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Deere 310A Backhoe wont start

chroniekon

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2011
Messages
357
Location
Albany, Or
There may be a manual destroke valve you can get for that, about $20, John Deere part number AR96625 is a sample of what they look like. I believe that is for a 3020 ag tractor. I didn't verify if the 310a uses the same pump.
 

chroniekon

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2011
Messages
357
Location
Albany, Or
A little more looking. On the jdparts.com site I see 3 different manual destroke valves listed for the 310a depending on serial number. AR33249, AR96625, RE13271
 

comet424

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2014
Messages
220
Location
canada
ah ok good to know.. ya I figured the 12 volts on a 6volt coil is to pull it harder or push it harder.. like some people modify electric carts use a 6 volt motor and put 12 or 24 volts to it to spin it much faster.. figured maybe that's why

but as the for the coolant heater.. I took it apart there is no servacable parts .. unless you can get the element wit the wire as its one piece.. no broken wire nothing I can take apart... just full of sludge
here is my video
 

comet424

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2014
Messages
220
Location
canada
as for my pump serial number its
R0PVJD1015242
RP1065E0E0600
AND backhoe serial is 310AD 3419_9 _ means I cant really read it
 

Delmer

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2013
Messages
8,863
Location
WI
Take a look at the very bottom of that heater, the bottom of the part with the cord and heating element. It looks from here like there is a cover that will come off to expose the wiring, that's what you want to look at.

I'm not familiar with that brand of heater, every other tank type circulating heater I've seen has had wiring/thermostat issues, not burned out elements.

Excellent suggestion on the manual destroke valve.

For tinkerer or anyone else who cares what it does: the JD radial piston pump has 8 pistons that float free in their cylinders. the 8 short wide hex heads are the valve caps for each cylinder, kind of like a cylinder head. There is no connecting rod, there is a spring in the top that keeps the piston pushed against the crankshaft/eccentric that drives them in and out. The crankcase has low pressure oil in it to lube and cool when pumping. When the standby pressure is reached, the pressure control valve in the hydraulic pump raises the pressure in the crankcase until the pressure is higher than the spring pressure and the pistons don't return, so they don't pump, so no more oil flows until the pressure drops below standby pressure. The destroke valve does the same thing as the pressure control valve, except it feeds the direct oil pressure to the crankcase, so the pump is pumping oil only up to the pressure required to destroke the pump, about 100PSI or so, and then there is no load from the pistons moving.
 

colson04

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
2,057
Location
Delton, Michigan
I've been following this thread as I own a 310A as well. I bought mine from my grandpa about 5 years ago, and he owned it for 15 before that so I know 20 years worth of history as well.

One thing we learned was to get rid of the single 12volt battery and put in two 6 volt batteries in series (6 volt, 3EH batteries). That made a huge improvement in cold cranking ability. The backhoe, when first purchased, had two 6 volt batteries, but they were shot. My grandpa replaced them with a single, large, 12 volt battery not wanting to mess with 6 volt batteries. The backhoe remained slow to crank and hard to start because of it. It had been overhauled when he bought it due to a cracked head, so knowing the engine was fresh, we just determined it was a hard starting engine and used ether. Flash forward 12 years, an old school mechanic friend of my grandpa's said to get rid of that 12 volt battery and put the two 6 volt batteries back in it. He did so and low and behold, the engine cranks faster. I've replaced them again last winter, but outside of some other self-induced issues I had going on, the backhoe starts quite well in all temperatures now.

Replace the coolant heater. Mine has an external coolant heater like yours does. Go to ebay.com, search external coolant heater, and buy one. They are cheap, $70 w/free shipping and when installed and working, do an excellent job in heating up an engine if everything else is correct in the system. I wouldn't waste too much time trying to fix your old block heater, mostly because your time has a value too. If you spend 5 hours on it and don't get anywhere, you wasted $100 minimum in labor and could have replaced it for less. In my case, I don't want to be wrenching on my hoe when I need it to run. YMMV.

Once you have a good set of batteries, a working block heater, and the main pump de-stroke solenoid worked out, you'll be very pleased with the starting ability of your 310A.

My procedure on cold days is to plug it in 2 hours before I plan on using it, or just plan on waiting 2 hours for the block heater to do it's job. Move throttle control lever to 1/2 throttle or full throttle (@thepumpguysc just taught me this a month ago) and crank 'er up. I don't carry a can of ether anymore, it wasn't necessary. I feel dumb that it took me this long to learn this, but I caught on eventually.

Also, @Delmer and @GregsHD have been super helpful resources over the past few years for me in diagnosing and understanding my own issues with my backhoe. Thanks guys
 

comet424

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2014
Messages
220
Location
canada
sorry delay haven't been home.. and then I wrote this 2 days ago and this message didn't send
all good suggestions I was going to use 2 golf cart batteries but I was using a deep cycle marine battery .. but I bought the big battery because I thought it was the battery and I figured it would have more cranking stamina etc.. but it never did still spins same speed
I did try starting with the pulling the lever to the the left on the hoe.. it doesn't start instantly like my Leyland tractor starts like 1 2 seconds after cranking... it takes like 5 6 seconds of cranking to starting... is that cuz pistons need changing? and maybe after we can take a look how fast the engine should be running if I need to adjust and throttles

as for the heater element.. the wire had no issues.. there was no ohms continuity test across the 2 elements for the neutral and live wire.. but I guess one element to thermostat wire.. so nothing I can fix.. so I just picked up one from c-tire as I doubt you can buy just the insert... and amazon cost more for the same brand...

as for the destroke id still like to fix it.. instead of manual.. as its just nicer with the electronic one instead of putting manual one in there... if I can just buy the coil cheaper then replacing with a manual etc
 

Delmer

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2013
Messages
8,863
Location
WI
How cold was it when it took 6 seconds to start? was the new heater on and working?
 

comet424

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2014
Messages
220
Location
canada
sorry delay.. it was about -3 or +3 wasn't cold just sat a week between me trying to start
never tried the new heater yet didn't think I needed to try in the mild weather.. but I could give it a try..
 
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