yellowdogsvc
Veteran Member
In 15 years of mulching, I've had 1 fire that damaged my fuel tank on an M series Bobcat. I have all the guards, keep machine clean, and still had something get hot, smolder and melt a hole in fuel tank and ignite my fuel. I caught it and only damaged my fuel tank. Insurance repaired it and haven't had an issue in 4 years.
I have a second almost identical M series machine and after a day of mulching, smelled some "burning wood" and saw faint smoke. I located it, and it was hot cedar dust or something woody that got hot and had started to melt some wire insulation and the top of the fuel tank. I stopped it before it had damage.
The last machine, while the engine was out, had the fuel tank covered with a welder's blanket and heat tape to try and limit the effects of something smoldering or getting hot enough to melt the top of the tank. I wrapped my exhaust and turbo with heat wrap but it's almost impossible on the machine with the engine in place.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can protect my plastic fuel tank? I tried getting another fiberglass welding blanket but couldn't get it in place. Any other better ideas? I clean my machines daily and they rarely have much buildup but cedar is notorious for shredding fine and the bark balls up like shed hair. it ignites easily when enough heat (exhaust or turbo) are applied to it. Bobcat does a good job of pulling air away from the turbo with a vacuum like nozzle that comes from the fan shroud but it's not foolproof. This is my best guess as to how something gets hot enough to smolder. It could also come from the main drive belt pulleys if enough buildup causes friction but I've not seen that happen yet.
I'm really looking for ideas for a cover or how to get something over the tank without having to pull my motor to address this.
Thanks in advance for any help.
I have a second almost identical M series machine and after a day of mulching, smelled some "burning wood" and saw faint smoke. I located it, and it was hot cedar dust or something woody that got hot and had started to melt some wire insulation and the top of the fuel tank. I stopped it before it had damage.
The last machine, while the engine was out, had the fuel tank covered with a welder's blanket and heat tape to try and limit the effects of something smoldering or getting hot enough to melt the top of the tank. I wrapped my exhaust and turbo with heat wrap but it's almost impossible on the machine with the engine in place.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can protect my plastic fuel tank? I tried getting another fiberglass welding blanket but couldn't get it in place. Any other better ideas? I clean my machines daily and they rarely have much buildup but cedar is notorious for shredding fine and the bark balls up like shed hair. it ignites easily when enough heat (exhaust or turbo) are applied to it. Bobcat does a good job of pulling air away from the turbo with a vacuum like nozzle that comes from the fan shroud but it's not foolproof. This is my best guess as to how something gets hot enough to smolder. It could also come from the main drive belt pulleys if enough buildup causes friction but I've not seen that happen yet.
I'm really looking for ideas for a cover or how to get something over the tank without having to pull my motor to address this.
Thanks in advance for any help.