F 2880 mower

[adigger]

I have a F 2880 front mower with a 3 cylinder diesel , ran fine when parked last fall . Stored in a heated building , went to mow 3 weeks ago and it rolled over forabout10 seconds and quit. I thought battery was week , Ive owned it 6 years and never put one in it. Replaced battery Same thing . Starter bendix hits flywheel but does nothing. Had starter rebuilt.same thing. bought new starter online . same thing. What the heck ! Took a bar to flywheel and found I could not turn it although I had tried that earlier and it moved. Got to looking and I had turned it backward before.Turn it correct way and its stops You can back it up about quarter of way and it stops. I pulled valve cover and seems middle cylinder one valve not working right. Time to pull head off and see what gives ? Oil and coolant levels are fine , What would stop it from going past a quarter turn around ?

 

[i7win7]

Sounds like one of the cylinders is full of fluid, remove glow plugs and manually turn engine over. Using starter would spray fluids all over everything.

 

[adigger]

Well I removed all three glow plugs , no difference. Fly wheel move about 4 to 5 inches and stops again. Ideas ?

 

[Dave_eng]

You state with the valve cover removed one valve is not working properly.

Perhaps one valve is seized in the valve guide and when the camshaft tries to depress this valve it comes up against strong resistance.

Try and see if the stopping of the flywheel rotation corresponds to the valve trying to move.

Dave

 

[adigger]

I took a 2 pound hammer and put handle end on valves and gave it a light tap with hand , all valves are free and move fine. a little bit hard to see which is doing what because it will only turn about 1/8 on flywheel. about 4 inches. But all valves are free.

 

[Dave_eng]

This is a real long shot.

Friend had a motor which was doing the same thing as yours. On a hunch we removed the fan belt and to our surprise it was the alternator which was locking things up. Its bearings were rusted up and permitted a little movement before jamming.

Dave

 

[adigger]

tried that , alternator spins fine.I m wondering if a wrist pin came out far enough to catch block.I don t know why it will only spin so far and lock back up. But how would a wrist pin make no noise last fall when i parked it but come out when i try to start it for 10 seconds.

 

[adigger]

Found the problem ,mice went in thru muffler and filled exhaust valves and cylinders with bird seed . Pulled head,cleaned up mess , changed oiland going again. D have very small coolant leak at head gasket , retorqued head will see if it stops.

 

[whitetiger]

You did use a new head gasket didn't you?

 

[adigger]

Yes , ran it some over weekend and i think gasket has sealed after retorqued again.