Injector blocked I think?

[PaulH]

Bit of a long story, please stay with me.
Recently my Kubota L2202-DT-M tractor just lost power and would not restart. I got a diesel mechanic to look at it and he put a compression tester on the no. 2 cylinder and it showed 100psi. He said the rings had got hot and it would be 20+ hrs and $2000-$3000. I asked him if it could be the head gasket and he said no because the consistency of the engine turning over indicated rings.
I decided I would have to do it myself as I could not afford the cost.
Getting to the point, I am a novice but removed head and gasket blown between 2 and 3 cylinders. I checked the cylinders and found no scratches to indicate it needed new rings.
I fitted new head gasket, set valve gap plus new intake and exhaust gasket.
After bleeding fuel on top of injectors she fired up immediately.
After a few yahoos I noticed it did not fire smoothly when throttle increased.
I rechecked the valve clearances to attain tdc so many times (before putting head on I marked position each cylinder when piston was at the top with 3 different paint colours). Watching the exhaust valve close and the inlet valve start to open indicated that I was at tdc not tbc ( that's my understanding)

To eliminate the cause of the misfire I cracked each injector and it started to stall when I did it to cylinders 1 and 3 but no change in engine sound when I did it to cylinder 2. So I thought no.2 has a problem. I went and bought a compression tester (not too expensive as I'm $1000s in pocket now provided it isn't also the rings! This showed 400psi.
I then cracked all cylinders again and 1 and 3 weeped fuel but no. 2 cylinder spurted more than weeped.
Would love some advice on whether I'm right or way off target?
I'm thinking I may have allowed some dirt to get into the injector when I took the head off.
If it is the injector, can it be cleaned in situ (like some small vacuum pump) or do I have to remove the injector and do I remove ALL the injector? What do I use to remove it? Just a big open ended spanner?
Bit scary for me removing the injector but then again I never pulled a tractor down and fitted a head gasket.
Sorry for the long post
I would love some advice please***128512;

 

[D2Cat]

PaulH, I'm not familiar with you specific tractor, but you demonstrated good mechanical skills to remove and replace the head gasket.

On the injectors, you can take the steel line loose from the injector, remove the injector, then rotate the steel line out to the side of the tractor and reconnect the injector. Try starting the engine....watching the pattern of fuel. Be very careful doing this, the fuel pressure can inject fuel into you skin if you put yourself in it's path.

Pattern should be a mist, not droplets. If injector isn't putting out the correct pattern it would probably be best to replace all injectors. Probably cost around $60 each. Then you would know what you got for a long time.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

From what you are describing is not the injector that is bad it the Injection pump that is bad.
If it's not getting the fuel and pressure to the injector the injector will not spray.
Quick test to make sure it is truly the injection pump and not the injector, swap injectors between cylinders, the problem will follow the injector if that is the problem and if not it will stay with the cylinder.
If it moved either replace or have the injectors rebuilt, do it as a set your whole performance will improve.
If it didn't move pull the injection lines off of the injection pump, set the throttle to high and while cranking the engine compare the diesel coming out of the injector pump they should all shoot a small fountain up to the same height.
If one doesn't then send the Injection pump to be rebuilt.
Do not attempt to do it yourself, it takes very precise equipment to set them correctly, beside that getting replacement parts in near to impossible.

 

[PaulH]

Thanks guys. I am comforted by your replies. It seems I am on the right track and will follow your advice. If I am to test the injector out of the block it seems that I should use some blank in the block when doing this. As I will need to remove the intake manifold off plus injector lines to get good access to the injectors, I can take this opportunity to test the pump is pumping evenly as you stated ***128522;

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

No you don't need to block anything off, it will actually just allow the motor to spin free so easier on the starter.
You shouldn't have to remove the intake to remove the injectors????
But could be wrong there are a ton of different setups and I don't know what motor your grey has in it.

 

[coachgeo]

...a ton of different setups and I don't know what motor your grey has in it.

According to Tractor data it is an D1402 if that helps any. If it is anything like my 1302 you should not have to take off the manifold. Just remove all the injector lines to get them out of the way, or half the line and swing them out of the way as NIW suggested earlier.

 

[PaulH]

Thanks again. In Australia the engine is listed as D1402 D might be for Downunder ***128522; I'm off to work in a minute but will check back later. Feeling more confident now thanks

 

[coachgeo]

Thanks again. In Australia the engine is listed as D1402 D might be for Downunder ***128522; I'm off to work in a minute but will check back later. Feeling more confident now thanks

My bad... I miss typed it as L1402. Meant it to be "D"1402. Seems I had another brain fart.

 

[PaulH]

Woohoo all fixed up. I followed all your advice. Swapped injectors over and all cylinders fired. Where the fuel line is fastened onto the fuel pump it was locked on tight but the nut it fastened onto was not fully locked tight but appeared so because of the rigidity of the steel fuel pipe. I wonder if it was more loose before I swapped injectors hence the improvement. It only took about a 10 degree turn of the spanner to lock it tight. Runs like a Rolls Royce now.
I had to remove the intake manifold plus rocker cover (the overflow connectors on the injectors hit the rocker cover) to get a spanner on the injectors. It was not a big issue for me as I fitted new intake and exhaust manifold gaskets when I changed the head gasket.
Thanks again everyone I really appreciate it ***128512;***128512;***128512;***128512;

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Great to hear!
Yes a loose fittings on the top of the injection pump can keep it from delivering the proper fuel amount and pressure to the injectors.