Bobcat 873 turbo diesel starting issues

[Thormx294]

I recently purchased a pair of 1998 and 2000 bobcat 873 in unknown condition. I got back items back to my shop and running, made repairs and both run and drive. Both units have issues with starting. One unit takes about 20-30 seconds of cranking to actually start then starts up and runs fine with no smoke. Sometimes this is so much cranking it requires a jump pack because I drain a 1000cca battery. I believe this is fuel related but am not sure. The other unit instantly try's to fire off but won't , it requires you to hold the key while motor is trying to run to keep the starter engaged forcing it to run basically. After doing this for 15-20 seconds it will poorly run on its own. With the idle set at high/wide open it barely runs but stays running then after 30 seconds it idles normally. For about 2-3 minutes it huffs a whitish blueish smoke and then clears up. When I got the machine it had a bad mechanical pump feeding the injection pump(the unit ran while squeezing the primer bulb to push fuel so I replaced the pump and that solved that issue). The unit has a new fuel filter, mechanical pump, primer ball, clear line between the primer and the pump. I believe it is still a fuel issue causing this problem. Any ideas would be helpful or things to check / replace Thanks

 

[Tazza]

Long cranking could be fuel, glow plugs or compression. If the weather is fairly warm out, i honestly don't have issues starting a machine without glowing it first unless it's quite worn.
The other thing you didn't mention is if you cleaned the injectors. If they have been sitting for some time, they can get sticky.

 

[bobbie-g]

Long cranking could be fuel, glow plugs or compression. If the weather is fairly warm out, i honestly don't have issues starting a machine without glowing it first unless it's quite worn.
The other thing you didn't mention is if you cleaned the injectors. If they have been sitting for some time, they can get sticky.

A simple thing to do is drain the fuel and replace with known good fuel. Friend of mine just got bit on that one, wasted about 4 days of troubleshooting only to find the fuel was bad. -- Have you done a compression check? An easy thing to do would be to check the voltage on the glow plugs when they were powered up. You could pull one or more and make sure they were glowing OK. Do these have the computerized screen where you can see the glow plug countdown time? ---Bobbie-G (with an 863G that I really love!)

 

[7LBSSMALLIE]

A simple thing to do is drain the fuel and replace with known good fuel. Friend of mine just got bit on that one, wasted about 4 days of troubleshooting only to find the fuel was bad. -- Have you done a compression check? An easy thing to do would be to check the voltage on the glow plugs when they were powered up. You could pull one or more and make sure they were glowing OK. Do these have the computerized screen where you can see the glow plug countdown time? ---Bobbie-G (with an 863G that I really love!)

NEW FUEL GREAT IDEA. BUT CHECK .A PICKUP TUBE SCREEN. B .LIFT PUMP SCREEN. (FOLLOW LINES TOO LIFT PUMP. BLACK COVER 5/16TH BOLT. THERE IS A SERVICABLE SCREEN UNDER COVER. WHICH WILL GIVE TATTLE TALES TO HOW. CONTAIMETED FUEL TANK IS. ODD FACT. ALGEA GROWS IN DSKILL. FUEL SENDER FLOATS BREAK DOWN. NEW LOW SULPHER FUEL BREAKS DOWN THESE OLDER TANKS. FIND SOURCE OF JUNK OR CHASE IT FOR LIFE OF UNIT