1982 4610 3 cyl diesel, 2300 hrs., with the distributor type injection pump. When cold or in case of 95 deg weather, when it sits overnite, it starts ok. I know these tractors need a good battery to spin it over and this battery seems ok to me. When run for awhile, even when shut down for a couple hours, it takes alot of cranking to get started. Sometimes need to put charger on battery. I cleaned seperator, new fuel filter, bled everything and when I cracked the fittings at the injectors on at a time, it took an awfull lot of cranking to get it going. What whould be some of the causes? Compression? Injector pump? Air leak somewhere? There is no fuel leaking so how would I check for an air leak?

no, it does not smoke when cranking

I had the same problem with my 335 tractor the fuel we have today is lacking lubrication need at start up if the pump has a lot of wear I started adding about a quart of sae 30 oil to a tank fuel it has helped me.

It is probably worn head on injector pump. You can test it by pouring cool water on pump and see it it starts, BUT you can seize the pump up doing that, so I do not think it is worth the risk.

"You can test it by pouring cool water on pump and see it it starts, BUT you can seize the pump up doing that, so I do not think it is worth the risk."

Worst part is, if that happens, you have all but proved the pump was probably OK to begin with. I'd start with a compression test hot, then cold. While the injectors are out, pop test them. if all that checks out, repair or replace the IP.

Refusal to start when hot is one sign of impending injector pump failure. The next time it happens run cool water across the pump and see what happens.

One thing that can happen is the hydraulic head contracts much faster than the rotor inside it. Rotor seizes to head, driveshaft snaps, injection pump is junk.

try this.

next time you run it and shut it down, and then go to rtestart.. when you would expect it to hard-start.

park it next to something with a good bat. like your diesel pickup.. or a tractor with a big bat.

have charger on it to have it topped. when you shut down, put charger on your bat.

come back and kick the charger over to start and jumper cable the bats. and then see what it does. if it bang off.. i'd load tes the bat and check all your connections.

ps. when starting hard. is it making smoke?