Ford 4600 diesel no fuel to injectors

[DaleB]

Parked for a month or so. Now, no start-no fuel at injectors. There is fuel at filter bleed. Fuel will flow from injector bleed but does not spray out when engine is turning over. I have checked power valve slide under top cover and it moves freely. Don't know what flow from injector bleed but no spray indicates. What should I do next?

 

[used red MN]

What are you referring to when you say ..Fuel will flow
from injector bleed but does not spray out when
engine is turning over..? What do you consider an
..injector bleed..? Are you talking about the common
line that connecting all the injectors? Ford calls it a
Leak Off, but a more common term is ..return.. bleed
can be used as well but a far less common term for
them. If that is what you are talking about they will not
have a pulses of fuel coming from them. As the engine
runs a small stream like pencil lead diameter or less
will flow as a total from all of the injectors. To bleed an
injector you need to loosen the nut at the injector that
holds the line coming from the injection pump. Is it
possible you have bio-diesel in this tractor? I have
heard horror stories of pump parts getting stuck over
short periods of time with this stuff setting in them.

 

[DaleB]

I was referring to the regular small bleed bolt on the side of the pump. Others have said theirs will spray 8 feet from this port. Originally I loosened the connections at the injectors. No fuel to there.

 

[Keith Williams]

DaleB,
My 4600 is hard to prime also. I try really hard to not run it out of fuel.
Get the battery charged up.
Try to start and give it a whiff of ether while it is spinning.
Just enough to make it turn over faster. Mine will start quickly after it spins a little faster.
If you don't get any smoke, you aren't getting any fuel to pump.
HTH
Keith

 

[DaleB]

It will try to start on ether but doesn't bring fuel to the injectors. If it doesn't spray at the pump bleeder, does that mean the pump is bad?

 

[Keith Williams]

Dale,
Mine does not spray out of the pump.
I would not say that is a sign of a problem.
Keith

 

[DaleB]

Thanks for the responses and suggestions. I am still unsure if the CAV injector pump is my problem. Again, fuel at filter bleeder, fuel at pump (runs out but doesn't spray out), tried ether (runs on it but doesn't bring up fuel, don't want to over do it), power valve slide is free, but no fuel to injectors.
Is there another filter or something I can check without removing the pump or do I assume the problem is with the pump and just have it rebuilt?

 

[Sean in PA]

Have you bleed the lines going from the pump to the injectors by cracking them loose at the injector end? If you have any fuel coming out of the port on the pump, that would be my next step if you haven't already done that.

 

[DaleB]

Yes, tried that but nothing I ve tried gets any fuel up there.

 

[Jim.ME]

Just throwing this out and likely you have it covered. Did you crank the engine over when you had the high-pressure lines loose at the injectors? Make sure the fuel shut off (either electric or mechanical) is in the run position.

This post was edited by Jim.ME on 07/14/2023 at 03:09 pm.

 

[DaleB]

Thanks for the thought but yep, did that. I m baffled!

 

[GarryinNC]

Has a fuel filter change been done at any time recently?

Garry

 

[DaleB]

Its been a while but maybe only 10-20 hours. Good
flow from filter so I assumed the filter is good.

 

[eng25]

I've fought fuel issues on my two Ford 3600's and Ford 4600 over the last 10 years since I acquired them. This era Ford tractor with the CAV pump, it seems like you really need to work the kinks out (usually from years of neglect or previous owner issues) and once that's done they do fine. Mine are pretty much trouble free now. One Caveat, if you are parking for an extended period of time, make sure you treat the diesel in the tank, or better yet crank the thing over every couple weeks and let it run. My last issue was had a tractor sit over the winter and gummed up the injector pump. Just bit the bullet and sent it out to be rebuilt. I forget who did it but found them here on this forum, did a great job.

Now to your problem, I have found following the standard bleeding checklist is the best first step. And if you are a no-start, no fuel at injectors I would start with making sure fuel flow is good from the tank, i think you already did that. Something I overlooked before though, was to fill the tank up. It provides more feed pressure. believe it or not I have needed that to get a tractor cranking several times.

Once you know you have good flow out, check everything else. Bleeder at filter (done), flow to pump, bleeder at pump, cracked injectors/flow.

Did you check the pump inlet screen? I never had an issue there, but i know if you look on this forum that being blocked or plugged has been an issue for others. Your description of no fuel spitting out of the pump bleeder makes me wonder if it is restricted.

Or did you park the tractor with the fuel shutoff in the off position? It can freeze the pump internally in the fuel cutoff position. I have done that before too, and you can crack the top of the pump off and free it up. No fuel from pump bleeder may be a sign of that too.

Anyway, I am no expert, but i bet i had to bleed my tractors and fix fuel/pump issues a couple dozen times of the years.

Now with everything checked out, cleaned up, rebuilt, new filters, new battery, and starter, they crank up all the time, every time!

 

[DaleB]

Thanks for the response. I gave up and turned it over to a tractor repair shop. No word yet on the problem.

 

[Check Break]

(quoted from post at 07:16:56 08/14/23)
I've fought fuel issues on my two Ford 3600's and Ford 4600 over the last 10 years since I acquired them. This era Ford tractor with the CAV pump, it seems like you really need to work the kinks out (usually from years of neglect or previous owner issues) and once that's done they do fine. Mine are pretty much trouble free now. One Caveat, if you are parking for an extended period of time, make sure you treat the diesel in the tank, or better yet crank the thing over every couple weeks and let it run. My last issue was had a tractor sit over the winter and gummed up the injector pump. Just bit the bullet and sent it out to be rebuilt. I forget who did it but found them here on this forum, did a great job.

Now to your problem, I have found following the standard bleeding checklist is the best first step. And if you are a no-start, no fuel at injectors I would start with making sure fuel flow is good from the tank, i think you already did that. Something I overlooked before though, was to fill the tank up. It provides more feed pressure. believe it or not I have needed that to get a tractor cranking several times.

Once you know you have good flow out, check everything else. Bleeder at filter (done), flow to pump, bleeder at pump, cracked injectors/flow.

Did you check the pump inlet screen? I never had an issue there, but i know if you look on this forum that being blocked or plugged has been an issue for others. Your description of no fuel spitting out of the pump bleeder makes me wonder if it is restricted.

Or did you park the tractor with the fuel shutoff in the off position? It can freeze the pump internally in the fuel cutoff position. I have done that before too, and you can crack the top of the pump off and free it up. No fuel from pump bleeder may be a sign of that too.

Anyway, I am no expert, but i bet i had to bleed my tractors and fix fuel/pump issues a couple dozen times of the years.

Now with everything checked out, cleaned up, rebuilt, new filters, new battery, and starter, they crank up all the time, every time!

You may be no expert, but this is all expert advice. It will help someone else one of these days. Thank you for taking time to spell it all out.

 

[Blase-On]

Thanks for the response. I gave up and turned it over to a tractor repair shop. No word yet on the problem.

Following up on this since I’m having similar issues. Don’t find a smoking gun on the cause of no start?

 

[Delion]

So I ran my 3500 out of diesel and did the following not sure same engine or close or not. I am including 3 pictures the first to look at is the one with a cockvalve type thing it is showing a straight up down positioning that's the fuel on and off I removed it and made sure I didn't have sludge built up. Mine has a retainer clip then you unscrew it and see what comes out.
The second is the filters I am just guessing at that it is the picture with 2 blue circles I loosened the first one until I had fuel then did the same with second from left to right. Then the third picture I did the same until I had fuel. Once that was done I then did the injectors next thing I knew it was off to the races

 

[Jim.ME]

Following up on this since I’m having similar issues. Don’t find a smoking gun on the cause of no start?

It doesn't appear DaleB has posted for a few months, may he will see this, maybe not.

You will likely have better luck getting help if you start a new thread of your own with details of your tractor and its issue(s). You should also tell what you have done/tried up to this point.

 

[Blase-On]

It doesn't appear DaleB has posted for a few months, may he will see this, maybe not.

You will likely have better luck getting help if you start a new thread of your own with details of your tractor and its issue(s). You should also tell what you have done/tried up to this point.

Copy that. Think I'll start a new thread.