oceanobob
Senior Member
Recently acquired a (used) Sullivan 185 towable compressor with about 1500 hrs. Engine is JD 4039 DF, four cylinder with a mechanical fuel injection pump and a one wire solenoid. Engine has a mechanical fuel 'lift pump' to pull fuel from the tank and send it to the other side of the engine where the fuel injection unit is located. We figure the unit was a former rental yard based upon stickers and magic marker writing of basic maintenance. Also the seller said he bought it years ago and needed it for a while but time proved no longer - so for sale it went. Of course nothing was mentioned about the business to get it started (while we were bleeding the injectors and wrapping friction electrical tape on fuel line and cutting off cracks at the hose clamped ends - he thought we were 'diesel mechanics'). We laughed and said this is typical for what is needed when the helper runs the machine out of fuel and yes the owner or the foreman never does that!. But I had no intention of purchase w/o hearing it run as we already had too many "projects" thus all this old fuel line "field repair" occurred at the point of sale.
This is the summary of the issue: At the time of purchase (to see it run as mentioned above) the fuel line involved with the 'lift pump' had some pinholes and when the engine was off it would allow the fuel to drain back to the tank.....being air bound thereby required the usual melee of post run out of fuel with the operation of the lift pump manual override and bleeding injectors etc.
This was fixed by replacing all these rubber lines, new fuel filter etc. Theoretically - and that is why this post.
Problem seemed to be resolved...took the machine to a job back in December and it was fine, but, machine was in our yard a bit longer (for about 120 days) and when it got to jobsite, it started right away, ran well but for a few seconds, and then shut off. Would not restart but a 'run out of fuel / priming session' resolved the issue. It rested one day and yesterday I tried it and it started right up - as usual no smoke and smooth, made lots of air, blah blah.
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There are no signs of any leaks to report. Some folks in the gallery say the injector(s) are allowing leakage - but there is absolutely no smoking at startup (or any other time for that matter). Others say the solenoid in the fuel injection pump is the "first thing to address".
But what about the lift pump on the side of the engine, if it has a check valve inside, does this mean it is time to replace it?
Would a manual valve inserted in the fuel line solve the problem, or if that is considered, only to confirm lift pump check valve is the culprit?
This is the summary of the issue: At the time of purchase (to see it run as mentioned above) the fuel line involved with the 'lift pump' had some pinholes and when the engine was off it would allow the fuel to drain back to the tank.....being air bound thereby required the usual melee of post run out of fuel with the operation of the lift pump manual override and bleeding injectors etc.
This was fixed by replacing all these rubber lines, new fuel filter etc. Theoretically - and that is why this post.
Problem seemed to be resolved...took the machine to a job back in December and it was fine, but, machine was in our yard a bit longer (for about 120 days) and when it got to jobsite, it started right away, ran well but for a few seconds, and then shut off. Would not restart but a 'run out of fuel / priming session' resolved the issue. It rested one day and yesterday I tried it and it started right up - as usual no smoke and smooth, made lots of air, blah blah.
~
There are no signs of any leaks to report. Some folks in the gallery say the injector(s) are allowing leakage - but there is absolutely no smoking at startup (or any other time for that matter). Others say the solenoid in the fuel injection pump is the "first thing to address".
But what about the lift pump on the side of the engine, if it has a check valve inside, does this mean it is time to replace it?
Would a manual valve inserted in the fuel line solve the problem, or if that is considered, only to confirm lift pump check valve is the culprit?