Tune up and maintenance advice.........543

[elbowcarey]

Hey
I have a 543 with a 3cylinder diesel and hour meter is stuck at approx 2000hrs so it probably has double. I bought it broke with a bad drive motor, changed it, oil change, hydraulic filter/fluid change, etc. It runs good I used it all summer but the hydraulics are slow/weak up/down and tilt so I want to work on that and a few other things. At startup I have to hit the glow plugs for 20-30 secs before starting and there is a lot of smoke at startup for a few seconds. I'd like to fix that also would like to know what a real good tune up would consist of so my machine will run nice and smooth all summer long. Also do I clean the glow plugs ? replace? Any other tips to help me out would be awesome........Thanks

 

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slow hydraulics, it sounds dumb but make sure the safety bar is pushing the contacts all the way down, sometimes they don't depress all the way and the pedals don't have full motion.

 

[Tazza]

slow hydraulics, it sounds dumb but make sure the safety bar is pushing the contacts all the way down, sometimes they don't depress all the way and the pedals don't have full motion.

That amount of glowing is about right. You can replace the glow plugs, but that will not always mean it will start better. These engines should do about 6,000 hours till they start to need a tidy up. As the compression lowers, it gets harder to start. I had a machine with 6,500 hours, it took a good 30 second glow but when it was started and warm, it ran all day, no issues starting when warm either.

 

[SkidRoe]

You could pull the injectors and have them tested. That is about the cheapest tune up that you can do with a diesel beyond routine maintenance (fuel / air filters, oil changes, etc).
With respect to your hydraulic woes, the first course of action would be to have your hydraulic relief pressure and flow checked. Unfortunately, this may involve a trip to the dealer, as the equipment to test flow is a little more involved. You may be into the gear pump to get this resolved, or maybe your relief valve is stuck partially open and bypassing constantly.
The nice thing about your machine is it's all mechanical, no pesky electronics to mess up.
HTH,
SR

 

[elbowcarey]

You could pull the injectors and have them tested. That is about the cheapest tune up that you can do with a diesel beyond routine maintenance (fuel / air filters, oil changes, etc).
With respect to your hydraulic woes, the first course of action would be to have your hydraulic relief pressure and flow checked. Unfortunately, this may involve a trip to the dealer, as the equipment to test flow is a little more involved. You may be into the gear pump to get this resolved, or maybe your relief valve is stuck partially open and bypassing constantly.
The nice thing about your machine is it's all mechanical, no pesky electronics to mess up.
HTH,
SR

Thanks
Well I guess I'll let it roll with the startup smoke and just change filters/fluids. I read on here in another thread about an injector leaking and that was the cause of start up smoke for someone else, how do you pull them and how do you test them or do I need to take them somewhere to test. I'm gonna remove/inspect the relief valve this weekend and possibly adjust it to see if I can get the lift/tilt working a little better. But if not I may need a little more expertise to get that problem resolved. Thanks guys for the info

 

[SkidRoe]

Thanks
Well I guess I'll let it roll with the startup smoke and just change filters/fluids. I read on here in another thread about an injector leaking and that was the cause of start up smoke for someone else, how do you pull them and how do you test them or do I need to take them somewhere to test. I'm gonna remove/inspect the relief valve this weekend and possibly adjust it to see if I can get the lift/tilt working a little better. But if not I may need a little more expertise to get that problem resolved. Thanks guys for the info

You will need to take the injectors to a diesel shop to have them bench tested. They should remove quite easily, somebody should b able to walk you through it, or try googling it.

 

[Tazza]

You will need to take the injectors to a diesel shop to have them bench tested. They should remove quite easily, somebody should b able to walk you through it, or try googling it.

Should be easy to remove. Remove the high pressure lines, remove the tapp off lines, then un-screw the injector from the head.