good stuff you’ve written here barge monkey, appreciate it. I’ve read everything everyone wrote here and have decided i’ll replace the fuel lines on the suck side and add a manually adjustable back pressure regulator (with guage) to the return line. Since the engine runs great I’m pretty sure it’s fuel. yes, i did take a valve cover off and look at the linkage. (it’s fine)
as for that 3-71 … blower lobes etc. The excavator it sits in is worth exactly scrap value so i didn’t look at doing any more to that engine than bearings/rings.It runs fine now, no complaints but it’ll need a fuel pump and there is one screw that is amongs the hardest to get off , no access thing.
hoses with fittings. i’ll replace them all come spring. (suction side) there are no shut downs on the engine but i’ll prob get one on there if the bitch ever gets squared away, otherwise, it’s still on craigs list. !!
rolled up newspaper, light it and send some heat in the blower intake
when next i get around to dealing with it. april or may, i will first replace the suck fuel lines, install relief valve on return line, and then the guy who said use a weed burner … that sounds like a good idea as i have more of those than newspapers !!
In this yard I used to work a long time ago, we had an old BM 430 tractor that absolutely refused any attempt to start once the temperature dropped towards freezing. On those crisp winter mornings when the thing sat at -20 degrees C, the way to get it going was to hit the intake manifold with a blowtorch until it started smoking gently. Worked every time.
Sadly, you can’t really do that with a Detroit, because you’d risk damaging the blower. I always just used ether with mine, and never had an issue. I’ve seen spectacular ether damage, but that was an IH 44.
I learn the lite newspaper when I was 17 working on a dredge, the oldest engine was a 6-71, low battery and cold winters day but above zero it needed help. If full battery then no problem.
Test for a good starting system at normal day was just press the starter button a let it go, Detroit should be running, if you hear it crank its not right.
A butane hot spanner would have been better
Install a block heater or slap a magnetic oil pan heater on it. Plug it in and let it warm up for an hour or two. Sounds like you got low compression from a worn engine, but even a good detroit will need some aid to starting in the cold…especially if it is turbo. A worn engine doesn’t mean it won’t run well once you get it started! Run it till she blows.
It also may need a tuneup with the rack and valves adjusted.
Apparently, the reason why letting the engine ingest smoke works so good is that aside from being hot, it contains partially combusted compounds that have a strong tendency to combust further in compression. The concentration isn’t high enough to provoke a detonation, but provides an effect very similar to that of pre-injections in a common rail engine. The version I’m familiar with involves a bit of oily rag held with wire or pliers, but newspaper sounds far less messy.
i just let the paper go once it was all on fire…
( I assume the blower can handle that it was still running 6 years after that?)
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Klaveness has a point … the seals for the blower are not too far away but my guess is it’d take a week burner and pretty close to the intake for more than 15 seconds to worry them, but the idea of partially combusted ‘fumes’ … i never heard it put that way, sounds valid for sure.
What I’m going to do guys is since i wont’ be using this till spring time anyway, is wait for the weather to break. (on the ten day forcast 9 are for snow) and then I’ll replace the suction lines and install a manual adjustable back press regulator on the return line and when I see signs of diesel in the engine, hit it with some either. bear in mind, this engine has mostly just sat for the last 15-20 years and it ran good and started usually, it probably hasn’t had 100 miles put on it. besides, it isn’t looking like anyone wants to buy it so i may as well face the prospect of fixing the pto pump and lift cylinder … and if the engine straightens up i’ll just use it till someone offers me too much money or i stumble onto a good sized dump trailer.
I’ve use torches, burned rags soaked in diesel, etc.
For a truck a good trick is to put a ready heater (diesel burning torpedo) under it for an hour. Since you need a generator to power the ready heater, put a large battery charge With a boost function on it too.
If it’s really cold, use a concrete blanket to cover the hood and front wheel wells.
By far the best way to start a cold dump truck, dozer or skidder is by circulating hot water through it from your running pickup truck. You can set up for that for about $100 per unit.
The water circ would be a good trick. I have oil pan & block heaters for stuff but this dumb truck only gets used spring & fall hauling top soil sediment from reservoir as it is either full of water or it’s winter the rest of the year. (Resevour M T in winter.
I’ve got a mixed opinion on the “spit swap” connectors, some guys swear by them, I’ve heard with the newer diesels you risk cracking a head, I wont do it with the duramax I have. My fellerbuncher and grapple skidder both had them, block heaters are better, no hoses to chafe thru, coolant contamination. I’m looking at a newer Cat 320C / Propac in Quebec, it has “pro-heat”, that’s the way to go if your really working in the stupid weather, push a button, set the timer and come back to a warm machine, compact little fuel oil burner plumbed into the coolant system.
I still think you’ve got a simple issue, probably 100% fuel related and a couple hours fix. I’ve got a 453 Turbo in VT to go look at for another firewood guy I know, sucking the base clean and sending it up the stack in a few minutes, ran away on him a couple days ago, neighbors called the fire dept 
I don’t know where you live but Detroit do not like cold weather, try a block heater. I had the same problem on a tug I was on Duluth MN
NE oregon but as mentioned i only use this in the summer. It has slowly progressed over 20 yrs. having been driven maybe 100 miles … i have a course of action … you’ll have to read the latest posts. Thx !!
Block heaters are obvious must haves, if the equipment is parked where there is a power source.
Diesel fired cooling water heaters, such as Webasto, are great too, but very expensive, and not suitable for many applications. But if you’re buying a $300,000 feller buncher, what’s another $10,000 for a diesel heater.
I hope he didn’t melt and hoses or wires.
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Re “Turkish man” … Used to see that a lot when I lived in Anchorage years ago, used to see a lot of car fires as well.
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well I had my dump truck on craigs for a month … no one wants it though it isn’t the best time of year to sell. It’s looking like i’ll have to fix the darn thing and use it. Gawd!!!, another detroit repair … AND the Hyd. pump (seals) AND the lift cylinder (seals) … AFTER i get the new 460 in the Ford F350.