# Ford 2120 Running Rough



## BillJC (Sep 18, 2011)

My family has a 1989 Ford 2120 with about 2300 hours on it. It's run flawless for as long as we've had it, but last night it started running rough. It still fires right up however, it has almost like rhythmic knock or cough to it. Other than the unusual sound, it seems to run fine. Is there anything that I should check first before I bite the bullet and tow it to the local dealer to get looked at? 

Thanks in advance!

Bill


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## sixbales (May 18, 2011)

Gas or diesel?? 

If it's a diesel, you might try cracking the injector connections at the injectors, one at a time, with the engine running. Bleed it for a short time, tighten it up and go to the next one. 

Sometimes you get a little air in one that reduces performance.


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## BillJC (Sep 18, 2011)

Thanks! 

It's diesel. I'll give the injectors a shot. I had an old Long that used need that every once in a while. Never had an issue with this tractor though.


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## BillJC (Sep 18, 2011)

Just gave bleeding the injectors a shot. When I got to the second from the rear, I cracked open the injector and the noise went away. When I tightened it back up, the noise came back. Anyone have any idea what that could be? Is it a bad injector?


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## sixbales (May 18, 2011)

Probably the injector has a broken spring. You might want to pull it and take it to a shop for checking. Blow out the injector cavity with air hose best you can before pulling the injector.


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## sixbales (May 18, 2011)

Here's a post that reminded me of your problem. 

"My Engine did NOT sound right... not a miss, more like one cylinder was hitting harder than the others. Called the mechanic who rebuilt it last fall (maybe 70 hours on it since) and he came out after hours and listened to it. Evened out when he cracked #6 injector line. Tried swapping two injectors, but problem didn't follow.  So today, the pump is on it's way to Eau Claire Diesel for testing... "

A follow-up comment suggested that the pump was dispensing too much fuel to one cylinder.


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## BillJC (Sep 18, 2011)

Been busy the last couple of days and haven't had a chance to respond. Turns out that the valves were out of adjustment. One of the rocker arms was so far out of adjustment that the pushrod was not making square contact on the rocker and ended up breaking the endcup. Ordered a new pushrod and a new rocker, installed them, adjusted the rest of the valves and it's running way better than before! 

Lesson learned. Don't put off adjusting the valves!

Bill


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## Bedford24 (Sep 28, 2011)

If you can get a copy of the service manual - those smaller engines especially the Ford (by Shibaura) recomend the Valve adjustment every 500 hours. We see alot of this.


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