brackets to only be hand-tight holding the injectors in their bores. All were soaked in diesel and could only get the heatsink off the injector for cylinder 1. We found a crack in the heatsink for cylinder 4's heatsink and the end of the heatsink is cocked at an angle. So, we found a problem and determined replacing at least the injector and heatsink for cylinder 4 would be prudent. After cleaning up the injectors with diesel, they got reinstalled in their bores and tightened down. So, I need to still get at least 1 injector and heatsink for #4.
Despite knowing about the injector issue, they were reinstalled so we could do a compression test. We did not have an appropriate adapter to test compression via the injector hole or glow plug hole, so we used one of those blow-tip looking adapters used with gasoline engines that you simply jam in the spark plug hole and hold tight. We got around 180-250 psi in the cylinders, but I claim there were issues with the reading thanks to the lack of a proper adapter and not being able to follow step 1 of the compression test in the TM which reads "RUN ENGINE TO WARM UP". How am I supposed to run the engine first if the engine doesn't run? Anyways, I think had I had the right tools and been able to first run the engine, compression would read within an acceptable range.
Proceeding along, we hooked all the fuel lines back up and attempted to prime the injector lines. I pulled the delivery valve spring and we barred the engine over slowly with the injector lines cracked. We got some fuel out of injector lines 3 and 4, but not 1 and 2. Hmm, sounds bad. I reinstalled the delivery valve spring and we attempted to turn the engine over. Nothing. For kicks, we loosened the injector lines and spun the motor with the starter more. No fuel came out of any of the lines. So, I think I have a bad injector pump.
We also double-checked to make sure the glow plugs and preheaters were getting nice and warm and they were. The ambient temperature outside was also in the mid-80s, so there should have been no lack of heat to get the engine started.
So, in summary, it appears I need at least 1 injector and heatsink and a new injector pump. Did I follow a good troubleshooting process and come up with a reasonable diagnosis? I'd hate to throw such expensive parts at this genset just to find I didn't diagnose the issue properly. Thanks for any help I can get.
