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What to do to start a sitting dozer

jtwthaxj

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Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
15
Location
Raleigh NC
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Rehab Technology Specialist
D6C has been sitting for about 7 or 8 years and I want to get it back to daily use condition. What should I do or where should I begin?

Thanks,

J
 

smokey1

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Jan 12, 2009
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114
Location
West Bridgewater,MA.
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Builder/Owner
Check out the air filters , exaust ports . Look for nest's mice, bees ect.,. a bit of lube in the cylinders , you have to lift enjecters out if possible. make sure no water in fuel bowl. . Use a 2nd battery boost if available. She will start right up . if it fails to start bleed air from enjector lines until you have full fuel flow. Give the starter plenty of rest to cool off between attempts, and good luck...
 

td25c

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Feb 14, 2009
Messages
5,250
Location
indiana
Good infomation smokey1. Also check the turbo to make sure its free.Another trick I use when starting an engine after sitting for so many years is after draining the engine oil insted of pouring the new oil in though the filler cap I go get a new garden sprayer at the hardware store,fill it whith oil ,then rigg up needed fittings to then pump the new oil is through the oil gally.This gives the engine oil pump some prime and pre lubes the crank & rod bearings.
 

nutwood

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Apr 28, 2012
Messages
134
Location
Tasmania
If it's sitting somewhere you can run a battery charger to, I'd change the oil and crank it over with the throttle closed to make sure you get oil into every bearing prior to firing it. I'd also be draining every drop of diesel out, including the filters and lines, and starting afresh. Others might disagree, as it means bleeding the system but whoever said "there's no fuel like an old fuel" didn't fix engines!
I'd also be cracking my drain plugs on the transmission, final drives and hydraulics. If it's been sitting, the water/condensate should be at the bottom and easily removed.
 

jtwthaxj

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Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
15
Location
Raleigh NC
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Rehab Technology Specialist
Thanks guys! All of this sounds great, now to find the time. Would it be possible to run a battery charger/jumpstarter off of a portable generator? Our charger has a 220amp jump start mode, it runs off of basic 15A 120V socket. It will be a change from my usual tractor and skidsteer tinkering.
 

g_man

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Apr 21, 2011
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321
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Northeastern VT
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Retired
No reson you can't run the charger off your generator. Thats what I do when I need to. For that charger you will want at least a 3000 watt generator for best results. I would think you will also want a fully charged battery(s) before you try. The 220 amps from your jump starter will help but you need a battery too.
 

nutwood

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Apr 28, 2012
Messages
134
Location
Tasmania
Bear in mind too that most cats are 24V electrical systems so make sure your charger can supply 24 volts or charge each battery seperately... If it's a 12V only charger you won't be able to use it for a boost...

It's not ideal but a 12V boost can still help. Consider if both batteries are dropping to 8V when cranking. You have 16V going to the starter. Boost one and you now have 20V (12 +8) going to the starter. Crank a bit then swap which battery you're boosting. I've never tried this with a charger but I've had a few occasions where I've had to jump start a 24V machine with only a 12V vehicle available, the situation is comparable and it can work. Certainly beats push starting a dozer!
In reality, most people have a 12V vehicle available so you'd use your 12V charger on one battery and jumper leads on the other battery.
Hopefully jtwthaxj has a 24V charger, save a lot of mucking about!
 

spitzair

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May 4, 2007
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1,009
Location
Squamish BC (Home), Slave Lake, AB (Work)
Good idea, I never thought of that...

It's not ideal but a 12V boost can still help. Consider if both batteries are dropping to 8V when cranking. You have 16V going to the starter. Boost one and you now have 20V (12 +8) going to the starter. Crank a bit then swap which battery you're boosting. I've never tried this with a charger but I've had a few occasions where I've had to jump start a 24V machine with only a 12V vehicle available, the situation is comparable and it can work. Certainly beats push starting a dozer!
In reality, most people have a 12V vehicle available so you'd use your 12V charger on one battery and jumper leads on the other battery.
Hopefully jtwthaxj has a 24V charger, save a lot of mucking about!
 

jtwthaxj

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Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
15
Location
Raleigh NC
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Rehab Technology Specialist
Thanks guys! I will hopefully get started on it next weekend and let you guys know how it goes. Been curious if you could jump a 24v system with a 12v box, when the 24v boxes are few and far between. I will try to post some pics so you can see the progression..

Thanks,

J
 

ispeedalot

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Joined
May 23, 2012
Messages
7
Location
28697
On my old d6c 76a, i would carry an extra battery and cables so when needed i could hook the pickup battery to one side and the extra to the other. Starter life is much longer when plenty of voltage(and amperage) is used. The starter won't get as hot as quick and since it has been sitting a while, the engine is gonna spin a good bit before it fires unless you shoot some ether in it. Cylinders are dry from sitting so spraying wd40 into intake with air filters removed might be a good idea too. If smoke stack hasn't been covered good you might want to be ready for a blast of who knows what out of it. Checking the drains on all the drive train is good idea too. If you drain fuel and change filters, a trick i use is applying a little air pressure to the tank with filter housing fitting loose to bleed lines. A shop rag around an air blower works good and won't let enough pressure build up to damage any thing.
 

nutwood

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Apr 28, 2012
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134
Location
Tasmania
It's an interesting subject, the starting of sitting engines. At one end of the scale, you do nothing and at the other end, you completely strip the machine down and check everything.
Many years ago, I bought an old boat with a 6 cylinder Volvo in it. It had been sunk,re-floated and then left. I figured the engine to be scrap. We got a crane in, pulled the engine out, sure enough it was solid. I put a big bar on the crank and it broke free. More for a laugh than anything else I jumpered it off my ute battery, shoved the fuel pipe in a can of diesel and hot wired the starter. Thing started straight up! Couldn't believe it. It was just sitting on the ground with a couple of ropes onto a tree to stop it falling over and there it was roaring away. Had to jump on it and shut it down, then we cleaned it up. Of course there'd been water in the oil so that was right through the engine. The filters were indescribable but once it was cleaned up, back in it went and was still going ten years later when I sold the boat.
That said, I've also heard of people starting a sitting engine where everything appears fine but one ring grabs or there's a little bit of water in a cylinder, with a resulting hydrolock, and it all ends in tears. I always turn a engine manually for a least one revolution if it's been out of service for any time.
 

spitzair

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Squamish BC (Home), Slave Lake, AB (Work)
Back when I got my grader, it had sat for probably 10 years without running. The exhaust and the intake were covered nicely but there were trees growing through it several inches in diameter and some almost 20 feet tall. Took a chainsaw to them and just had a good look at everything. There was a big bird's nest on the top of the fan pulley with a few eggs in it, I relocated them to a nearby tree... The oil was full, antifreeze was green, fuel tank was almost full and hydraulic oil level was good. I put in a battery and jumped the starter and she roared to life! It operated fine, and I started grading, or at least trying to, never having run a grader before. I did an oil change soon afterwards and changed the final drive and chaincase oils too. It still runs great to this day! I wish I had some pictures of how I found it... Good luck!
 

nutwood

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Apr 28, 2012
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134
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Tasmania
Back when I got my grader, it had sat for probably 10 years without running. The exhaust and the intake were covered nicely but there were trees growing through it several inches in diameter and some almost 20 feet tall. Took a chainsaw to them and just had a good look at everything. There was a big bird's nest on the top of the fan pulley with a few eggs in it, I relocated them to a nearby tree... The oil was full, antifreeze was green, fuel tank was almost full and hydraulic oil level was good. I put in a battery and jumped the starter and she roared to life! It operated fine, and I started grading, or at least trying to, never having run a grader before. I did an oil change soon afterwards and changed the final drive and chaincase oils too. It still runs great to this day! I wish I had some pictures of how I found it... Good luck!

That's exactly it, and then some other poor bloke will buy a grader that's sat for six months, apparently protected, turn the key and there's a bang as the piston slams up on a cylinder full of water. All over!
 

jtwthaxj

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May 29, 2010
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15
Location
Raleigh NC
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Rehab Technology Specialist
I am hoping that it being an old diesel (way before low sulfur) came into the pic that the engine will be free, assuming the oil is clean. I have seen engines that have been swamped and continued to run forever, and also seen some that we flushed all the fluids and still blew softball size holes in the block. (fourwheeling in the sticks can be rough on your fourwheeler or jeep!) Live and learn... I did work on a 743B Bobcat a while back and have to replace sensors, hoses, filters, and strain/drain the fuel to get the black fungus clogging up the fuel lines out. I hope this is not as much fun and that.
 

nutwood

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Apr 28, 2012
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134
Location
Tasmania
One thing I forgot to suggest, and have been reminded of by a little job I was tackling today, is to check the oil in the injector pump. My Fiat has two oil filled sections, the pump itself and the governor. Both of which seem to attract water.
 
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