anyone who knows diesels

Does it have an inline injection pump or a rotary?
and by fuel rail are you meaning the pipe which runs along the top of the injectors? if the glass bowl keeps breaking are you over tightening the bail screw? or have you got water in the diesel and frost temperatures at night?

Shovel man.

m10878 - The AD3 came fitted with a CAV rotary fuel pump in early models, and a Bosch-style in-line pump in later models.
Because you say it's in a old Massey, it's likely to be the CAV rotary pump, and I'll give you the fuel bleeding process from the manual, in the picture links, below. I will describe the procedure as well.

The "fuel rail" you speak of, is the injector fuel return line. This merely returns excess fuel to the filter, and doesn't need to be bled or vented.

There are 5 main bleed/vent points on the AD3 Perkins, with the CAV pump, and they need to be bled/vented in the correct order, while you are pumping fuel through them, by hand, with the lift pump, or by cranking the engine.

The lift pump handle may not feel like it's pumping fuel when operated. In this case, it means the lift pump operating lever is sitting on top of the camshaft lobe and is compressing the diaphragm.
Rotate the engine between one half, and one full revolution, to relocate the cam lobe away from the lift pump operating lever, and you will find the pump handle will develop "feel" that it's pumping fuel.

1. There is a bleed/vent screw on top of the fuel filter or filters, and this is the first point to be bled/vented. Whilst pumping fuel with the lift pump handle, slacken the bleed/vent screw on the filter head. Once you have clean, bubble-free fuel flowing from this bleed/vent screw, tighten it up.

2. There are two bleed/vent screws on the outside rear of the fuel injection pump. The bottom one is the injection pump, hydraulic head bleed/vent screw .. the top one is the governor bleed/vent screw. These take a 5/16" wrench.

Whilst pumping fuel with the lift pump handle, slacken the BOTTOM bleed/vent screw on the injection pump. When you have clean, bubble-free fuel flowing from this bleed/vent screw, tighten it up.

3. Whilst pumping fuel with the lift pump handle, slacken the TOP bleed/vent screw on the injection pump. When you have clean, bubble-free fuel flowing from this bleed/vent screw, tighten it up.

4. Whilst pumping fuel with the lift pump handle, slacken the fuel injection pump INLET LINE swivel nut, at the very rear of the injection pump.
When you have clean, bubble-free fuel flowing from this INLET line, tighten it up.

5. Slacken the swivel nut on two or all three of the injector lines, where they attach to the injector nozzle. Set the throttle to full fuel position, and the stop control to "RUN". Crank the engine until bubble-free fuel appears at the top of the injector lines. Tighten the injector line swivel nuts, and the engine will start immediately.


Bleeding fuel system - Page 1 .. http://i35.tinypic.com/kedda9.jpg

Bleeding fuel system - Page 1 .. http://i34.tinypic.com/102rs4x.jpg

You cannot run the system without a fuel bowl. It's likely that extreme cold is fracturing the glass bowls. Keep a spare on hand, or see if you can find a steel bowl that fits in place of the glass bowl. These are a standard AC brand fuel pump, and a search of eBay, using "fuel bowl" as the search term will find you a lot of varieties of bowls .. find one with correct dimensions that are identical to your original glass bowl.

My god Ron, is there anything you don't know?

Matt - LOL! .. let's just say, I've owned and operated a lot of items of equipment, with a huge and varied range of engines and drivetrains, and there's very few of them, that I haven't been into, in depth .. 😄

it does have the caz rotery pump and weve tried everything to bleed it. couldnt be water thats cracking them after the first one broke drained the entire fuel system to make sure. it has fuel going to to the injectors but it just turns and turn and wont start. its actaully my dads machine im just working on it for him cause he had a cage at the bottom of his spine. i gues my main question is do u need that fuel bowl or is there anyway to run the fuel system without it?

You can have fuel at the injectors, but if it has air in it, it won't start. The fuel has to be totally air-free. There may be a cracked line, allowing air in? ..

There may also be a very fine brass mesh screen in the top of the housing that the glass bowl fits into. These are very hard to find, and can block up with fine trash.
You need to look right up under the housing when the glass bowl is off, to see if there's one there. If there is, pop it out and clean it, and the engine will then get adequate fuel.

Hi Team,
sounds like the soft rubber bowl gasket is cooked hard and may have a portion of an old one still in place. This requires undue force to be put on the bowl via the bale to effect a seal and causes bowl cracking and air leaks.
A good soft rubber gasket needs little force applied to it to seal and you can rock the bowl on the gasket if all is well.
Also the air can enter via the mesh screen, if fitted, if it overhangs the gasket outer diameter or is stuck under one side of the gasket only.
Just some other things to check that I have encountered in the past.
Cheers,
Eddie B.

I think EDB is right on the mark about the gasket on the fuel bowl being "cooked" I have a couple of older perkins with glass sediment bowls and never broken them BUT that gasket needs to be pliable and shouldnt require tighting the bowl so tight that it cracks. That is just a flat rubber gasket and any material that is resistant to diesel could be cut to fit, cork would be good if its availible (cut it to fit)

Oz Dozer, I've never seen a perkins AD3 with an inline pump in the UK,
they have always used CAV rotary pumps, the only type I know with an
inline pump was fitted to the Fordson Dexta which had a Perkins 3cyl engine
built to Ford spec,

Do you have any pictures/lincs to show AD3 engines with inline pumps?
were they Peterborough built engines or built elsewear?


Shovel man.