D318 Will Not Start or Run

sounds like maybe you haven't bled the injectors properly? even if your not cranking on compression they will make a little bit of smoke if the fuel is there.

you only need three things for the engine to run, air, fuel, and properly timed ignition source. in a gas engine that is the spark plug. in a diesel engine that is your compression. are you cranking with a pony or electric starter?
have you double checked your valve lash?

even if your injection pump was out of time, you would have residual fuel in the combustion chamber that would give smoke.

pick the simple stuff first before jumping to major issues, unless you already have and didn't share that info.

when i bled my 9u, i started at the front of the injection pump and open the bleeder until it was free of air, then i moved to the next one back and so on until i had all the air out. they can be a bit of a pain to bleed.

To begin with, what do you have for fuel pressure when cranking?

Do you have fuel at the injector lines where they connect to the injectors? If you crack one while cranking you should get fuel. Did you use air or have a full tank and bleed the air out of the system thru to the injectors? It sounds to me like fuel is not getting to the injectors.

Sounds correct to me.

If you want to confirm, get a depth mic and check them all by removing the pumps from the injection pump housing and checking that all lifters are adjusted to 1.736". Setting the lifter heights usually helps an old engine run better as it compensates for some of the wear in the gears driving the injection pump. A former regular here, SJ said he used to set them a couple thousandths high to compensate for wear on the plunger and lifter yoke where the lifter contacts the base of the plunger. Sounds like a good idea to me as long as none of the pumps or lifters have been replaced so wear is assumed to be even on all of them. Plungers are supposed to be 2.6575-2.6577 new and max wear is 0.005".

Have you confirmed the rack is moving from the fuel shutoff position? You will get fuel flow at the injectors with the rack still at shutoff, but none will be injected. Go ahead and give the throttle a snatch and make sure that movement is carried through the linkage to the crank on the side of the governor and you hear the normal ratcheting sound of the holding mechanism. I would not be afraid of using some starting fluid in it to see if it will hit a few times.

If there is any question as to timing, remember that the camshaft could be off even if the injecton pump/accessory shaft is correct. This is unlikely as the first set of marks to be matched are between the crankshaft gear and large camshaft gear. Then there are marks between small camshaft gear and idler and idler and accessory shaft gear.

As a quick and dirty check on basic engine assembly, you might want to take out the #1injector and put a wire down through the PC chamber to touch the top of the piston and ensure the flywheel is installed correctly. It will bolt up in any position of the 6 bolts and holes. So there are 3 that will put the TDC marks in the correct positions (2 will have all the cylinder numbers wrong though) and 3 that will have the marks 60 degrees off. If the marks are off you can actually re-mark the flywheel to avoid disassembling the clutch etc if you have already got that back on.

Does the pony load up when you flip the decompression off?

Lloyd:

Your machine may have an oval inspection plate on front of timing gear cover.

With #1 at TDC / compression stroke and #6 in overlap you can take a strong light and a cell phone and take a picture that should clearly show the timing marks on the gears lined up.

Don't have that feature on the D318.

Do you have fuel at the injector lines where they connect to the injectors? If you crack one while cranking you should get fuel. Did you use air or have a full tank and bleed the air out of the system thru to the injectors? It sounds to me like fuel is not getting to the injectors.