4000D Injection Pump Trials and Tribulations

Last year I painted my 4000D. That tractor always started and ran just fine. After it was painted and put back together (minus the sheet metal which was at the body shop long story) I put fuel in it and it fired up perfect like it should. It ran maybe 5 minutes in the shop, then suddenly fluttered out and died. Strange I thought, but maybe I had a clogged line or something of that nature, starving it of fuel. Afterall, I did have all the lines and the tank off. Maybe I got some paint or sand in the fuel system somewhere. So I changed the filter, checked all the lines, but was getting plenty of fuel delivery to the pump. Sometimes it would start, but could never keep it going. Took the cover off the pump and noticed the spring and linkage were hanging up a bit and if I flipped it down with my finger, it would start--but still not run a consisent rpm like it should. Talking to my pump guy (who was just a few days retiring and closing his shop), he felt there were some worn parts and it needed serviced and he could do it. So I jerked the pump off my freshly painted tractor :( and sent it out to get rebuilt before he closed down.

Got the pump back in few days, put it on and the tractor seemed to run just fine. Problem solved. That was last fall. At the time, I still didn't have all the sheet metal back from the body shop, so I parked the tractor, and it hasn't been started till yesterday (some 8 months later) when I decided to get it out. Hit the key and it started fine. Drove it around to the shop and it started acting funny again. Hit the throttle and the RPM's climb really slow. Engine seems to speed up and slow down slightly on its own. And then it fluttered and died. I thought man you gotta be kidding me, here we go again :roll: . I managed to get it started several times and it would sit there and run at about any set speed, but if I so much as touched the throttle, it would die. No amount of pumping the foot feed would save it. The only thing I could think of (other than the fact that the guy didn't fix my pump right) is maybe the pump was somehow gummed up a little bit inside from sitting. Thing is that I use conditioner in my fuel and I have never had an ounce of trouble with any other tractor, and they all sit for months and months at a time just like this one. Just so happened that I had a full can of sea foam on the shelf. The can says it works for diesels too, so I poured the whole can into a nearly full tank of fuel. Got the tractor running again. I let it run maybe 5-10 minutes and backed it into the shed and shut if off. Today I start it up, and man I tell you, it runs like a completely different machine. Hit the throttle and it revs instantly. Idle it back and it comes back to idle (without dying like before). I know from using that stuff on my small gas engines that if you run a little throught it and let it sit for awhile, it seems like it eats all the gunk inside. Must have done a great job of cleaning the inside of that pump because it runs really great now. Good thing too because I was about ready to pull the pump again. I have used seafoam before and I am sold on it for gas engines like lawnmowers, chain saws, and weed eaters. Never used it on a diesel before but now I'm thinking I need to dump a can in all my tractors, especially since they sit so much. I am completely sold on it and definitely recommend it--and no I have no affilliation with them. Just really relieved. Anyone else use it?
 
Old stale fuel is the pits. What year
is your 4000? I have a 1970 with the
short pump. Red Oak and Spencer in Iowa
still fix. Original lasted 9000+ hours.
 
(quoted from post at 17:23:51 06/25/16) Old stale fuel is the pits. What year
is your 4000? I have a 1970 with the
short pump. Red Oak and Spencer in Iowa
still fix. Original lasted 9000+ hours.

It is a 72 with the tall pump. I have had Spencer work on a 4020 cb pump that siezed up a couple years ago. I will try to get some pics of the 4000 up here sometime soon.
 
Have you checked to see if the fuel return
line is restricted or plugged? Sometimes
that can cause the symptoms you describe.
Mike
 
Corner post is right . Old fuel starts to grow barnacels in the tank and fuel lines, that causes plugged lines etc. Now when you were pumping the throttle all you were doing was getting exercise as nothing was moving inside other than the Governer spring And yes sometimes that will move the metering valve a bit . Sounds like the metering valve had scale on it and the sea foam loosened it . Keep a good fuel additive in the tank and you should be sure to go .
 

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