Recent content by brambleberry

Thanks, Haymaker!

I have my project 743DS finally up and running again, the last loose string I need to tie up is getting the alternator wired so it's charging the battery. The old engine I pulled had a totally different alternator, with only two wires going to it. The remanufactured v1702 engine I put in has...

So just to wrap this up, turns out the glow plugs were all bad, put in new ones and it started right up. Sorry to waste everyone's time!

so just a snort of ether one time won't hurt the kubota engine? I'm a little oversensitive to ether now that my ex-mechanic ruined whatever little compression was left in the old engine with 2 cans of ether :)

I had posted a year ago about my '91 743ds that had engine troubles, compression was too far gone to even start. In the meantime, I found a 743 in pieces that had a rebuilt engine with it. I bought it for the engine, but it had a full set of brand new bobcat brand hydraulic hoses in boxes...

Thank you for these specifics to look into. I've always avoided starting fluid for diesels, and questioned this mechanic on why he used it, and he said something about making sure to use a certain type of starting fluid for diesels and being careful with it. I am glad to have some directives...

I'd think that black smoke would continue the whole time it's running if there was excessive blowby but the smoke is really clear as soon as it catches

The glow plugs are working, and yes it uses oil and there has to be worn rings with all the blowby. But I haven't planned to dig into rebuilds since it has plenty of power. If the rings were worn to the point of low power, I'd definitely consider it. Everyone I've talked to says that some...

I've had my '91 743ds at a local mechanic the last few months to work on a number of issues that I've never been able to figure out. He has taken care of a number of things, but has not been able to figure out a fuel supply issue that makes it incredibly hard to start the engine. Thought that...

My last battery charger finally bit the dust and I want to get a nice one this time around. Looking into the options for diesels is frustrating, there's a million of them and hard to decipher what is real advice and what's just marketing. Main thing I'm trying to figure out is getting a portable...

Thanks, this is what I want to hear. I'm sure I'll find some other stuff once I start digging. But good to know that the dark oil and breather are not out of the normal. I did have paragraph breaks in my post, but they got taken out when it got posted on the forum. Thanks for putting them back in!