International 885-starting problems

[Silly Tilly]

I would class myself as a hobby farmer and recently bought an old internaional harvester 885. Dealer I bought her off started her first time in his yard, no bother. I got her home and followed his instructions for starting and it works sometimes whilst other times it doesn’t. I would use the tractor periodically, maybe every three months for cleaning up around the farm yard, drawing sticks, log splitting etc. I got her serviced, new filters, oil change etc and all good bar the starting problems. The process I follow is to hold her on the heating plug for about 30 seconds, slightly depress the foot pedal, and keep the pull cable in the cab slightly opened to allow fuel through ( the dead mans cable as some would call it ). The battery is good and it tries very, very hard to start each time and it seems all it is missing is fuel. A neighbour has an old 775 and his has a primer pump which he uses to push the fuel through before starting but my 885 doesn’t. I end up having to bring a spare battery out and give the tractor battery a boost
through jump leads to get her going. When warm the tractor runs and starts perfectly through the course of a working day. Any help would be much appreciated as this is getting very frustrating. Thanks in advance.

 

[X344chap]

Is there smoke coming out the exhaust when you are cranking and it just doesnt fire - until you give it a boost with the other battery?

 

[Sharpy]

I would class myself as a hobby farmer and recently bought an old internaional harvester 885. Dealer I bought her off started her first time in his yard, no bother. I got her home and followed his instructions for starting and it works sometimes whilst other times it doesn’t. I would use the tractor periodically, maybe every three months for cleaning up around the farm yard, drawing sticks, log splitting etc. I got her serviced, new filters, oil change etc and all good bar the starting problems. The process I follow is to hold her on the heating plug for about 30 seconds, slightly depress the foot pedal, and keep the pull cable in the cab slightly opened to allow fuel through ( the dead mans cable as some would call it ). The battery is good and it tries very, very hard to start each time and it seems all it is missing is fuel. A neighbour has an old 775 and his has a primer pump which he uses to push the fuel through before starting but my 885 doesn’t. I end up having to bring a spare battery out and give the tractor battery a boost
through jump leads to get her going. When warm the tractor runs and starts perfectly through the course of a working day. Any help would be much appreciated as this is getting very frustrating. Thanks in advance.

Assuming its not smoking as you wind it, it will be lack of fuel so if its the L cab keep the fuel tank brim full, if its the XL cab you could fit an electric primer pump.

 

[glasshouse]

I would class myself as a hobby farmer and recently bought an old internaional harvester 885. Dealer I bought her off started her first time in his yard, no bother. I got her home and followed his instructions for starting and it works sometimes whilst other times it doesn’t. I would use the tractor periodically, maybe every three months for cleaning up around the farm yard, drawing sticks, log splitting etc. I got her serviced, new filters, oil change etc and all good bar the starting problems. The process I follow is to hold her on the heating plug for about 30 seconds, slightly depress the foot pedal, and keep the pull cable in the cab slightly opened to allow fuel through ( the dead mans cable as some would call it ). The battery is good and it tries very, very hard to start each time and it seems all it is missing is fuel. A neighbour has an old 775 and his has a primer pump which he uses to push the fuel through before starting but my 885 doesn’t. I end up having to bring a spare battery out and give the tractor battery a boost
through jump leads to get her going. When warm the tractor runs and starts perfectly through the course of a working day. Any help would be much appreciated as this is getting very frustrating. Thanks in advance.

The stop cable needs to be halfway up In the start position

 

[Silly Tilly]

Is there smoke coming out the exhaust when you are cranking and it just doesnt fire - until you give it a boost with the other battery?

That’s about it in a nutshell. Tractor tries it’s very best, smoke coming from exhaust but just doesn’t fire maybe 8 times out of 10 without second battery to help it?

 

[Silly Tilly]

The stop cable needs to be halfway up In the start position

Stop cable is the death of me LOL, I never seem to get it in the right position. In my ignorance I thought fitting the heater plug would bypass the need for the stop cable conundrum?

 

[Silly Tilly]

Assuming its not smoking as you wind it, it will be lack of fuel so if its the L cab keep the fuel tank brim full, if its the XL cab you could fit an electric primer pump.

If I fit an electronic primer pump do I still need to be using the stop cable to start along with it? Sorry if this is a stupid question

 

[glasshouse]

If I fit an electronic primer pump do I still need to be using the stop cable to start along with it? Sorry if this is a stupid question

You always put the stop cable halfway up to start then full up after

 

[Mur Huwcun]

Stop lever halfway puts tye pump in excess fuel mode and will seriously aid starting

 

[Skintagain]

They are either cracking at starting or horrendous nothing in between.

Bad starters need everything, big battery, stopper excess fuel, good heater plug, good starter - high spin model really.

Tip a kettle of hot water over injector pump too as well as heating on plug

 

[Silly Tilly]

You always put the stop cable halfway up to start then full up after

If I pull the stop cable full up after starting it stops, do you mean push it fully in?

 

[Silly Tilly]

Stop lever halfway puts tye pump in excess fuel mode and will seriously aid starting

Thanks for that

 

[glasshouse]

If I pull the stop cable full up after starting it stops, do you mean push it fully in?

Any pics?
Is it an xl cab?

 

[Silly Tilly]

Any pics?
Is it an xl cab?

Try and get some tomorrow. My ’stop’ cable opens up the fuel flow so if I pull up fully it cuts the fuel off. XL cab

 

[Mur Huwcun]

Thanks for that

Pull it roughly half way to start and then push it back down once engine has started. If you get someone else move it and observe the linkage on the pump you will see/feel a slight detent in the travel wher the optimum point is

 

[Silly Tilly]

Pull it roughly half way to start and then push it back down once engine has started. If you get someone else move it and observe the linkage on the pump you will see/feel a slight detent in the travel wher the optimum point is

Thank you. Do you think a priming pump would help, if nothing else to give me some confidence in starting the thing

 

[glasshouse]

Try and get some tomorrow. My ’stop’ cable opens up the fuel flow so if I pull up fully it cuts the fuel off. XL cab

I never had an xl cab, its a different setup

 

[Mur Huwcun]

Thank you. Do you think a priming pump would help, if nothing else to give me some confidence in starting the thing

You could but maybe you have an air leak that’s letting fuel flow back to tank. Has it not got a primer on top of the fuel filter? They’re known for letting air in

 

[Still Farming]

Get dealer to look at it if you just bought it?
If heater plug working diesel good not waxed or filter blocked and no air in system ,good battery then possibly starter motor not turning her over fast enough.
Get dealer to put an iskra starter on it or have tractor back tell him?

 

[Flat 10]

Thank you. Do you think a priming pump would help, if nothing else to give me some confidence in starting the thing

It will have a primer pump on it. Buy a manual so you know how to operate the tractor. The kind of irregular work that you are doing is hard on the starting system/battery. Test your battery and maybe buy a new one. Check all terminals are clean and tight, and where the earth is attached to chassis.