L275 not starting

[forrest carver]

My L275 will not start. It's acting like it's not getting fuel or the glow plugs aren't heating up. I discovered that the gas cap had blown off at some point in the past month or two and we've had plenty of rain so I suspected there was water in the tank. I drained the tank and put fresh fuel in. Loosened the bleed bolt and the injectors until fuel was coming out, still nothing.

I have a wire connected to a glow plug bus, which I connect to the red terminal of the battery for about 15 seconds to get the glow plugs going and this usually gets it to start, but not this time. Possibly noteworthy: when I connect the wire on the bus to the positive terminal, there are sparks (normal) but when the wire is connected to the positive terminal and I touch it to the bus, there are no sparks (not normal?)

Anything else I'm not thinking of?

 

[DaTow'd]

change the fuel filter

 

[Roadworthy]

Check the air path to see if it's clear - dirty filter, mouse nest, etc. Check the glow plugs themselves. Some glow plugs can fail to a dead short instead of open. Feeding them twelve volts can cause early failure as they are generally a 10.5 volt device.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

If you've gotten substantial water in the system you will need to purge it all out.
you need to remove the feed line to the injection pump and run fuel through the system till clear and clean.
Then you need to do a long bleed on all the injector lines to the injectors, the injection pump holds quite a bit of fuel or water in your case inside of it.

And instead of guessing what the glow plugs are doing, remove the buss and measure them with a meter.

 

[forrest carver]

Well, you guys came through for me again. I disconnected the air filter and gave it a try. Started up EAGERLY! I replaced the air filter and it is still running fine. I'm assuming that's normal?

Next step will be to get a new air filter. I believe this one is millions of years old.

 

[armylifer]

You may want to put a new air filter on it before you run it again. Otherwise you will be asking for more problems. You got it running again now keep up the maintenance and it will serve you well.