[ihc] Super Excited Diesel Owner!

["Joseph Shaw, II" <josephshaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, as most of you know from my repeated postings, I have been trying to get
my diesel running on and off for about six months now (got it in November and
have been slowly at it since).  Well, today I got it fired up for the first
time, and it didn't smoke much at all, and sounded DARN good for a diesel!!!

The last two things I did seemed to do the trick, and tell me what it needs to
truly start on its own.  I had taken apart the fuel filter and filled the
receptacle with fresh, but had NOT thought about the fact that the rest of the
fuel in the tank was old, and possibly full of diesel algae.

Today I took my little one gallon "jerry can" and filled it with diesel, fed
the line directly from it to the fuel pump/injection pump, and then I also let
it sit with the block warmer on for about two hours, sicne I wasn't completely
sure of the glow plug status.

Well, after turning it over for about four or five seconds, it started TRYING
to start better than it had yet.  I let off the starter for a few seconds,
just to give it a break, then went at it again.  After about ten seconds it
fired up, and sounded GREAT!  It also did not smoke much at all!!!  Not nearly
what I expected any IH/Nissan diesel to, and WAY less than I had been warned
it likely would since it has been sitting for some time.  The tube in the
engine bay that carries out extra smoke/exaust gases, or whatever it does
(someone told me to watch this for smoke when trying to determine condition of
the engine) blew a fair amount of smoke while I was turning it over, but once
it started,  there was no visible smoke coming from there.  It made no unusual
noises and didn't shake too much or anything.  I think I was told it was
supposed to have been a low-mileage engine (100K or so), but had no actual
proof of this or anything.  After hearing it run and seeing how little excess
exhaust gases it spit out, I would think this was at least possible.

So-now I will troubleshoot the glow plugs, clean up the gas situation, and
then I can start work on the brakes, which were the problem to start with,
which was why it was parked in the first place!

The timing could NOT be better either-just took a job about 70 miles from
home, and have been driving a couple of Chevy V8 vehicles over there about
four days a week-it is expensive!!!  I was looking at small import things, but
don't want one, and if I can get this running, can sell of my other goodies
and use this-will be moving closer to the job soon anyway, so not too worried
about it!

Thanks to all here for all of your help and suggestions-will be back to
picking brains on brake issues soon!!!

Michael