Hi there, I just bought my first diesel JD garden tractor. It is a 330 model. She's a pretty nice looking tractor from 5 feet away and I am hoping that with your help, I might be able to get her back to her former glory. The machine has about 1600 hrs and started dying after about 20 mins of work time. It went to the JD dealer and they found 280 psi on cylinders 1 & 2, but 50 psi on #3 (front of tractor, furthest from rad). When it's cold, it can take 2 or 3 starting cycles to get it running and then the mechanic said that the oil/fuel creates a wet condition by then which boosts compression. 20 minutes into working when the cylinder condition dries up, it goes back down to 50 psi and stalls. The unit has a completely new fuel system and cylinders 1 & 2 have new/newer injectors.
I'm wondering if this is a typical motor failure for this model of tractor? I bought it as a flyer for the value of the usable parts, but think I might take a crack at re-ringing the faulty cylinder.
Your thoughts, experiences? Cheers.