Oil & Fuel TC-25D Barely Keep it Running

[W8BYA]

So my TC-25D which has been a super tractor for many years has started to give me some real issues. I have about 1000 hours on it and I am the original owner.

I was running the tractor for about 10 minutes when it suddenly started to drop RPM way down and could barely keep from stalling. I nursed it back to the house and started to look around. I found I had water in my fuel filter bowl. I went ahead and replaced the fuel filter and bled the fuel line. The tractor started, but once again was running very, very rough and would die after a few minutes. It is very possible my fuel container got rained on and I had a lot of water mixed with my fuel.

To play it safe I emptied the entire fuel tank and put in new, known good diesel. I then bled the low pressure fuel line going into the injector pump. Still no joy. At this point I removed all 3 lines off the injector pump and cranked the engine for 10 seconds. The left most and center output ports were squirting long strong streams of fuel at regular intervals. The right most port had hardly anything coming out at all. I later read that may be normal as it may have to be under pressure to output properly or at all (I am not sure of this however). I then replaced the 3 original lines and bled the air from the lines up at the injectors. This seemed to help and the engine was able to run up to ~1000 rpm for around 5 to 10 minutes before it started to die back down then stall. Once stalled I was not able to start it again. It will try to fire but will not run. That was last week.

I have now bled the upper lines several more times and cannot get it to run properly. While barely running I am able to just crack the nut loose off each line just a tad to bled the line....if I open the nut even a crack too much the engine quickly dies. I have done this to all 3 lines. During all tests I removed the outer air filter and kept only a clean new inner air filter. Any ideas ? GV

 

[ruffdog]

Here is a thread to read about the fuel stop solenoid New Holland Diesel no start... - DoItYourself.com Community Forums

 

[W8BYA]

I have read the mentioned post but suspect that the fuel selenoid may not be the issue since it will try to fire up and at times at least run very rough. How long should each of the fuel lines be cracked open to properly purge any air in the system? I have cracked mine open for around 15 seconds before moving onto the next one.

 

[randy41]

i don't have the same tractor but when i bleed the lines on mine i do it until there's no more bubbles.

 

[W8BYA]

Makes sense. At this point I do not see any more bubbles but she still does not run, or if she does very, very rough. Sure hope it's not the injector pump ! How can one tell if the injector pump is bad? As mentioned above, at one time I had all 3 lines off of the pump and only saw fuel squirt out of two of the ports. The one on the right just had dribble. Is that normal ?

 

[V1Rotate]

Something must be blocking the flow of fuel getting to the pump. Blocked screen inside the tank, maybe the line going from the tank to the pump is collapsing, maybe the tank is not venting?

Just a few ideas.

 

[W8BYA]

When I crack the low pressure fuel bolt on the pump to bleed the line I get tons of fuel at that point so I think I'm ok up to the pump. The fact that I know I had water in the fuel and it started to run poor abruptly tells me I did something to it. I do know that getting a wrench around the middle nut (both at the pump and at the injector) is nearly impossible. I had to grind down the sides of my good wrench to get it to fit. I wonder if I maybe do not have them torqued as tight as they need to be and am getting air back into the lines?

 

[Jerry/MT]

So my TC-25D which has been a super tractor for many years has started to give me some real issues. I have about 1000 hours on it and I am the original owner.

I was running the tractor for about 10 minutes when it suddenly started to drop RPM way down and could barely keep from stalling. I nursed it back to the house and started to look around. I found I had water in my fuel filter bowl. I went ahead and replaced the fuel filter and bled the fuel line. The tractor started, but once again was running very, very rough and would die after a few minutes. It is very possible my fuel container got rained on and I had a lot of water mixed with my fuel.

To play it safe I emptied the entire fuel tank and put in new, known good diesel. I then bled the low pressure fuel line going into the injector pump. Still no joy. At this point I removed all 3 lines off the injector pump and cranked the engine for 10 seconds. The left most and center output ports were squirting long strong streams of fuel at regular intervals. The right most port had hardly anything coming out at all. I later read that may be normal as it may have to be under pressure to output properly or at all (I am not sure of this however). I then replaced the 3 original lines and bled the air from the lines up at the injectors. This seemed to help and the engine was able to run up to ~1000 rpm for around 5 to 10 minutes before it started to die back down then stall. Once stalled I was not able to start it again. It will try to fire but will not run. That was last week.

I have now bled the upper lines several more times and cannot get it to run properly. While barely running I am able to just crack the nut loose off each line just a tad to bled the line....if I open the nut even a crack too much the engine quickly dies. I have done this to all 3 lines. During all tests I removed the outer air filter and kept only a clean new inner air filter. Any ideas ? GV

"...and bled the air from the lines up at the injectors. This seemed to help and the engine was able to run up to ~1000 rpm for around 5 to 10 minutes before it started to die back down then stall."
Are you sure you have a CONTINUOUS flow of fuel from the tank to the filter? If it dribles or gushes a bit and then dribbles, the tank strainer/fuel shutoff valve maybe partially clogged or the tank vent may be clogged. It will dribble enough flow is left for a while so it fills the filter housing and then you can start but once started it won't deliver enough to run continuously.

Do a check on the fuel delivery from the tank. Opening the fuel valve fully and holding a suitable container under the fuel filter, either open the filter drain or remove the line to the filter from the tank. You should have a CONTINUOUSLY gush of fuel like a cow peeing on a flat rock! It should flow liket way for as long as there is fuel in the tank. Let it run for about 3 minutes. If it's dribbling during that time,remove the fuel cap and see if it improves. If it does, the tank vent is clogged. if it doesn, the strainer/tank valve is clogged or the fuel line itself is clogged.

 

[W8BYA]

Thank you for mentioning that again. V1Rotate mentioned the same thing and I was pretty certain that was not the issue but it will not be hard to disconnect the line after the fuel filter and ensure there is plenty of flow. Yesterday it was 11 degrees, so far it's 22 this morning so I guess I better take advantage of this heat wave and get outside. Thanks again everyone for the ideas.....will report back what I find. Oh, am glad I put in some anti-gel in the fuel back when it was warm and the engine at least partially running which should help in these temps.

 

[DieselMonk]

must be something within the fuel pump. Does your tractor have a fuel lift pump? See if that is working correctly and not intermittent, if you have one. If it doesn't... you could rig one up cheap and try starting it that way...