question about John Deere diesel

[Steve Pavlidis]

Hi,

I'm looking at a boat with a John Deere diesel that has not be cranked in 2.5 years. It ran fine when shut off, new owner never took it out. Is this going to be seized? Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

[LeaseOnLife]

pull injectors, crank over with wrench on cranck. If free, a dry, then wet (inject oil), compression check would be my next steps.

Dirk

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlidis

Hi,

I'm looking at a boat with a John Deere diesel that has not be cranked in 2.5 years. It ran fine when shut off, new owner never took it out. Is this going to be seized? Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

[onestepcsy37]

my perkins 4-108 sat unused, on the hard, for two years. never attempted to crank it or perform any service on it.

when i finally splashed the boat, i put in fresh diesel fuel and charged the batteries, checked the oil level, and cranked it over. it started in three seconds and has run fine ever since.

hey steven, are you going back to the bahamas????

[Steve Pavlidis]

Thanks for your reply. I guess I should have asked if it's okay to try to crank it the normal way or if the injectors should be pulled first and the cylinders wetted.

[Steve Pavlidis]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

hey steven, are you going back to the bahamas????

Where else?

[DeepFrz]

I would wet the cylinders. Spray in oil and crank by hand a few times. All it takes is a bit of time and can't hurt anything.

[gjordan]

If the engine is not siezed, dont worry about it. Just start in a normal manner. I belong to an antique Caterpillar Club, and we often start diesels that havent run in 5, 10 , or 20 years. The success rate is pretty good. Good Luck with it. ____Grant.

[bobconnie]

The John Deere engines are a great engine. Ive Installed a few of them in shrimp boats, and a couple of them were used and had not been started in a while. Being old fashion I removed the injectors and sprayed some automatic Transmission fluid in each cylinder, replaced the injectors, bled them, and they started right up, smoked for a couple of minutes, cleared up and ran strong! Still running fine 3 yrs later !! Just sayin a little lube never hurt anything!!

[Dulcesuenos]

Im no mechanic but i play one on TV, Diesel fuel oil has some lubricating properties. Cylinders should not be very rusty / pistons should not be seized. Plus any piston in the up position will have had so.e oil on its cylinder walls anyhow, I would slowly turn engine over by hand once she makes at least a full revolution with not nasty noises etc you know your fine.
At our tree farm we have a John Deere tractor w a 30hp shes 3 years old and only has 62 hours went a year w out being started and purrs like a kitten.

[cruise]

my Perkins 6-354 sat for three years fresh fuel I did have the injectors pulled and serviced we also changed all filters turned over fine was a bit smokey at start up but I had no major issues with it.

[Steve Pavlidis]

Thanks for everyone's help. Good to know that the John Deere's are as reliable an engine as I thought they might be.