John Deere 5320 will not start. HELP!

Background info:

I have a year 2003 John Deere model 5320 with 600 hours on the engine. It is a 3-cylinder turbo diesel.

The problem:

Today I attempted to start her up. She instantly fired up but only ran for 2 to 3 seconds then died. Numerous attempts to restart her were unsuccessful.

The details:

This tractor has faithfully started up for me the last 3+ years in the first second or two of cranking the starter. I last had her running two days ago without problem. The fuel filter was changed 5 weeks ago and I have put approximately 100 hours on her since. The fuel tank has a fresh 8 gallons of Mobile fuel station grade diesel. I added another 5 gallons today to increase the downward gravity pressure on the output line going to the fuel filter. I opened the water drain valve on the bottom of the fuel tank to verify good gravity feed of fuel and no water in system then closed the valve.

The diagnosis thus far:

The first thing I checked was for fuel at the injector pump. I loosened the bleed screw then operated the priming pump on the fuel filter a few hundred pumps. No fuel came out. The next thing I checked was fuel flow at the fuel filter. I loosened the bleed screw at the fuel filter then operated the priming pump a few hundred pumps. No fuel came out. Next, I removed the fuel tank cap to check for a cap vacuum problem and rechecked the fuel filter. Still no fuel came out. Next, I removed the fuel filter and noted that the fuel filter was 99% empty. I hand filled the fuel filter then reinstalled it then tried to bleed the air once again by operating the priming pump. Again, it appears as though the priming pump wasn't doing anything.

Possible conclusions thus far:

1. Priming pump is not drawing fuel from the tank to the filter.
2. Maybe the tank is somehow clogged where the fuel is supposed to leave the tank and go to the fuel line to the filter.
3. Maybe the rubber fuel line has a crack in it allowing air to enter the system.

Assumptions:

1. Even if the priming pump on the fuel filter was inoperable this doesn't explain why the fuel filter emptied.
2. If the rubber fuel line has a crack in it I would have expected to either see fuel dripping or "wetness" near the crack but I observed none.

Has anyone experienced this problem before or know what the next step is in solving this mystery?

Good luck and don't take the dry humor to hard fella..

have a good one

When my 7610s had this problem, she lost power and tried to stall out.. I idled her down and shut her off..., I was out mowing ( using a JD 1517 batwing though.. so not all green is bad! (grin) ), I pulled the tank tap out and it had a filter the size of my finger on it up inthe tank.. very fine screen.. and it was plugged up with various bits of trash from a couple years of use. A bit of air pressure from a air nozzle and i blew it all out.. rinsed in mineral spirits and reinstalled after also blowing out tank tap valve, and the hardline from the tap to the fuel filter body inlet. Reinstalled tap, reinstalled all lines but left nuts loose, turned fuel on and turned on electric charge pump and as soon as I got fuel out everywhere, i closed them and gave her a crank.. took 3 revs instead of the 2 normally, and she idled rough for the first couple seconds but then she was back in business.

Hope this helps..

Soundguy

This is a gravity fed system with the injection pump providing the only "suction" in the system. There isn't an electric fuel pump but maybe the engineer should have put one in instead of a check valve.

The 5320 Operation and Test Manual doesn't show a fuel check valve in the fuel system diagram nor does it mention one in the theory of operation. However, I did locate a fuel check valve this morning. It is located halfway between the fuel tank and the fuel filter. I assume it is there to help hold the fuel prime by acting as a one way gate. I completely removed the six feet of fuel line with check valve today. I'm going to replace the entire piece. A closer inspection of the check valve appears to reveal some of those "filling" or "shavings" on the fuel tank side of the valve. Even though it appear as though it wasn't clogged it is really hard to say for sure as by the time I disconnected the hose, fuel rushing out could have unclogged it. I say this because I blew into it and air seem to come out the other side. But none-the-less there were shavings in the valve and what appeared to be a small piece of straw. This may have been enough to cause the problem as this fuel system relies a bit on gravity and the fuel tank sits lower than the fuel filter. Not the most cleaver design if you ask me. The injection pump has the burden of providing the suction through the filter and to the tank. Oddly, engineers at JD decided in their infinite wisdom to mount a low fuel tank on the left side then run six feet of hose to the right side where the fuel filter sits up higher then run another six feet of fuel tube back to the left side to the injection pump. No wonder the fuel tank needs to be full to prime the filter. Seems like an electric fuel pump would have made life easier.

• Fuel Delivery Problem on a JD 5420

Still the system is a pain in the neck, but reliability is now OK. The fuel filter design makes the filters tough to change and the priming sequence is not exactly user friendly for a single person.

Now my 1997 Ford Powerstroke fuel system is trouble free with 240k miles. Easy filter changes and self-priming. I expected such simplicity out of a high dollar tractor. I was sure to call JD to tell them what I thought when it happened.

I agree with you on the priming issue. How the heck do they expect us to operate the hand pump and watch what is going on with the injection pump when they are on opposite sides of the tractor. Being an engineer myself I'm disappointed with what JD engineers decided to do with this design.