JD CTL 332 won't run after draining water separator

[ABruso]

Hi all, I have a John Deere 332 track machine. It's been running great since I've had it. It is my second machine, but 1st diesel one. I had not drained the fuel/water separator it in a while, so it drained quite a bit of liquid. It looked like watery fuel. After it finished draining I closed it up. I started it, it ran for 10 seconds then just lost engine power down to 0 rpm. I can't start it now.

The water separator has a primer button on top and a fuel line bleed screw. I tried priming and bleeding a lot of different ways and nothing worked. I even pumped the primer what seemed to be 50 times. I also took off the water separator and it was filled with fuel in the center like it should be.

Not sure what color the exhaust is cause I was alone and it was dark out. Is this a clue?

The directions said nothing about having to prime after draining the separator.

Whats my next step?

 

[Jim Dandy]

I have a 332 and they are a real pain to get reprimed. Mine has a that primary fuel filter that you describe and then there is a inline fuel filter. One time I took the fuel line off the in line and sucked fuel to it. That worked, but you still had to crank and crank the engine. What I do now is take the inner and outer air filter off and have someone spray a SMALL amount of ether down the air intake. That allows it to fire and that is enough for the engine to pull fuel and prime itself. I am sure some will tell you not to do the ether, so ask others, but it does work and I can't see any ill effects.

 

[ABruso]

Got it primed, but it was a pain in the ass. Tow things that worked.

Having a second person prime while I was cranking. This almost got it going.

Second thing that actually worked was to have someone bleed and prime from the pump and bleeder on the water seperator while I was cranking. This got it going