My payloader is kicking my butt!

My "new to me last fall" 645 payloader is really starting to get ugly with me, and fought me a couple rounds today, and it won. Started back a month or two ago when my kid said it wasn't running right. I took a quick look, and there was diesel leaking all over the injector pump. One of the banjo fittings was leaking terribly, but a quick tighten, and the leak quit, and it ran good again. About 3 more of em wer loose, too, and I tightened them all up. Thought it was odd that they were loose, but didn't think much about it. Then on Sunday, my other son was running it, and it was running so terible that it would barely pull itself, and would die at an idle. Again, there was diesel leaking on the pump, but this time all of the banjo fittings were tight, except there was one that I could not get a wrench onto, and that one looked like the leaker. Later on, I custom bent a wrench to get on that one, but it was already tight. It was kind of dark so I couldn't see much, but assumed I needed a couple new seal washers, which I picked up on Monday. Monday evening, we went to install them, and as my son pulled on the wrench, I seen the whole pump move a little. What the ....
Here there was only one bolt holding the pump on, and it was loose. Then we made another discovery. The #6 injector line that is on the block side of the pump where you can't see it, was broken off right at the edge of the banjo part of it. Desperately needing this payloader, I took desperate measures. I pulled the line off, and me and a neighbor brazed it back together, I put it back on, and re-bolted the pump on. Thought it would fire right up....WRONG!!!! Not a puff of smoke would it make. Made the assumption it wasn't getting fuel, so I loosened the fitting on the line right at the pump. It has an electric lift pump on it, so I turned the key on to run it, thinking I'd have fuel showing up in short order. None. So I loosened the fitting some more....and some more...and some more. Then I went one thread too far. The fitting came off, and I had fuel spraying! Spent two hours trying to get that miserable "I don't know what you call em rubber sleeve seal fitting" threaded back on. Just got it on, and I noticed that the wire to the top of the pump (fuel shut off solonoid) was dangling. When we were bolting the pump on, we must have accidently tore it loose. At last, an easy fix. Put a new eyelet on the wire and bolted it on. Still no fire. Checked for voltage there. None. Found the fuse, and it was blown. Ah ha, another easy fix. Changed the fuse, and still no fire. Checked for voltage, and this time it had 12 volts, but still don't know why it wouldn't start. It was dark by then and I was PO'd. Don't know where to head with it tomorrow. Maybe I'll go down there, and it will fire right up, but somehow I don't think so. And I sure hope the brazing job holds up, because the fun I had getting that banjo fitting threaded in there along with making sure both seal washers were in place, on the back side of that pump is something I don't want to do twice. The braze thing was supposed to be temporary till I could get a new line, but I think it may end up being permanent. Who knows, by the time I get the thing running, I probably could have had ten new ones shipped in. What a day, later. Darrel

A fresh new day didn't do much for the situation. suspect I have a shelled out injection pump. I know I have fuel at the pump. The electric fuel shut-off solonoid and stuff seems to be functioning properly. I loosened some of the injector line fittings right at the head of the pump and spun the engine over. No fuel there at all. I took off the timing plate, and a couple of small pieces of metal (about the size of a piece of floor dry) came out from between the two metal discs inside. Not 100% sure how it is supposed to work, but the metal disc towards the front of the engine turns, the one towards the pump doesn't. When I spin it over, the fuel level does rise and runs out of the timing window. The only thing I know for sure, is that there should not have been the metal pieces in there, and that it doesn't run! Darrel

Ahh... Herr Diesel's 'heat engine' invention... one of the most wonderful ideas ever made in the name of internal combustion, because it's almost totally mechanical... no fussy carbeurator, no float, choke, or orfices... no buzzer coil, no distributor, no condenser and contact points, no battery... just simple compression and injection. As long as it turns, develops compression, and gets fuel and air, it fires.

Injection however... is hydraulic. Hydraulic is plumbing.

I don't care what the leather-bound book says... Plumbing...


... Plumbing... is the ROOT of all Evil. Consider the worst things in life... from government to gastroenteritis, Aneyurisms to Zithromax, every problem can be ultimately traced back to plumbing. That's because the devil is grand conctor of all things Evil, plumbing is his tool of choice.

That means, the Diesel, being reliant upon the evil tool of plumbing, is also ruled by the devil. You'll find that EVERY diesel engine ever made, that EVER had any problems, can be ultimately traced to plumbing.

See how simple that is?

Fix or replace the pump, replace all the lines and seals (they'll all fail 'cause they've been weakened while the pump was rattling around), clean out all the injectors, put it back together, and expect the next problem you find, to again... be entirely related to plumbing.

Never heard a story about plumbing quite like that, but I guess it's the truth. This whole thing has got me just sick to my stomach. I have never in my life run accross injector pump bolts coming loose. Now I do have some things that I refer to as "pre-trip inspections" such as checking fluid levels, greasing, kick the tires, and a quick walk around. But I have never, ever added to that list, "check the injector pump bolts!" I mean, what the heck made them decide to come loose. I've only owned this machine since November, and I darn sure didn't loosen them. The previous owner hadn't had any engine work done to it in over five years. If'n when that work was done, had the bolts not been tightened properly, I am sure some adverse affects would have shown up a whole lot sooner. I've never been the target of vandals, and if'n I was, I think graffitti on my mailbox or something like that would have come to vandals minds long before loosening the bolts on my payloader injection pump. I am scratching my head on this one. The cost of repairing it will bite, but the bigger bite comes with the in-convenience of not having a loader, and having cows to feed. Darrel