# Ford 340 glow plugs or no



## micmacman (May 25, 2013)

i picked up an old Ford 340 thats not running , and cant get to run , its a straight 340 not an A or B

i flushed the fuel system and new filter bled the system and tried bleeding the injectors and cant seem to get it to pop off , get puff of smoke here and there , tried one injector at a time and all 3 at the same time no joy

as you know this pre dates prime pumps 

a disclaimer , im far from a guru , so please bare with me , it had just occurred to me earlier today that maybe it has glow plugs and that maybe they are bad , i just took it for granted it was a pre heat chamber engine due to its age

my question is simple , did these old girls utilize glow plugs , or am i not going to get that lucky

using the starter to barr this beast over to prime the system is going to cost me a starter i can feel it heating up around the pocket where my wallet is


----------



## micmacman (May 25, 2013)

i also did a oil change , it was dirty but no bad news otherwise , new air filter and its breathing good , fresh battery and have good flow from the filter bleed


----------



## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

do you have a fitting that screws into the inlet manifold that has a fuel line and an electric wire connected to it ?, that is used for cold starting.

You also could use at a pinch some "start ya bastard" in a pressurised spray can, this is sprayed into the air cleaner with the filter removed, don't over spray though, another way would be to get a mate to tow start you, this would save the starter and battery.

I would also tow the tractor with the throttle fully open and fuel stop released and the 3 injectors cracked to make sure there is no air in the fuel system, just a thought.


----------



## micmacman (May 25, 2013)

thanks for the reply

tried the ether ,not a big fan of using that stuff , its so harmful to engines

its still at the guys farm that i purchased from , it has a front end loader thats down so towing is not an option unless i pull the loader off ,and its my understanding the loader itself holds about 50 gal of fluid? sounds like yanking the loader may be the option

the fitting for cold starting you are talking about , is that a glow plug or something else?


----------



## micmacman (May 25, 2013)

i should add it does turn over , but not too freely to suggest something bad , he said his father (who passed away) ran it dry because fuel gauge does not work which is why its wasnt running 

i know the guy pretty well from work and have no reason not to believe him , im getting a great deal with it with a out if i give up im only out my time and what i spent which to this point money wise is minimal


----------



## sixbales (May 18, 2011)

Howdy micmacman,

Welcome back to the forum.

The old Ford tractors have "thermostart" heaters, which inject heated/vaporized diesel into the intake manifold. A new one costs about $30 on ebay. It is screwed into the intake manifold on the inside and forward end of the intake manifold. You have to hold the key in the "heat" position for 30 seconds or so, longer if it's extremely cold. Attached is a picture I snitched from ebay. Fuel to the thermostart is supplied from the injector return line to the fuel tank. Electrical power is supplied either from the keyswitch, or by a pushbutton near the keyswitch. 

Are you getting fuel to the injectors? If it is cranking slowly, you lose too much compression on the up-stroke for it to start. You may have bad ground connections. Tow starting would be best to turn the engine over faster. If the loader hydraulic lines have quick-connects, it should be relatively easy to remove the loader.


----------



## micmacman (May 25, 2013)

i think its a 1978 , a year before the prime pumps were starting to be employed , so when you say old ford tractors does this year or abouts fall in line?

thank you for the response and the greeting


im getting some fuel to the injectors but i have to say i expected more , im getting just drips/drops ,and i get a whop from the muffler and a puff every now and again, just enough to think im close and then i run out of battery . i have my F-250 jumpered to the battery to give it a boost . if i crank too long the neg terminal does start to smoke and i have to let off

i have to agree ,i my have to look towards removing the loader , does the fluid have to be removed to do this?


----------



## micmacman (May 25, 2013)

went over and looked at a couple things,

no quick dis connects

the dashboard does have a circle icon with a squiggle line in it , on my New Holland thats the glow plug indicator , not sure on this ole girl though , there is no push button , but a switch that looks to be for the lights

there is a fuel shut off knob that in appearence looks liike a choke , im guessing pushed in would be fuel on , i wouldnt think you would want it out while operating the tractor

also i wanted to say thanks again for the help , i was getting a bit discouraged and have a new vigor on tackling this again


----------



## Fedup (Feb 25, 2014)

I fear you are fighting a losing battle with your current strategy. I've been there there many times. Simply "jumping" a dead battery with a running vehicle in this circumstance is usually not effective. The parasitic load of all the gears, pumps, etc, adds a great deal of strain on the starter to begin with. Cold temperatures add to it. Filling the injector lines and then developing the pressure required to "pop" the injectors, create combustion and eventually start the engine requires more and faster cranking than your current starter/battery combination will likely provide. 
As ambient temperatures are dropping, a working thermostart will obviously help, but cranking speed and endurance are critical. If you're serious about getting it running before spring, then get and install another battery. One of the proper size(4DLT, most likely) not just "something with 12 volts". Make sure the cables, cable ends and terminals are clean and tight, not just "stuck on there". Pull starting is an option, even with a loader on the ground. I have many times dug some dirt out from under one corner of the bucket(or found a way to jack the bucket an inch or so) and slipped a chain under it. Once tightened with the tow vehicle the chain will tend to lift the bucket and usually working the loader valve while towing will let the loader lift enough to allow the tow starting to take place.


----------



## sixbales (May 18, 2011)

micmacman,

My Ford is an '82 model, and it doesn't have a priming pump. I don't know what the Ford criteria was for putting them on a given tractor. 

Your injection pump puts out a very small volume....high pressure/low volume. As long as you are getting a small amount of fluid at the injectors, should be ok.

If the loader has quick connects, there should be no leakage because the QC's have check balls to prevent leakage. Furthermore, the loader control valve is "open center", which means it dumps fluid back to the reservoir with the valve handles in the neutral position. If the loader control valve has a leak, you may lose some fluid. A plug should not hurt in this case. You need to leave fluid in the reservoir so the pump is not run without fluid.

Smoke at the negative terminal indicates a high resistance connection. Clean the clamp and battery terminal. Also, it might be an internally corroded connection inside the cable. May have to replace the cable. Also clean the battery cable ground connection, and the positive cable connection - both ends.


----------



## micmacman (May 25, 2013)

Fedup said:


> I fear you are fighting a losing battle with your current strategy. I've been there there many times. Simply "jumping" a dead battery with a running vehicle in this circumstance is usually not effective. The parasitic load of all the gears, pumps, etc, adds a great deal of strain on the starter to begin with. Cold temperatures add to it. Filling the injector lines and then developing the pressure required to "pop" the injectors, create combustion and eventually start the engine requires more and faster cranking than your current starter/battery combination will likely provide.
> As ambient temperatures are dropping, a working thermostart will obviously help, but cranking speed and endurance are critical. If you're serious about getting it running before spring, then get and install another battery. One of the proper size(4DLT, most likely) not just "something with 12 volts". Make sure the cables, cable ends and terminals are clean and tight, not just "stuck on there". Pull starting is an option, even with a loader on the ground. I have many times dug some dirt out from under one corner of the bucket(or found a way to jack the bucket an inch or so) and slipped a chain under it. Once tightened with the tow vehicle the chain will tend to lift the bucket and usually working the loader valve while towing will let the loader lift enough to allow the tow starting to take place.


you seem to have misunderstood the battery situation , im using a good battery out of another tractor with a good charge, the tractor the battery is coming friom is at least the same HP as the 340 is , im using the truck to jump as a boost to help the battery charge last longer as just using the battery it was draining faster , using the truck not only aided the battery to last longer but helped it to crank better early on


----------



## micmacman (May 25, 2013)

i did not see any wires going into the intake manifold , just a wire harness along the valve cover


----------



## Fedup (Feb 25, 2014)

If I misjudged your battery situation, I'm sorry. I saw no mention in any earlier posts regarding having installed another battery, only that it was being jumped. With that covered, and it still won't turn fast enough to start, it may well have a starter issue. 
If you see fuel at the injectors while cranking, that's all the priming you can do at this point. It won't be a large amount, just some small pulses, possibly with a few bubbles of air for a few revoultions, but that's about all you can expect. From there it's just a matter of how long and how fast you can crank it over before it starts. Whether that's with battery/starter or tow rope is a matter of choice/convenience at this point. 
The information Sixbales provided concerning the thermostart is dead on. If your tractor has one it will be threaded into the manifold on the hidden side, just aft of the air cleaner hose connection. If the original wire is still intact(whether it's attached or not) I would expect it to be a 12 or 14 gauge brown wire with a red stripe. If the tractor is not equipped with this option there will be a plug threaded into the opening.


----------



## micmacman (May 25, 2013)

thanks Fedup , i look to get back at it later in the week , i appreciate all the help , ive made notes on all your suggestions , many thanks again ,Dave


----------



## TraderMark (Nov 15, 2011)

If you decide to tow start the tractor, you don't need to remove the front end loader.

Run a chain under the front bucket and hook the chain to the front axle. Hold the lever to raise the bucket and as the chain tightens it will lift the bucket enough to tow start. 

I've done it many times on many different machines.

HTH,
Mark


----------

