Oil & Fuel Jelled fuel?

   / Jelled fuel? #1  

Stonewall

Silver Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2002
Messages
125
Location
Denver foot hills
Tractor
MF 1215
I had a "first time ever" problem yesterday morning.

I went out to start and exercise the mighty MF 1215 and the hand throttle was stuck tight. I turned it over and got it Putting at idle then tried the throttle again - still stuck. I tried the foot throttle and the revs went up but didn't come back down when I released it. I turned it off and took off the side panels and yep, the throttle lever on the injector pump was stuck open. I was able to push it back to idle and tried to work it free with the throttles but no luck. I started it at idle again and let it run in the barn for about 1/2 hour and it worked fine for the rest of the day and today as well. It has been down in the low 20s to high teens every night for the past 2 weeks but warm during the days ( even had a couple in the mid 60s) and was about 30 when I had the trouble. Would jelled fuel do this? It's the first time it's happened in the 4 years I've owned it. Any ideas are appreciated. I don't have any additives in the fuel and I only use auto grade diesel from the local Conoco station. The tractor had been sitting for about 1 month

TIA - Stonewall
 
   / Jelled fuel? #2  
Stonewall, since I don't live in cold country, I've never had any experience with jelled diesel, but I sure don't think that's your problem. I think if the fuel jelled, it just wouldn't run. Just sounds to me like the throttle linkage needs cleaning and/or lubricating.
 
   / Jelled fuel? #3  
I'd maybe be looking at the linkages and seeing if they are free when the lubricating oil on them is cold and viscous.

Egon
 
   / Jelled fuel? #4  
What they said. I had two experiences with jelled fuel. I borrowed a tractor from the in-laws (Case Magnum) that they didn't generally use in the Winter. Last time it had been fueled was in warm weather, with non-winterized fuel. It was one of those "blue-cold" days, and it ran for a while, till the sun got low, and the temps dropped more. It simply stopped in its tracks.

The other was with a Toyota mini P/U with a diesel. It started OK and went about a mile, then started smoking profusely and sounded like it was flooding out. I feathered the accelerator and limped along. A squirt of fuel treatment, and all was well.

Neither time was there any hard operation of the throttle. Sounds more like a linkage problem.................chim
 
   / Jelled fuel? #5  
Likelyhood of gelled fuel at the temperature you were experiencing is pretty minimal.
A far greater likelyhood is that you had ice in your fuel system. You probably got the ice because the fuel you brought home came from an underground tank that hasn't been cleaned out in a while.
Did you look into the fuel tank to see if there is a chunk of ice in the bottom? You could also be getting ice from condensation in the machine's fuel tank.
 
   / Jelled fuel? #6  
fuel starts to jell at 36 degrees, not at 32 as in freezing point. Rarely will it get like actual jello, unless no one goes near the machine for long periods. In my caterpillar trucks I used Howes lubricant and when I couldn't get that, a quart of plain old Dextron tranny fluid was poored in. Where I live, New England, I keep the fuel tank full at all times during cold months. I am mixing a gallon of kero with ten of winter diesel.
Take your fuel filter off, clean it out replace w/clean fuel.
 
   / Jelled fuel? #7  
25% Kero at 15 above and lower bcs
 
   / Jelled fuel? #8  
I'm with some of the others. I think that most if not all of the problem is your linkage. I will say that, I have had fuel jell at 27 degrees. When it did, it was as if the tractor was loosing power and smothering do. It finely just stopped. I cleaned the filter out. Put in some PowerService treatment and started it up.
 
   / Jelled fuel?
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Thanks for all the input everyone! I'm thinking ICE in the line or elsewhere as the problem did go away completely once the engine was warmed up. The linkage is real simple on that tractor just one lever out of the injector pump with two cables on it from the dash and foot throttles. I'll stop by and pick up some fuel treatment on the way home tonight and make sure that the tank is always full from now on.
 
   / Jelled fuel? #10  
Check those cables again. My car has cables to the throttle and they will get pretty stiff in cold weather. As the engine compartment warms up this problem goes away.

Egon
 
 
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