Gf1800 crank no start

[Caleb Vonderschmidt]

Hey guys, just picked up a used GF1800, 1000 hours exactly. Has a crank no start. Cranks healthy, fuel pump is good and moves fuel, cracked injectors and they do bubble. No smoke produced when cranking; but when using starter fluid it does fire and produce black smoke. What else can i check? Was running and cutting last week allegedly

 

[loggin]

Hey guys, just picked up a used GF1800, 1000 hours exactly. Has a crank no start. Cranks healthy, fuel pump is good and moves fuel, cracked injectors and they do bubble. No smoke produced when cranking; but when using starter fluid it does fire and produce black smoke. What else can i check? Was running and cutting last week allegedly

There should not be any bubbles coming out at the injector lines. Might indicate trouble with the injection pump. I'm assuming you loosened the injector lines at the injectors and did not remove the injectors..? How long did you crank the engine and see bubbles? Do all the injector lines have bubbles?

 

[Caleb Vonderschmidt]

There should not be any bubbles coming out at the injector lines. Might indicate trouble with the injection pump. I'm assuming you loosened the injector lines at the injectors and did not remove the injectors..? How long did you crank the engine and see bubbles? Do all the injector lines have bubbles?

 

[Caleb Vonderschmidt]

Yes cracked the bolt at the injection pump first then tightened that and cracked the injectors individually. All 3 had bubbles which didn’t seem to go away completely. Cranked for a good 30-40 seconds. I was thinking injection pump too, is there a way to just replace the seals or what do you think?

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: but when using starter fluid it does fire and produce black smoke.

um, WHO told you it's OK to use starting fluid on a Kubota diesel !!!!

How long do you preheat the glowplugs ?

 

[loggin]

Yes cracked the bolt at the injection pump first then tightened that and cracked the injectors individually. All 3 had bubbles which didn’t seem to go away completely. Cranked for a good 30-40 seconds. I was thinking injection pump too, is there a way to just replace the seals or what do you think?

Unless you are very familiar with injection pumps I would not suggest taking it apart, rather remove it and bring it to a good injection pump shop.

But before you do that, get the cheap stuff out of the way. This is what I would do first.
Make sure you have good, clean, fresh diesel fuel.
Replace fuel lines and make sure they are not sucking air. Perhaps even draw directly from a separate fuel can.
Do the bleeding procedure again and allow longer cranking times. Just remember to give the starter some time to cool occasionally.

If after all this you are still getting air in the lines and failure to start, then it may be time to consider getting the injection pump looked at.

Just what I would do. Perhaps someone else can chime in here and add some things I have left out.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Yes cracked the bolt at the injection pump first then tightened that and cracked the injectors individually. All 3 had bubbles which didn’t seem to go away completely. Cranked for a good 30-40 seconds. I was thinking injection pump too, is there a way to just replace the seals or what do you think?

Well you're going to need to do one more test, a compression test.
Using starting fluid on a Kubota is a HUGE NO NO, it does a lot of damage in a split second!
Be prepared for it to not run again without major work.

Now if it passes a compression test then you can go into fixing the real issue.
It's NOT the injection pump, they don't just go belly up like that.
You have an issue with either the fuel filters, lift pump, or the fuel lines.
And it's sucking air and sending that to the injection pump.