1990 JCB 3cx crank no start

[SimosSoldatos]

Hello everyone, hope you're doing well. I have a 1990 3cx with a tubo perkins a4 engine. Recently i changed the battery after it had been sitting for a while and after that i i noticed it would start and some times it would crank but not start. Sometimes i wasn't seeing any smoke so i thought it was the connection to the fuel shutoff solenoid and after moving some wires it fired right up. When it ran it ran good and with no issues. Now i've been trying to start it but it doesn't want to. I can see white grayish smoke so the fuel shutoff solenoid must be working properly. Using a little bit of ether it fires a few times but it doesn't really like it so i didn't want to use more and try to start it. It also turns over quite fast after i charged the battery so that probably not it either. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. It used to run good and it mstly sits around so i don't think it's something mechanical.

[gecko.cx]

I'd work my way through the fuel line junctions looking for gause filters for blockage / restrictions.

loosening the fuel line at the injection pump inlet and pumping the lift pump may tell you something.