Engine sputtering...What's going on?

[Blk88GT]

Where did you buy the fuel? I would guess the Lockport Petro Canada?

If you live along #9, I think I saw your tractor out in the yard on Sunday!

 

[Lockport]

Where did you buy the fuel? I would guess the Lockport Petro Canada?!

No, I take the fuel out of my truck since its billed back to me, anyway. Its easier but it means it could be from anywhere. At the time this started, although I cannot recall, I was questionable of the integrity of the source.

If you live along #9, I think I saw your tractor out in the yard on Sunday!

I was out on Sunday digging a shallow trench for spring runoff but I live on a crossroad between #9 and #8. Where are you at?

 

[Blk88GT]

I'm off #9 by the Yacht Club in Middlechurch. Small world

 

[Lockport]

Just to keep all concerned in the loop, it simply cleared itself up, so it definitely was water. At the very end if you went sideways on a steep incline it would sputter a little and it would be the last of the water sitting in the bottom of the fuel filter. I could only make it do that about three times and it stopped completely.

Thanks for all the replies, suggestions! If you guys would just pass the hat and reimburse me for the fuel filters, pumps, air filters, various *suggested* fuel conditioners (none of which had any effect) a variety of fuel brands...oh, and my labor rate is $88 per hour...so....

 

[Soundguy]

If you had water in the fuel, the fuel filters NEEDED to be changed anyway.

Soundguy

 

[SPYDERLK]

If that is the issue, and it is drawing enough vacume to starve the lift pump/ injector pump.. then when you opened the tank to add the dewaterer, or remove the fuel filter.. you should have heard a whoosh and/ or gurgling.. etc... should have been very obvious.
Soundguy

True if done promptly after the problem exhibits.

BX2230_Lockport:
Ill agree that a plugged breather is an attractive possibility. The problem with that assumption tho, is that most pumps once primed will cause significant problems to large flat sided containers like fuel tanks if the breather is so restricted as to stop flow. I have seen tanks crinkle in such a circumstance. Gravity feed to a carburetor, common on motorcycles, is much more sensistive to FREE breathing than is pumped supply. I think that you have either a suction air leak or filter restriction. I have encountered the filter restriction on my BX1500 with the exact symptoms you describe. Filter restriction is self generating in that once restriction starts the pleating of the filter begins to close. This decreases the filters area and increases restriction more -- a chain reaction. When you encounter a load the increased fuel demand closes the pleats and the engine starves. My filters were very sensitive to water. It wets the paper and impedes fuel flow. Its pretty easy to get one wet, but very difficult to dry it. I have gone to a screen element in place of the second of the two paper filters, and Im planning to go up to a larger paper filter to further desensitize the water problem, but until then I am being extra careful about water.
larry

 

[kmdigital]

I think it will come back! Missing only under load is a sure sign of fuel starvation, not water. If it were water it wouldn't matter if it were loaded or not, it would sputter constantly, especially at idle.

Since it only sputters under load it is a clear indicator the the engine's fuel demand/requirements go above what it is able to get. From there you just have to figure out why it isn't getting enough fuel, fast enough. It could be anything in the fuel system, from the tank outlet to something in the injection pump itself.

Someone dropped a piece of plastic wrap about 2" x 3" in my tractor's tank before I got it, but it worked just fine for a long time. But one day, it shifted and suddenly it wouldn't run correctly. I traced it back to the tank, and even after I took the petcock off the bottom of the tank the fuel just dribbled out. A little probing with a thin wire with a hook, and suddenly a corner came down. I pulled on it, and then the fuel shot out! Has worked fine ever since.

 

[RobJ]

Just a few thoughts...

If you drain the tank, drain it through the petcock. Most tanks are designed to fully drain if on level ground. This would also give you an idea of the flow.

Watch where to check for "sucking air". Since you have an electric lift pump, it only sucks on the tank side, the other side is pressure...usually the filters are on the pressure side. The lift pump is probably somewhere under 10psi, so you might see a leak. If the filters are on the pressure side I don't see how the pleats could be sucked closed?

My 26hp L only uses a half gallon an hour at load and is only a gravity feed, just a trickle from the tank hose. So fuel usage isn't really that high.

It's a tough call on the actual problem, one of these things you do a bunch of stuff, then it starts working and you don't know what it was. It also sounds like an air problem. I ran mine out of diesel once and it took several tries to get it all out. I was surprised at this.

For the water I had one of these laying around.

Good Luck,
Rob

 

[SPYDERLK]

Just a few thoughts...

If the filters are on the pressure side I don't see how the pleats could be sucked closed?
Rob

Its a relative thing. Filters are made to flow from outside to inside. This tends to close the pleating during flow. A filter that has become somewhat plugged by debris or by absorbing water finally reaches a critical pressure difference across it that willclose the pleats. At that point the lurking problem becomes real real fast.
larry

 

[Lockport]

Some points are being overlooked, here. Although it would sputter under load, it was never consistent. In fact it was bad when it first started but got progressively better while still a significant burden. Also, it has done it at idle but only once.
The BX doesn't have a petcock. There are fuel filters on both side of the pump. The cap was never plugged because the sputtering was intermittent (I never did open it immediately after shutting down) but when I blew through the cap there was free air flow without obstruction.
I was Hoeing again today and it is fine. I really think it was water. Water in the bottom of the filters that was originally on the tank and as it depleted ended up as small quantities sitting in the bottom of the filters. It is remotely possible there is a blockage in the tank, but countering that to some degree is that when stationary, using the BH, it evades me how that blockage would get out of the stream. There is no counter force happening.