bleeding a 5 cylinder fuel system

[geneP]

Today I was piling brush and something caught the fuel line and pulled it loose from the filter housing. The tractor was running rough and I smelled raw diesel before I knew it. I put it all back together but the filter housing was empty. I opened the air bleed until it ran clear, and then some. The tractor would'n start, only hit once and a while. I ran the battery down and went for the jumper battery. It finally started and ran roughly at idle. I let it idle a while and it finally would accelerate without stumbling.

My question is: Is it normally this hard to start the 5-cylinder after running out of fuel? I have a Case IH and it starts right up after bleeding the air at the filters. Should I have bled the injectors to start with? I was off in the woods and didn't have a wrench the size of the injector nuts. Should I bleed them now that I have it back at the shop? It seems to run fine now. Thanks for your comments.

 

[PILOON]

Since you actually ran it dry on all 5 that's a lot of air to get rid of.
Don't care if it is 1, 3 or 5 ya got to to rid of all the air.
Depending on the plumbing layout , some are easier to bleed than others.

Mine is a 3 cyl and quite easy to bleed, some times it put puts then settles in to a nice roar.

 

[DT86]

If you are satisfied that it runs fine now then I see nothing to gain from bleeding again.

 

[geneP]

Although I don't intend to run out of fuel, I'm concerned about the amount of cranking necessary to start it. The same process would be necessary after changing the fuel filter. The manual doesn't suggest cracking the injector lines. I'm wondering if there is a reason mine didn't start up after a short crank, or if it is normal and the manual omitted the injector bleed step.

I guess I'll just throw a wrench in the tractor tool box to fit the injector lines in case this happens again.

 

[rbargeron]

Hi Gene - no need to bleed now - the fuel return hoses at the injectors take care of venting trapped air. Changing the fuel filter shouldn't be as hard to recover from. Take care, Dick B

 

[geneP]

Thanks Dick, makes sense since I had used what fuel was in the pipeline to the injectors when it started running badly.

 

[Tx Jim]

I once owned a M4900(5 cyl engine) and I thought it was relatively easy to bled the air out of the fuel system. I know my M7040 is one of the easiest tractors I own to bleed the air out when changing fuel filter.

CAUTION for Gene P and other members: If you ever need to bleed air from injectors which by the way I think you don't need to do at this point be very CAREFUL and don't get your fingers close to the spraying diesel. Spraying diesel can get injected under the skin which can cause major problems. Same thing applies to hyd oil being sprayed under high pressure.