Oil & Fuel Failure at bleeding fuel lines - any ideas?

[benw]

Greetings Case IH owners,

I have a 2004 JX65, which I ran out of fuel driving slightly uphill.

Can you help me troubleshoot about why I can't get my lines bled?

I've followed the bleed procedure in the owners manual, cracking the bleed screw on the fuel filter, and pumping the heck out of the fuel pump actuator until my fingers are blistered.

Looking at the transparent fuel line leading into the fuel pump, it seems that I'm sucking never ending air w/fuel as I pump the lever on the fuel pump like a madman. Also -- manually pumping the pump seems to be highly inefective at moving that air through the pump to the filter-- for every air bubble that moves an inch down the line in the right direction on the upstroke, the pump seems to spit almost that much air back in the wrong direction on the downstroke. Is this normal?

Would filling the tank full help? There is about 14 gallons in there now.

Anyone tried compressed air in the fuel tank to help move the air along? I've used that trick on my dodge cummins pickup and it worked well.

Any other ideas? the tractor (w/600 hours) has run beautifully until today-- I'd be surprised if intake lines were sucking air. This seems to be another issue, but i might be wrong...

Thanks for any response!

 

[RickB]

The hand primer pump doubles as a camshaft driven transfer pump. If the cam shaft lobe is holding the pump's internal lever up, you can pump the hand primer handle until Doomday and not move a drop of fuel. Bump the starter to rotate the engine a half a turn or so and try it again. You might get a completely different feel at the primer pump, and actually move some fuel.

 

[benw]

Thanks Rick--
I discovered this in my initial try with the pump- depending on that cam position you can get different amounts of fuel you can pump by hand-- from none to a normal amount.

The strange thing is here, even with a full pump stroke on the primer pump, I don't seem to be pumping enough volume to eradicate air. It's almost like there is a restriction that doesn't let the fuel and entrapped air through in the right direction. I might as well change the fuel filter and eliminate that possibility...

 

[RickB]

Take the banjo bolt off the inlet side of the transfer pump and make sure the tube nipple isn't full of debris. Also check the screen in the transfer pump by removing the top plate.

 

[Eagleview]

Did you actually run out of fuel ? You may instead have a bit of debris under the check valve in the fuel supply pump which would also shut down the engine as well as make bleeding impossible . The fuel will just move back and forth in the lines if the check valve is off it's seat .