D17 Diesel - a FEW issues

1) When I fire it up, it goes right to O or R in NORMAL on the oil pressure, but once warmed up (idle or road gear), it drops to the bottom of the gauge slowly. Any thoughts? I pulled the valve cover, and everything appears to be getting good oil flow on the topside. I have yet to pull the lower oil pan to inspect the pump & intake. Other than these two items, any other thougts? I do have a NAPA oil filter, which I know is not the best for proper backpressure....

2) It also seems to be missing at most every time, except under load, as in climbing a hill. It then at least sounds like it's running smoothly on all 6... I loosened the fuel lines to bleed any air, drained the old nasty diesel, cleaned the sediment bowl, replaced both fuel filters, and am running SeaFoam in both the engine oil and fuel. The engine oil (I have maybe 1-2 hours on it) is already black and nasty, so things must be gummy in there. I am wondering about the valve/lifters, and possibly injectors. Any other thoughts?

Thanks

Scott in Wisconsin

Dale(MO)

Dale(MO)

I don't have a D17, but I do have a D19 diesel I put to work routinely, and as far as the engine miss goes, the D19 is very touchy on timing. A couple of years ago, my D19 developed kind of a flutter in the exhaust at 3/4 throttle and light load. Of course, the Service Manager at the local Agco dealer right away wanted to rebuild the injector pump for more than the tractor was worth.

I went home and checked the timing. It was off a bit, so I played with the timing and eliminated the problem. Also, dirty/worn injectors can act the same way.

Hope this helps.