MF35 3cyl Perkins hard to start

I recently purchased an MF35 with the 3 cylinder Perkins diesel and it is very hard to start cold. Once started it runs great, good oil pressure and restarts easily until left over night. Then I can only get it going with a spray of quick start in the air intake. I have put two tanks of diesel through it so all the old diesel should be flushed out. I changed both fuel filters and I cleaned the air filter and replaced the oil in the filter. When I open the bleeder ports and turn the key there is a good stream of diesel from them. Any ideas why this engine which is renowned for being a good starter has so much issue starting cold? The key does not turn back to the heater option so I haven t been able to try starting it with that method.

Hard starting cold can be timing, or low engine compression, or both. Do you see white smoke on cold starting attempts? Are the injection pump flange scribe line and timing case mark aligned?

There is white smoke on cold start. Not sure about the scribe line alignment I will have to check.

White smoke means engine is getting fuel, but not enough cylinder heat to burn it. Can be timing related, but is usually low compression. Only way to know for sure is have the compression checked if timing change does not help.

Thanks for the reply, if the symptoms indicate not enough cylinder heat to burn I think I will try to get the heater working before going any further. Temperature has been under 5 centigrade each morning. The switch is seized in the counter clockwise direction so I will work on freeing that up.

Things have gotten worse. I couldn't use the heater option as the switch is seized but as it was warmer I was able to get the tractor started anyway. The next morning it wouldn't start again (colder out) but I was able to start with a battery charger that has the engine start option. Next morning wouldn't start again and this time wouldn't start with the battery charger either. Was able to start with jump cables from my truck. Had the engine running for a couple of hours, stopped it and tried to restart immediately but it struggled to turn over. Thought it was a bad battery, got a new battery charged fully over night and still the same issue, Engine tries to turn slowly one or two cycles and then just stops.

Could it be that the starter motor has been destroyed with all these starting struggles? I checked all the connections from the battery to the starter and everything seems fine.

Alan

I own a MF FE 35 X...

After having the Fuel Injectors checked,checked the timing of the Fuel Pump, verifying the Thermostart was functioning,Specific Gravity of electrolyte in
battery,all electrical connections verified, new Fuel filters,etc,etc,I located the problem:
Faulty original Starter:
As per pictures:

INfo on Faulty Starter:

This was the original Starter (CAV) on my MF FE 35 X ..Perkins 3 cylinder Diesel A3.152 Engine..
​​​​​Our FE 35 X arrived from England in 1963 with a CAV STARTER as per PICTURES:

CRANKING of the engine became (low to no rpm from starter) hit and miss!

The STARTER was REMOVED (1973 )from the TRACTOR. It was discovered the RPM was not engaging what appears to be a DEVICE to add more CURRENT into the FIELD
winding's? to achieve greater torque after the STARTER has engaged with the FLYWHEEL? A new internal device (current router?)was replaced (1973).

On or about 08/21/2015 once again I had the same starter (CAV) issue:

With NO parts available readily, I purchased a NEW starter with SOLENOID mounted on top of STARTER as per the pictures...not a CAV type: An original CAV STARTER
from ENGLAND was quoted at $700.00 + dollars! This included delivery to western Canada.

A NEW starter is advertised for sale on this site "yesterdays Tractors" as per pictures.



Bob. Owner operator of MF FE 35 X and other Tractors:

Thanks so seems I need to replace the starter. Yesterdays tractors don't ship to Canada, anyone know where I can source one of these in Canada?

Alanjohnston...How close to the USA / CANADA border do you live?

There are receivers in the USA along the USA / CANADA border that are in businesses specifically to have a drop off point so as Canadians can cross the border
and pickup goods or supplies:

Example...Betta's Services LLC....Washington State...town of Orville..

I had all my Tractor parts sent to Betta's Services in Orville USA ......My residence was 2 hrs driving time NORTH of Orville....

Bob....

I think I have the same problem. we have the same original starter as mine is a 1964 here in New Brunswick. we are having a hard time getting this tractor started since November.

Had our injectors off numerous times. reconditioned and pressure set. even bought new reconditioned injectors from the UK that we haven't tried yet. checked and rechecked the pump timing and rotated the pump on the mounts to adjust the degrees. checked the valve tappet setting a few times. had the fuel pump off and newcs4al kit. new lift pump, new fuel filters new fuel shut off screen.

Tried the thermostat with no difference. Tried leaving the block heater plugged in overnight with slight improvement. A mechanic recommended we try warm air blown into the intake. so we used a hair dryer . not much difference.

I did 2 compression test. The first one showed 340 to 350 Psi. a week later my own compression tester arrived and I did a test. all cylinders were 360 to 400 and after a bit of oil in the hole we got 400 to 420 psi.

After the engine whirled and dumped a bunch of fuel into the cylinders it will smoke like crazy for quite some time once we get it started.

John Deere D


I think I have the same problem. we have the same original starter as mine is a 1964 here in New Brunswick. we are having a hard time getting this tractor started since November.

Had our injectors off numerous times. reconditioned and pressure set. even bought new reconditioned injectors from the UK that we haven't tried yet. checked and rechecked the pump timing and rotated the pump on the mounts to adjust the degrees. checked the valve tappet setting a few times. had the fuel pump off and newcs4al kit. new lift pump, new fuel filters new fuel shut off screen.

Tried the thermostat with no difference. Tried leaving the block heater plugged in overnight with slight improvement. A mechanic recommended we try warm air blown into the intake. so we used a hair dryer . not much difference.

I did 2 compression test. The first one showed 340 to 350 Psi. a week later my own compression tester arrived and I did a test. all cylinders were 360 to 400 and after a bit of oil in the hole we got 400 to 420 psi.

After the engine whirled and dumped a bunch of fuel into the cylinders it will smoke like crazy for quite some time once we get it started.

I got it fixed starts very easily now even when cold. The issue was a blown head gasket. It was missing about an inch of gasket between two of the cylinders.
No more smoke and lots of power.

Alan

(quoted from post at 20:43:58 12/27/20)
John Deere D


I think I have the same problem. we have the same original starter as mine is a 1964 here in New Brunswick. we are having a hard time getting this tractor started since November.

Had our injectors off numerous times. reconditioned and pressure set. even bought new reconditioned injectors from the UK that we haven't tried yet. checked and rechecked the pump timing and rotated the pump on the mounts to adjust the degrees. checked the valve tappet setting a few times. had the fuel pump off and newcs4al kit. new lift pump, new fuel filters new fuel shut off screen.

Tried the thermostat with no difference. Tried leaving the block heater plugged in overnight with slight improvement. A mechanic recommended we try warm air blown into the intake. so we used a hair dryer . not much difference.

I did 2 compression test. The first one showed 340 to 350 Psi. a week later my own compression tester arrived and I did a test. all cylinders were 360 to 400 and after a bit of oil in the hole we got 400 to 420 psi.

After the engine whirled and dumped a bunch of fuel into the cylinders it will smoke like crazy for quite some time once we get it started.

Click to expand...

so it was lacking compression to get it started? And wasn't your starter

yes exactly, and that is why it was smoking when it did start.

(quoted from post at 23:02:11 12/29/20)
so it was lacking compression to get it started? And wasn't your starter

Click to expand...

Did you do a compression test to find out it was loosing compression

I didnt do a compression test first.

(quoted from post at 14:27:35 12/30/20)
Did you do a compression test to find out it was loosing compression

Click to expand...