Diesel engine compression adaptors

I have a John Deere 4045T engine that is acting a bit weird on me. There are a couple people that have been working on this since it quit running and they called me. Also seems like no one really know the complete history as to what happened. And what it did when it quit. What it is doing: It is getting no fuel to the injectors. Good lift pump pressure to the injection pump. Soleniod getting power. Pulled soleniod out and the pump was fuel of fuel. Tested soleniod and the plunger is actuating so I figured the injection pump needs to be pulled for rebuild.

But I also tried to give it a sniff of Either and it will not even act like it is trying to bust off. Turbo looks and feels good. Pulling a hard vacumme on my hand while turning it over. So I was going to run a compression test on it before pulling the pump. But all the adaptors I have found do not list the 4045T as a supported adaptor. Is it just the 3/8 pencil adaptor that fits the most common case, cat and deere engines? Thanks JJ

You are correct on the injectors, they are standyne pencil injectors that had many applications. I have found that you have to have at least some fuel going through injectors to make it bust on either. It sounds like you have a inj pump problem or a fuel problem. Lack of compression would not keep fuel from reaching the injectors. I am assuming that you have a mechanical fuel pump and if so the shaft in the pump is likely sheared. Aside from that be sure and check all the metal lines esp on the suction side, there are rubber grommets under the nuts that deteriate over time.

Right, I agree that there is a fuel problem just thought that it should atleast sputter a bit on either. I was going to pull the pump but without knowing a bit of a history of what had happened I did not want to throw 2K at the machine to later find out that it has a major mechanical problem. Thanks JJ

It surprises me that the engine won't even make some sort of offer to fire when you give it a shot of ether. The ether is totally independent of the diesel fuel so why does it not at least make a couple of bangs & farts when you give it a sniff down the air intake ..??

I cannot begin to explain why, but I can tell you from personal experience that many '60s-'90s Ford tractor engines will never snort w/o fuel, while some will actually run on ether. It has perplexed me for years.:beatsme

Get a spray bottle, like a glass cleaner spray bottle, and add diesel to bottle. Remove intake pipe right where it connects to intake manifold. Crank engine and start spraying into intake. See if engine has any reaction.

If this engine has the standyne pump with the inspection/timing window.(it is a small rectangular cover held on by two slotted screws) you can remove this cover and rotate the engine to see if the inside of the pump is turning.

No, its a Delphi pump with the small soleniod on the top of it about the size of a D cell battery. When I get a min Ill run back out there with a squirt bottle. I ordered the adapter even if I do not end up using it.Thanks JJ

Update to this. I have not received the compression adapter yet but went over to the machine to try to get it to chug on spray fuel in the intake. No dice. But I did pull the back of the injection pump apart and found out that the shaft in the pump is broken. The transfer pump is not turning so I think the engine should be okay if it was running well enough to break the shaft in the injection pump. Ill keep yall updated. JJ

Allcylinders are unlikely low,so what I do is hold something (like a ball on the end of a screw driver or use a broom handle to compare the differences between cylinders,the low one will be obvious! u cant always come up with the right connections for a proper compression tester,but what i am say is this works 95% of the time.

I pretty much stopped doing compression testing a few years back and started leak down testing. Its a much better tool for testing the mechanical condition of a engine gas or diesel and easier.

Another good test is to remove rocker arms off valves,then remove the injectors and pressurize the cylinder with a rubber tip air blower at least 100 psi,then listen to the exhaust,intake then the crank case for air escaping past a valve or past the rings works good. But i have run into engines that have sat for a long period and have to pour oil into the intake while cranking to help seal the rings so it will crank up.Once it cranks and get everything lubricated then its fine.