setting valves on 806D

My 806D is a little hard starting and i dont like using ether alot. It also has a slight miss at lower rpms when its cold. It will start fine if you plug it in over night but if you dont plug it in, it will start very hard when its cold out. It has the roosamaster pump on it and pump timing is fine. I thought about setting the valves to see if that would help any. Anyone had any good results with a D361 engine with just setting valves. It 9500hrs on it. Setting the valves would be easy and inexpensive, i guess the next step would be a total valve job or injector work.

Well if it has never had the valves run in them hours she is way past due, BUT don't expect a this to cure your cold starting problems. The 361 is a fussy engine and IF she is getting a little tired then she is not up on compression.With age the valves ware deeper into the valve seats and this drops compression and wornen rings along with sleeve ware don't help . Then we get into the injectors as like everything else they don't work like new anymore either and you also have no idea as to what the cranking pressure of the pump is or how fast the starter is turning the engine over. Are your batterys up to snuff?? do they have the correct cranking amps ?? are your cables the correct size . My 806 is like me it does not like cold weather either. But add a little warmth then she is ready to go.

Heat is the answer. Is the fuel Winter blend? Are the batteries cranking it like 12.6 volts, or like 10 volts? Slow cranking is a real issue.
An engine block heater (tank type or core plug style) on a timer to give it 2 hours of warming before depending on it is pretty much normal. If it is using oil, or down on power, it just might be tired (as Tractor Vet points out) Ether is hard on them, you are correct. here is a bit of valve adjust thinking:
Valve Adjust by Jim --- It is simple and fool proof. The process works for all engines with adjustable poppet valves and any number of cylinders. Identifying the valve order is all that is necesary (given in this pprocess for the IH 6 cyl).
I do it this way others do a different system. It must be set cold first, so setting it twice (or once) is normal Get the specification.
Set the intake valve on cylinder #1 (Front) when its exhaust valve just starts to open.
Set the exhaust when the intake just closes.
These are the two positions that can be seen at the springs and retainers for each cylinder to be as far away from a lobe on the cam as possible while still knowing where it is.
The order is (front to back EI-IE-EI-IE-EI-IE)
Look at #1 valves, Turn the engine till the Exhaust just starts to begin opening (moves) then adjust the Intake valve. Rotate more until the intake just stops moving after having been open) and adjust the exhaust. Treat every cylinder (pair of valves shown above) the same way, remembering they switch places between cylinders) I put a rag over the ones I have done to keep track of progress, and avoid mixing what I am looking at. Jim

Jim when ya adjust therm valves on them you remove the timing cover on the bell housing and reinstall the timing pointer with the two cover bolts , then ya set it at TDC and you are either on #1 or #6 and if both valves are loose on either 1 or 6 you are at TDC on that hole . Then ya adjust as stated in the book , then ya roll her over a full turn and adjust the other 6 and easy way to keep track is with a crayon and just mark the valves as you do them. And here again you MUST look at the rocker arm for ware and only get the feeler gauge under the worn part of the rockerarm or your valve set will be off. As to doing them HOT anything over 70 degrees is good. For the most part people think that i do not have to adjust valves anymore because we don't have to on our cars and trucks. Wrong . Any engine with solid or rollerized cam followers needs to be adjusted , Even the Dodge Cummins needs adjusted and by my book at around 25000 miles . My own 806 was never done till a few years ago when i pulled the valve cover and had to use a gskt scraper to break the org gskt. I check the valves on it around 1500 hours or around every three years.On my Dodge with the Cummins with the miles i put on it that is about once every four years. No on the gassers they get the valves run each year in the spring when i do the tune up along with checking the ing. timing when i put the new points in.

A little advice I learned the hard way on my 806:

I complained for a long time about how hard mine starts. Jim and Tractor vet probably remember. I had finally given up and accepted it. Long story short, My battery cables went bad at the end of last winter. I replaced all of them while I was at it. With the batteries fully charged, it now starts much better in the colder weather. Still needs block heater or ether at 40 degrees or colder, but that's a super improvement from what I had. Now, the batteries are getting weak. I guess they deserve to, they're almost 7 years old...

Good luck. -Andy

I will just add that you have to be doubly careful on adjusting valves on the 361 because intake is .013 and ex is .025 plus the fact that the valves alternate all the way with exhaust, intake, exhaust, intake, exhaust all the way as is normal for most any direct injection diesel engine. Some engines have intake front valve some have exhaust so you need to be sure which valve is which. I have seen them adjusted pretty mixed up.