A
diesel needs three basic components to run. A good air supply, a good
fuel supply and good
compression. Air supply is a no brainer as the engine is reaching full
power.
Fuel supply needs to be thought about as it was recently worked on, however I can't think of any fuel problem that would allow the engine to reach full
power but be hard to start. Never Monday would certainly have more experinece in this instance, my specialty is large ship's engines.
My experience with Perks is the hard start problem in the cold and remember, cold is a relative term and the warm temps where you operate may have been masking a growing loss in
compression. It is not a cause for panic as the engine can still develop full power, it is the compression loss at cranking speed that makes the hard starting. For some reason, injector spray pattern, combustion chamber shape etc. a lot of
Perkins models need cold starting help as they age. I'm not familar with the various models but
Perkins used a system of dribbling fuel over an electrically heated element to give them a hot air supply in the manifold that would be drawn into the combustion chamber on induction and the make the atomised fuel easier to ignite. The arrangement entered the side of the manifold and comprised a nipple for connection of the fuel supply and a large spade terminal on a ring surrounding it for the
electrical connection. If your system has this set-up I would suggest getting it hooked up. The system was a bit neanderthal when compared to today's glow plugs.
Cap'n K:- the fire I used to light in my air cleaner was just a bushman's version of this system. I lived miles away from anywhere & the Nissans were real hard on glowplugs. never remembered to keep enough spares.