Engine problems

   / Engine problems #1  

tazewell

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Aug 24, 2005
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22
I have a TL80A. The engine is not running smoothly. The exhaust makes a series of "popping" noises, that sound similar to an old JD 2 cylinder, at 2200 rpm and above. There is also some surging of the engine, sometimes longer surges then sometimes shorter surges. Also when rolling hay yesterday, sometimes the engine would lose power.
 
   / Engine problems
  • Thread Starter
#3  
I changed the filter Saturday. The problem doesn't exist all the time I'm using it. I have been moving hay today and haven't noticed the problem. It was bad yesterday.
 
   / Engine problems #4  
i hate that intermittent crap. good luck.
 
   / Engine problems #5  
Wonder if it could have been a bit of moisture? First off, I thought of valve train, when you said" Popping in the exhaust"?
 
   / Engine problems #6  
I changed the filter Saturday. The problem doesn't exist all the time I'm using it. I have been moving hay today and haven't noticed the problem. It was bad yesterday.

Have you checked the tank and the water separator? Water in the fuel (condensation or contamination) is a big problem with diesel fuel. Condensation generally is a problem in areas where the humidity is frequently high and contamination can occur anywhere. Algae is a problem in warm, humid climates as bacteria can live in the water/fuel interface. Clumps of algae can clog the tank strainer intermitently causing problems like you are experiencing. So can the normal crap and corruption that you find in many farm fuel tanks. My NH manual recommends draining and flushing the tank every so many hours or so many years.

I bought a tractor from Southern New Mexico where is pretty dry year around. It had water contaminated fuel in it and when I went out to use it a below freezing temperatures, my water separator froze(that is the water did) and I had a run down. Never got a warning light! I changed the fuel filter and the water seperator and then I used a siphon pump to try to remove the water from the bottom of the tank and I drained the water separator before and after every use. I got an about 3-4 ounces of water when I drained the old sperator and subsequent got 1-2 ounces of water out of every draining of the new separator. I got nothing out of the filter but fuel. I figure the guy had a contaminated fuel tank or the fuel supplier was sloppy about the way he handled fuel. Certainly could have gotten some condensation from our local conditions but not in just a few days.

I believe your tractor has a lift pump that pulls fuel from the tank through a water separator and then pushes it through the fuel filter and on to the injector pump. The lift pump may have a screen on it that may have some crud on it. A partial clog would limit fuel flow during high fuel demand but not necessarily during periods of low fuel demand.


I believe you also have a solenoid fuel valve that shuts off the fuel with the key switch when you shutdown. Look for a loose connection in that circuit. Some of the interlock switch also control the fuel valve so check those out if that is applicable.

Do you have a Tier II engine? Some of them have some sort of timing mechanism that retards the injector timing during warm up to reduce exhaust emmissions. Look into that.

There's no definitive answer to the problem you are experiencing. You'll just have to sort through the possibilities until you find what the root cause is. I hope I've given you some things to help you in your search.
 
   / Engine problems #7  
Surging and loss of power can be caused by any delivery problem like a filter, tank pickup strainer, lift pump, water or whatever. But not the popping.

Is there any chance some gasoline got into the tank? It will definitely cause loss of power and surging. Ahem.......... it did on mine:ashamed:

if this is happening only when hot and you have a large number of hours on the engine, I'd look at the valve clearances next.

It doesn't seem like an injection problem unless if you have electronic injectors and computer controlled timing.
 
 
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