Case 350 Crawler kicking my butt

[Ronsii]

Doubtful....

I see machines like this all the time, they usually just aren't worth the money to fix them unfortunately.

 

[Flat Thunder Channel]

Doubtful....

I see machines like this all the time, they usually just aren't worth the money to fix them unfortunately.

I hate seeing things end up in the scrap pile! Unfortunately you probably are right :/ I have to stop scoping out pictures on the internet. Now I want one of these old machines.

 

[Delmer]

Nothing wrong with an old machine, but get one knowing what it needs before you spend any time on it. Plenty of them will run and plenty will be better used for parts.

It's like dating, used cars or whatever, there's a lot of junk on the market, because the good stuff goes fast, and the junk comes back on the market much more often...

 

[Tinkerer]

frickenbored hasn't been back since his last post.
I sent him a PM.

 

[Flat Thunder Channel]

Good thing I'm married! I tend to latch on to junk and have tried to 'polish a turd' on more than one occasion. Dream goal junk yard owner with all kinds of treasures to play with and revive. Although my wife isn't too fond of that idea. I think it is in my blood. I used to run around my grandfathers junk yard when I was little. Those were the days when a part from one damaged car could be pulled to fix several different cars. Life's a little different these days when it comes to universal parts.

 

[frickenbored]

Hey guys, I'm not gonna lie I kinda forgot about this thread until I saw a message from Tinkerer show up in my email. So here's an update:

After my last post I completely stopped trying with the old girl so she sat half torn apart under a tarp all winter. Then early this year I was too busy with work to start back up on her. Then something interesting happened...My dad has a 500 gallon fuel tank on his property full of diesel fuel that he used to use when he owned a construction company. Well that tank is where I got all the fuel for my case tractor. About two weeks ago my dad filled his Massey furguson loader with fuel from that tank and after about 100 yards it died. Turns out the tank was close to empty and after years and years of condensation there was mostly water in the tank. We drained the massey, put fresh fuel in it and problem solved. So of course I thought that might be the problem on the case. I spent a day putting the case back together, pulled the fuel bowl and drained the tank, replaced fuel filters, bled the filters till all the old red off road fuel was purged from the lines and replaced with the on road green fuel, cracked the injector lines and bled them till I saw green fuel...and wouldn't you know...it still doesn't start. Granted I didn't spend that much time bleeding the system and the fuel bowl was pissing diesel because it wasn't tight enough. But that's where I am as of now. I'm gonna bleed everything and try again but I know it won't work. It needs ring and prob sleeves. $1200.

 

[Flat Thunder Channel]

Happy to see it didn't get scraped! It would be great to see it moving dirt again. Keep after it and you might find the missing link.

 

[frickenbored]

I can't bring myself to scrap it, it'll be redneck lawn art before I have a wrecker pick it up.

I think I'm gonna pull the oil pan either tomorrow or Friday. It's fairly easy to do and maybe I'll be able to shine a flash light up into the cylinders to see how they look, or maybe I'll find pieces in the pan. I have a rekindled enthusiasm for this old tractor since the coronavirus is keeping me cooped up at home.

 

[Ronsii]

Will be interesting to hear what you find out... I love equipment myself so I know how you feel probably why I have so many 'projects' at home i see em' everywhere too... this old deere hasn't moved in ~20 years.... I'm guessing some sort of engine problem....Took the pic this morning.

 

[Flat Thunder Channel]

I can't bring myself to scrap it, it'll be redneck lawn art before I have a wrecker pick it up.

I think I'm gonna pull the oil pan either tomorrow or Friday. It's fairly easy to do and maybe I'll be able to shine a flash light up into the cylinders to see how they look, or maybe I'll find pieces in the pan. I have a rekindled enthusiasm for this old tractor since the coronavirus is keeping me cooped up at home.

I am still green in the world of diesel engine repair. Forgive me if I make a mistake or suggest something not accurate. Can't you pull the injectors and install a compression tester? On a side note I have seen engines with mouse nests built ontop of pistons before. Little buggers climbed up the exhaust and around the valves. Talk about claustrophobia! I was surprised they would ever attempt it.

 

[Vetech63]

Can't you pull the injectors and install a compression tester?

Yes, if you use the proper tools.

 

[Welder Dave]

Nothing wrong with an old machine, but get one knowing what it needs before you spend any time on it. Plenty of them will run and plenty will be better used for parts.

It's like dating, used cars or whatever, there's a lot of junk on the market, because the good stuff goes fast, and the junk comes back on the market much more often...

A lot of guys like some junk in the trunk.

 

[frickenbored]

Well so far so good, I guess. I crawled underneath and took off the oil pan, other than about an inch of mushy sludge in the pan (I think it's been 15 or so years since its last oil change) I didn't find any metal in the pan. No bearing material, pieces of piston or rings, nothing. Despite the sludge in the pan the bottom end of the engine is actually really clean, like shockingly clean. I started looking up into the cylinders and all of the connecting rods are nice and straight (to the naked eye) and I don't see any holes in the pistons so...Case 1 Ether 0

I wanted to start spinning the motor over to look at the cylinder walls but oil was dripping onto my face, in my hair, in my mouth, in my eyeballs and ect. So I'm gonna let it drip over night and I'll look at it again tomorrow. I'll get someone to bump the starter while I'm under there and make sure everything is moving smoothly and also check for a broken crank. (With my luck that will be the time it starts, with my face right under the rotating assembly and no oil lol)

 

[Flat Thunder Channel]

Hmm maybe only bump the starter and make sure the fuel injection pump is turned off.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Well I've just looked through the last couple of pages, not the whole thread.
As far as I can tell:

It can be had running on ether but barely keeps running on its own fuel
Has reasonable compression
Blew the dipstick out once

Sounds to me like it's pretty certain to be fuel related, I don't see why you're looking inside the engine yet. There may be an issue with ring leakage but not enough to stop it running. As to blowing the dipstick out check/clean the breather for the crankcase, it probably has one on the rocker cover?

The fuel system clearly needs checking over properly, especially if it's had bad fuel/water get in. Make sure fuel is running through the lines well - blow them out if need be.
Make sure the lift pump is doing what it should.
Replace the fuel filters.
Bleed at the filter and injector pump and crank it with the injector pipes loose at the injectors until you have a good squirt of fuel from each one - and in your case make sure it's clean fuel coming out, not water. Then tighten the lines and it should start, give it some encouragement with ether if necessary until it goes under its own steam. The trick is to not pump it in like mad and make it knock, done sensibly there's no need to blow pistons etc it's about being sensible.

If it doesn't run after all that I would check the injectors in case they've got blocked but it'll probably be running again with all the crap flushed out and correctly bled of air.

 

[frickenbored]

Well I've just looked through the last couple of pages, not the whole thread.
As far as I can tell:

It can be had running on ether but barely keeps running on its own fuel
Has reasonable compression
Blew the dipstick out once

Sounds to me like it's pretty certain to be fuel related, I don't see why you're looking inside the engine yet. There may be an issue with ring leakage but not enough to stop it running. As to blowing the dipstick out check/clean the breather for the crankcase, it probably has one on the rocker cover?

The fuel system clearly needs checking over properly, especially if it's had bad fuel/water get in. Make sure fuel is running through the lines well - blow them out if need be.
Make sure the lift pump is doing what it should.
Replace the fuel filters.
Bleed at the filter and injector pump and crank it with the injector pipes loose at the injectors until you have a good squirt of fuel from each one - and in your case make sure it's clean fuel coming out, not water. Then tighten the lines and it should start, give it some encouragement with ether if necessary until it goes under its own steam. The trick is to not pump it in like mad and make it knock, done sensibly there's no need to blow pistons etc it's about being sensible.

If it doesn't run after all that I would check the injectors in case they've got blocked but it'll probably be running again with all the crap flushed out and correctly bled of air.

Well I've been down that road. Sadly there is no lift pump on this fuel system, the high pressure pump is gravity fed. In the past I've confirmed that the fuel pump works by removing all injectors and firing them out of the engine (I replaced them too). All four injectors fire with a nice fuel spray pattern. I've replaced the fuel filters twice. I now have clean new fuel all the way up to the injectors. And she barely smokes while cranking it over. When I checked the compression I found all cylinders have between 280ish to 300ish and from what I understand they should all be above 400.

Fast forward to now I took the oil pan off since it's easy and I was secretly hoping to find the answer laying in the bottom of the pan but instead I'm still finding nothing. The only reason I haven't taken the head off yet is because I'm not 100% convinced...even with 300psi on a hot day with a touch of ether she should at least try to start.

 

[Tinkerer]

Time to set it on TDC and remove and send the IP to thepumpguy ?

 

[Flat Thunder Channel]

Time to set it on TDC and remove and send the IP to thepumpguy ?

Do you think the pump isn't building enough pressure to spray fuel in the cylinder during a compression stroke?

Curious unrelated thoughts, how fast is it turning over? Does it have a decompression valve? Maybe check the decompression valve (if equipped) and make sure it is spinning over fast enough. Possibly wire the start separately at a higher voltage?

 

[Ronsii]

Poorly atomizing fuel will affect how easy it starts... also injectors firing into zero atmospheres is vastly different than firing into a piston with over 27 atmospheres of pressure

 

[dieseldog5.9]

Dont feel alone, I am in the same boat, crank no start 73 Cat D3, and this is where I am so far.

I dont feel like time working on equipment is a waste of time, I have seen people spend hours watching sports center, keeping horses, playing golf, watching TV, doing face space, slap chat, and have nothing in the end to show for it.

An old man told me once he spent all of his money on beer and women, the rest he just wasted.