Hi Folks,
I have noticed something when heading out to start the D4D after it sat patiently for about 1 month. I was trying to start the tractor in 30 deg F weather and this is what I did. I typically crank with the fuel opened up to the level it will open (with no oil pressure) OR pre-heating until the oil pressure goes up (5-10 seconds). Then I apply the preheat which for about 1 minute and then start cranking. What I usually see is white smoke signals and then the engine catches and I'm off and running.

The last time I tried I cranked for 30 seconds or so and saw no white smoke. I pre-heated a little while longer and then cranked again. Eventually it started to generate white smoke and started. My neighbor tells me their may be a pressure relief valve that's weak and may need attention. If so, just where is this valve hiding? I studied the part book around the fuel pump, governor and lots of potential locations, but it's not obvious when you stare at just the parts book.

Any ideas if the valve is the culprit or should I be looking for other potential reason why no white smoke.

Not real sure what you are referring to when you say you
"typically crank with the fuel opened up to the level it will open (with no oil pressure) OR pre-heating until the oil pressure goes up (5-10 seconds)."

In any event, it may not have had fuel still up there when you first started cranking it over. Our D333 and D330C of about that same age have a check/relief valve on the return line to the tank. on the 333 it was a real hard long crank unless you pumped the fuel up first. the check valve had some trash in it, but still lost prime every time it sat a while and the tank wasn't full to a level above the fuel pump. Ended up having to replace the seals in the transfer pump to stop it leaking back. Should have known there was a problem, fuel was dripping out the tach drive while running

Hey CCJersey,

I replaced a leaking seal in the governor and in the process must have cleaned it up a bit. After that I found that the throttle will open only so far until I cranked the engine and the oil pressure goes up. I crank a bit until the pressure goes up and then stop to pre-heat for a minute. This way when I'm cranking and want to try to send more fuel I can.

I assume that one can pump up the fuel first with the hand pump you use when pumping after changing the fuel filter for example?

So the question is: where is the relief valve located? It sound like it's on the pump somewhere if I go to look for the return line back to the tank. I'll do some looking and once I find it it will be obvious in the parts book.

Thanks for the input! Say Hi to each Jersey cow for me. Our Neighbors milk ~120 Holsteins twice a day and they all have names..

I never associated it with the oil pressure building up, but I know what you mean about the governor not allowing you to open the throttle until it is spinning. The D333 acts like that. From the parts book it looks as though the governor is a mechanical (fly weights and springs) type with only oil lubrication, but I may be missing something about the oil pressure. It does make the engine have to spin more before it'll crank when the governor won't open up the throttle right at first.

Pumping up the fuel with the hand pump before cranking it will help if it's leaking back into the tank and loosing prime. The check/relief valve on the return line should be near the filter and hand pump and the return line should be attached to a fitting in the center of a large hex head plug screwed into the fuel pump housing/filter base etc. Take the line loose, and screw out the large plug and the valve spring and plunger should be behind it.

I expect any air leak in the filter, pumps or lines will allow fuel to drain back if the tank level is lower than the engine. The generator set has a base tank under the engine, so it could be bad, but the D333 was the problem until I fixed the pump seals.

I try, but it's a little hard to keep track of all the cows w/o them being a number that's connected to a computer record. Only a few ever become familiar as an individual. Frequently it's because of some problem they had that required a lot of care for a while, or that one of the children showed them in the 4H dairy show at some point.

I think it's a good sign when the cows are willing to tolerate/investigate/greet the people moving among them. It slows things down when too many want their back scratched instead of moveing along to the barn, but there's a few that demand their share of attention every day.

Unfortunately when you are showing the herd to VIP visitors you would like to impress, the old, one eyed, cripple with only 3 teats that your daughter showed 6 years ago will be the one that comes up to them for some attention.

Hi ccjersey
This will be short as typing on a blackberry is ssssllloooww at best. Based on your guidance I am looking at the fuel transfer pump and found the bolt,gasket, spring and plunger assy. I guess the plunger seal is bad or there is crud in it that won't let the plunger seal and the fuel bleeds out. Great directions.
We even got to know our neighbors cow Muffin as she was the clown of the barn that really liked to have it her way. She never bothered anything but she never wanted to leave the milking parlor without lots of goodbyes.
Thanks again and I will let you know how it turns out

On a little later older tractors (engines) the factory started to install what it called a rack limiter & yes the oil pressure has to be up so it gets out of the way. It,s just a spring loaded button controlled by oil pressure & only lets the gov. linkage travel a short distance till the pressure builds up & then gets out of the way for full throttle.It came into operation more or less when engines started using turbos so the engine couldn,t be speeded up till oil pressure was built up to the turbo bearings & for that matter to all other engine parts.

I forgot to mention in the little later engines there also was a unit called the air,fuel ratio control valve & it was put on engines to cut down on smoke when the throttle was pulled open fast. It takes an instant for esp. a turbo to catch up with it,s air (boost) output when the throttle is pulled on quick so this slows down the rack travel to eliminate the smoke. There were factory settings for it but it can be adjusted by eye just to cut back the smoke but yet you need to get it right so you don,t effect H.P. If the diaphragm in the control would get a tear in it or hole then the engine would have low power to operate the machine. I remember one time a coast to coast trucker stopped with no power in his Cat truck engine. He had stopped to 3 dealers on his way east & they even one installed a new turbo to no advantage at one dealer.I got the story of no power so seeing lots of the units with a bad diaphragm I pulled it off in a couple minutes & there was the problem, a hole in the diaphragm so for a couple $$$$ for it plus a half hour labor he was on his way & back to full power.

Hi SJ
When I put the governor back together I figured I had not put it back together correctly (it was not that complicated but who knows) as the throttle would only open partially. I wondered what was going on and then by "magic" the throttle level was able to be moved during cranking to a higher fuel setting. I figured I had fixed it by some form of "magic". Unfortunately the next time I started it it was broken again and then fixed. I soon figured out what was going on with the oil pressure.
It sure would be a good idea to get an operators manual that explains some of this Huh!!

Thanks for the information. I assume that I am on the right track with the plunger then and the loss of fuel pressure.?

Hi. Any chance of getting some pictures of your d4d, and tell us a little more about it. I've owned a 7J and a 7U but the d is my favorite and I would like to learn more about them.

I will be happy to share info, history and pics. I have some
8mm movies that u might enjoy watching too. I am not an expert in any capacity on the d4d but I will be happy to share what I know. I am out of town in florida on business so it will be this weekend at the earliest before I can post again.