L185 won't start

patrick

New member

Equipment
L185 PROJECT TRACTOR, BOBCAT 825, SCAG ZCAT
Sep 12, 2009
6
0
0
New Orleans Louisiana
I have a l185 that i pick from a freind of my freind. Owner said that went to use it on day and it would not start. Not sure he is tell the truth. It wont start. appear to have good compression. I never checked it with compression tester yet. when I got it , no water in radiator. I checked dip stick but did not see any sign of milky substance. I don't have a way to pressurize water system. It was not get fuel so I replace fuel and fuel filter. Tried bleeding fuel system several times with no luck. Had injector and pump ckecked and rebuilt a a local desiel shop It appears to be getting fuel now.
After putting pump back on, I was going replacing upper radiator hose.
While the hose was off, I tried to start the engine I noticed white smoke
come out upper radiator hose. Does this mean I have a blown head gasket?
Also if so will this cause tractor not to start at all? I have a full charged battery and decompression level appears working. I realized for a desiel
to run you need fuel, air and compression? is my instinct correct?Any Help would be great
 

patrick

New member

Equipment
L185 PROJECT TRACTOR, BOBCAT 825, SCAG ZCAT
Sep 12, 2009
6
0
0
New Orleans Louisiana
glow plugs getting about 9 volts and when I touch where wires on top of them they are it warm to hot. Also thought plug were only needed for cold weather ? Is this not true? Can I come right off battery to each plug for about 5 second a and try to crank or will that hurt plugs
 

dwhiteboy67

New member

Equipment
L185
Aug 7, 2009
10
0
0
bay minette, Al US
Patrick,
I have the same tractor and I'm having the same problem's with water in my oil. The front cylinder has water on top of the piston and the back has oil on it. Don't know if I have any ring problem's or not yet, but when I send the head too the shop to have it checked out I'll start breaking down the piston's too see what's going on with it. Any help would be great being you have the same trouble I'm having.
 

Ob1kubota

New member

Equipment
M9540DT
Jul 26, 2009
316
0
0
Birmingham, AL
I have a l185 that i pick from a freind of my freind. Owner said that went to use it on day and it would not start. Not sure he is tell the truth. It wont start. appear to have good compression. I never checked it with compression tester yet. when I got it , no water in radiator. I checked dip stick but did not see any sign of milky substance. I don't have a way to pressurize water system. It was not get fuel so I replace fuel and fuel filter. Tried bleeding fuel system several times with no luck. Had injector and pump ckecked and rebuilt a a local desiel shop It appears to be getting fuel now.
After putting pump back on, I was going replacing upper radiator hose.
While the hose was off, I tried to start the engine I noticed white smoke
come out upper radiator hose. Does this mean I have a blown head gasket?
Also if so will this cause tractor not to start at all? I have a full charged battery and decompression level appears working. I realized for a desiel
to run you need fuel, air and compression? is my instinct correct?Any Help would be great
White smoke = water in fuel combustion I think you are spot on buddy. you are going to have to get some diag tools to either pressure test the coolant system or pull the injectors one at a time and check individual cylinder pressures and record the findings to aid in a rebuild. We call this mak'en Kool aid up here in Alabama. Did this tractor go through Katrina? :eek: