hard/non-starting 4020

[AF 70]

A friend has a 4020D he uses to piddle around a couple of times a year. He went to start it the other day and it took a lot of cranking before fired up. It black/white/blue smoked for 10 min or so and settled down to "normal" smoking on acceleration. He did some chores and ran it around the section to get it good and warm. When he parked/shut it off, it would crank but not fire. What's the first thing to look for in this situation? Quality of fuel in tank unknown, but did start/run on 1st time. I've been on a 4020 1x in '65 and he isn't a mechanic of any sort. Ya, what a winning team! What do you knowledgable people think?

Thanks,
AF 70

 

[wisbaker]

Farm I worked at in 1983 solved the starting problems on their 4010d and the 4020LP by using a Chevy 3/4 ton truck OR a Case 430 to pull start 'em, never had any starting problems, hook on and pull until they light. Did have problems for a while when the Chevy was only running on 5 cylinders but I can't blame the tractors for that one.

 

[Canadian Ken]

Good chance it could be the fuel lift/transfer pump on the side of the engine that is worn and not pumping fuel up to the injection pump. I am helping a neighbor right now with a 1967 4020 that will not start by itself. Once it is running it runs very poor. he went ahead and got the injection pump and injectors rebuilt. I had told him the transfer pump is probably the culprit. when it was running last night we disconnected the line from the filters to the injection pump and there was just a dribble of fuel being moved by the lift pump. when you manually operated the lever on the pump, there was a very good stream of fuel out of the line. I convinced him to remove the pump that had not been off since they bought the tractor in 1970. the lever that contacted the cam would move up and down 3/4 on an inch before the diaphram would move - a whole new pump is what is needed. there are no replacement parts available anymore from Deere.The whole new pump is $98 CDN.

Ken

 

[Ralph Bauer]

try spraying a little ether into the air intake.
In the future treat your diesel and try to get 100% diesel and not with bio in it, that works for some.

 

[M w J]

If the tractor has the electric selenoid to turn fuel on sometimes they get sticky . Shut the key off then turn the key back on but wait a second to hit the starter. Does it smoke when it turns over if not its not getting fuel.

 

[Kent Petersen]

before you start throwing parts at it change the fuel filters that will fix 85% of them

 

[David G]

Could be a ton of things, just gotta go through the easy things first.

 

[buickanddeere]

The only time ether is a solution is when some person in an emergency situation is going to die if the engine doesn't start.

 

[Tx Jim]

AF 70
I agree on changing fuel filters. Also check fuel flow from tank to inj pump. I second what buickaddeere stated about ether. I only use ether as the "LAST RESORT" to help get a diesel started.

 

[larryanderson]

Fuel& filters probably would be one the first places to start.An easy fix would be if it is a 69 or newer the electric shut off on the side the pump can be a problem if not making good contact.