Fuel Remaining after No bars showing

[moship]

For owners of L4740, L5040, L5240 and L5740 tractors.

Recently ran my tractor until no bars were showing on the fuel gauge and was a bit anxious as I was 1.5 miles from home mowing a field. Ran the tractor about 15 minutes mowing and took about 10 mintues to get home after it first hit zero bars. Removed the fuel line to the filter and let the fuel empty and measured the contents.

I meaured 1.25 gallons of fuel once home. I'm guessing there is 1.5 gallons left once it registered zero bars and maintained that reading.

In the event it matters I have a L4740-3 and used Messick's website to determine which tractors used the same fuel tank.

Perhaps you'll find this info helpful in the future.

 

[Fallon]

Interesting. I always start puckering up & wondering when the gauge gets low. Bigger penalty for running a diesel out of go juice bleeding injectors. But all modern cars have the gas pump in the tank where its cooled by gas. Run the tank low a lot & the pump does from overheating even if not run completely dry. I try and avoid getting below 1/4 tank in anything.

 

[FatTire]

Thanks for the info Moship! That will save me some worrying next time I'm very low.

 

[RickB]

The rest of you guys just need to ask yourselves if this is the norm, or an anomaly? I’ll leave you wondering:drink:
.

 

[FatTire]

Ha ha. I'll try to find this post if I ever run out of fuel.

 

[bdhsfz6]

For owners of L4740, L5040, L5240 and L5740 tractors.

Recently ran my tractor until no bars were showing on the fuel gauge and was a bit anxious as I was 1.5 miles from home mowing a field. Ran the tractor about 15 minutes mowing and took about 10 mintues to get home after it first hit zero bars. Removed the fuel line to the filter and let the fuel empty and measured the contents.

I meaured 1.25 gallons of fuel once home. I'm guessing there is 1.5 gallons left once it registered zero bars and maintained that reading.

In the event it matters I have a L4740-3 and used Messick's website to determine which tractors used the same fuel tank.

Perhaps you'll find this info helpful in the future.

I did the same experiment with my old L3430 and got a little less than a gallon from the tank. In my case, the gauge showed full empty just as I was approaching the barn so there was no extra run time.

There are a lot of variables to consider like the tank design, how long did the tractor run after the last fuel gauge bar disappeared and at what RPM & load?

In any case, it's good info. Thanks for posting your result. It's nice to know there is at least some reserve fuel left in these CUT tractors when running on empty.

 

[oosik]

I don't know........ I've run my tractor from 7am til 6:30pm chipping pine trees and still had a quarter tank of fuel remaining. I AlWAYS refuel after doing anything with the tractor - so it never gets that close to empty. Took ten minuets to refuel - took ME two days to recover. Never again have I ever worked that hard for that long in one day - just isn't worth it. There is ALWAYS tomorrow.

 

[moship]

My motivation of running the tractor low was to get as much old diesel out of it. Earlier some junk was found in the filter bowl and I was concerned the remaining fuel might be suspect. Periodic monitoring of the fuel filter during operation didn't suggest it was highly contaminated. ie: low risk. Elected to run it lower than typical just to ensure the amount of residual "old" diesel was minimized before draining.

Upon draining the balance of fuel a few bits of trash came out, but nothing major. Looked like small pieces of decayed leaves.

Also poured 1 gallon of fresh diesel in and drained. Was hoping the mixing action of the fuel would help pick up any remaining trash. Repeated 3 times. 1st gallon flushed a few bits, 2nd gallon was cleaner and the 3rd was clean. Stopped at this point.

In no way was I encouraging anyone to run their fuel this low... Simply wanted to report the approximate reserve volume for this particular fuel tank, as I thought some might find it useful.

 

[4570Man]

I ran a CK25 out of fuel on a slight hill side with 1/4 tank of fuel. I drained 4 gallons out of my L3800 showing 1/4 tank. 5 gallons will nearly fill it up from 1/4 tank. I don’t think equipment fuel gages are rocket science. More like a rough estimate.

 

[RickB]

I ran a CK25 out of fuel on a slight hill side with 1/4 tank of fuel. I drained 4 gallons out of my L3800 showing 1/4 tank. 5 gallons will nearly fill it up from 1/4 tank. I don’t think equipment fuel gages are rocket science. More like a rough estimate.

There ya go.