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Massey Ferguson 35 starting problem


Lucasnorth
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Hi all, 

so last week i bought a massey ferguson 35, 1958 4 cylinder, in really nice condition,and apparently a good runner. 
when it arrived on the trailer from the guy who picked it up for me it started fine, a hour latter when i was going to go for a ride on it it started up straight away, let it tick over for 5 mins
and when to set off and it cut out, now im no mechanic but iv tinkered with land rovers before, i checked for air in the system and cracked the injectors and pretty much everything  i could think off, fuel came out of them all,
took the sediment bowl off and cleaned it out, fuel filter was brand new last week, sediment bowl wouldnt refill so cracked a pipe off and put the air line on it and it filled, still wouldnt start, went back to it the next day, opened the 2 valves on the injectors, pumped the lift pump a few times and turned it over for a second and fuel came spurting out, tried to start it and it fired up straigh away, let it take over for 10 mins and turned it off, an hour later decided to go out on it again, started first time, but when i tried to set off it cut out again and wouldnt re start, so took fuel tank off and drained it, there was enough **** and rust came out of it to fill a sediment bown full, cleaned it out added fresh fuel, took lift pump off, all looked ok, but i probably wouldnt know if it was or wasnt, tried to start it today and again nothing, cracked the 2 valves again bottom one spurted but not the top one, not with help from the lift pump or filcking it over, so im wondering if it may be the lift pump, would that make it not start?? any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated, 
sorry my tale is so long, 

 

lucas. 

Edited by Lucasnorth
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I don't have an exact answer but from my friend who owns vintage tractors .... it's got 1 too many cylinders. According to him The 4 cylinder massy 35s have always been known to be problematic with start up. The one he owned had starting problems that were traced back to the injectors.

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check that the lift pump arm is in sufficient contact with the cam.....if the arm is not.....it wont pump the fuel fast eno0ugh to pressurise the injector pump.........if the tractor runs without loads of smoke ...then your injectors are ok........check your stop cable is properly adjusted and not partially engaging the fuel cut off lever............

7 hours ago, Lucasnorth said:

Hi all, 

so last week i bought a massey ferguson 35, 1958 4 cylinder, in really nice condition,and apparently a good runner. 
when it arrived on the trailer from the guy who picked it up for me it started fine, a hour latter when i was going to go for a ride on it it started up straight away, let it tick over for 5 mins
and when to set off and it cut out, now im no mechanic but iv tinkered with land rovers before, i checked for air in the system and cracked the injectors and pretty much everything  i could think off, fuel came out of them all,
took the sediment bowl off and cleaned it out, fuel filter was brand new last week, sediment bowl wouldnt refill so cracked a pipe off and put the air line on it and it filled, still wouldnt start, went back to it the next day, opened the 2 valves on the injectors, pumped the lift pump a few times and turned it over for a second and fuel came spurting out, tried to start it and it fired up straigh away, let it take over for 10 mins and turned it off, an hour later decided to go out on it again, started first time, but when i tried to set off it cut out again and wouldnt re start, so took fuel tank off and drained it, there was enough **** and rust came out of it to fill a sediment bown full, cleaned it out added fresh fuel, took lift pump off, all looked ok, but i probably wouldnt know if it was or wasnt, tried to start it today and again nothing, cracked the 2 valves again bottom one spurted but not the top one, not with help from the lift pump or filcking it over, so im wondering if it may be the lift pump, would that make it not start?? any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated, 
sorry my tale is so long, 

 

lucas. 

 

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1 hour ago, ditchman said:

check your stop cable is properly adjusted and not partially engaging the fuel cut off lever............

This ^, or make sure the stop button is fully back. Had a tef20 that occasionally did the same and was the stop button not fully home. Good luck, great tractors.

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Many years ago I had a landy that kept stalling, apparently for lack of fuel.

The previous owner(s) had never had the tank filled up. It was full of rust. Every time I removed it, cleaned it, refilled it, more rust came loose and blocked the filters. Enough fuel to tick over, enough fuel to move but not enough to drive. I fitted a temporary plastic drum to feed fuel, it ran perfect. I put in a stainless tank that a friend had welded and never used and never had another problem. 

So maybe, just maybe if you tipped out loads of rust, there's more coming off inside?

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be aware of the pump type........just because it pumps well on the manual bleed lifter dosnt mean to say the pump runs/pumps well on the cam as although they are sort of linked they arnt and work different..........its easy enough to check 

 

  1. remove pump
  2. remove any spacers
  3. turn enjine by hand so you can see back of the cam
  4. measure from cam to outside of block
  5. measure from face of pump to furthest point of lift arm

the arm distance should be a bit more than the cam depth as the lift arm should rest on the cam all the time...........the pump comes with spacers which depending on the application should be used or thrown away..........it is possible that a spacer is there that shouldnt be.............check

 

if set up the tractor should run perfect...........massey didnt sell tens of thousands of these if they didnt run perfect........

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10 hours ago, Centrepin said:

Many years ago I had a landy that kept stalling, apparently for lack of fuel.

The previous owner(s) had never had the tank filled up. It was full of rust. Every time I removed it, cleaned it, refilled it, more rust came loose and blocked the filters. Enough fuel to tick over, enough fuel to move but not enough to drive. I fitted a temporary plastic drum to feed fuel, it ran perfect. I put in a stainless tank that a friend had welded and never used and never had another problem. 

So maybe, just maybe if you tipped out loads of rust, there's more coming off inside?

My thoughts too,had a couple of things with same symptom and it was always **** in the lines or blocking a strainer inside the tank.

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23 minutes ago, mossy835 said:

was it the 35x that had 4 cylinders.

No.

 

Blocked fuel lines somewhere is my guess. 4 cylinders are notorious for being bad starters but not all of them are, sounds like yours is a good starter but currently having fuel issues. Bad starting on the 4 cylinders is due to timing not being spot on, yours obviously is OK as it has been starting OK until recently so do not under any circumstance allow anybody to mess with the fuel pump timing.

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Thanks for all the answers. Very much appreciated you taking time to help. 
 

the first time it stopped I had all the pipes off the lift pump and the fuel filter. Fuel was pushing and pulling from all the valves and pipes, excuse my terminology😄

this time not so much. Just read about the filter on the fuel tap that goes into the tank. There wasn’t one on so iv ordered one and a new lift pump just to be on the safe side. Tomorrow in going to take all the pipes off and check there not blocked. As for the stop button iv been messing with that to make sure it was in the right place as that did cross my mind. But as it started a couple of times then cut out I came to the conclusion it probably isn’t that. I’d read a bit ago about the 4 cylinder being a bit of a problem to start but this apparently has modern starter plugs and also claimed to start first time every time😂
really hope to get it sorted this weekend so I can get out and about in it. This was the rubbish that came out of the fuel tank🙈🙈

 

many thanks. 
 

lucas. 

4AD31FA5-EC46-4118-B646-54B060856E5B.jpeg

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If I remember right, there are (or should be) several gauzes in different places.  On the pickup pipe there may be a gauze 'sock'; above the sediment bowl there may be a gauze layer, and there may be one at the both the fuel pump and injection pump?  We only ever had 3 cylinder versions - and that was about 40 years ago (though my sister still has one of them).

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On 01/04/2021 at 12:18, Walker570 said:

This forum never ceases to amaze me as to the range of it's expertise. It would not surprise me in the least if we did not get a new member pop up from NASA to ask how they can get this little helicopter working on Mars.  I am confident there would be an answer.

Right what's the problem with this mars helicopter. 😄

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Right chaps,

I think I may well of sorted it, new lift pump fitted yesterday, started ok but then it shut down again after 10 mins, 

Was taking all the fuel pipes off to check and realised the pipe that goes from the fuel tap/sediment bowl to the lift pump, the bulbous end  that’s on the end that goes into the lift pump had come off some how, so ordered a new one, but as a make shift bashed it back on the pipe and it fired up and ran on tick over for a good half hour, didn’t want to go out on it just in case it broke down, but will venture out on it tomorrow if it starts and ticks over for 10 mins, 2 things I did notice though when it was running, it was spurting out some black stuff and located it to be coming out of a hole under the exhaust where it attaches to the engine, hope the picture show what I mean😄 and also the rear hitch doesn’t stay up when I turned the engine off, have a 4 foot link box on so quite heavy, took 2-3 mins for it to go all the way down, I’m guessing that’s not right????
many thanks. 
 

lucas 

1FAF7D8E-D145-495E-A9C2-A9A8B667AF5F.jpeg

9DB24085-D528-48FA-A3BC-B45C016A3926.jpeg

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On 01/04/2021 at 12:18, Walker570 said:

This forum never ceases to amaze me as to the range of it's expertise. It would not surprise me in the least if we did not get a new member pop up from NASA to ask how they can get this little helicopter working on Mars.  I am confident there would be an answer.

👍👍

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where the bend is on the manifold to the exhaust pipe is a smalll hole............this is to drain any water conversation...that could collect there.....if there is black stuff coming out it could be 

 

  1. over fueling...not sure what the excess fuel device has.....might be an automatic one in the pump  (thats why you dont pull the throttle back when its cold to start it)
  2. the soot has got wet and turned to ink

it needs a good run and the enjine needs to get under load so it reaches STP..................sounds as if you are nearly there now :good:

pottering around with the tractor will do it no good at all...make it work ...do some deep cultivating with it or hauling a heavy trailer now and again

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12 minutes ago, ditchman said:

where the bend is on the manifold to the exhaust pipe is a smalll hole............this is to drain any water conversation...that could collect there.....if there is black stuff coming out it could be 

 

  1. over fueling...not sure what the excess fuel device has.....might be an automatic one in the pump  (thats why you dont pull the throttle back when its cold to start it)
  2. the soot has got wet and turned to ink

it needs a good run and the enjine needs to get under load so it reaches STP..................sounds as if you are nearly there now :good:

pottering around with the tractor will do it no good at all...make it work ...do some deep cultivating with it or hauling a heavy trailer now and again

Thanks ditchman. Hopefully nothing to worry about. I’ll get I big hay trailer on it at the weekend round my mates farm and give it a workout👍👍👍👍👍👍

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