Oil & Fuel Help! Fuel Starvation?

[smilinjak]

The tank must have a lot of junk in it. Either somebody is not very tidy in their fueling procedures or there is an unfiltered vent line that is too close to a grass discharge area allowing clippings to be drawn into the tank. This problem would be bad enough in the summer mowing grass but it is really bad when snow is on the menu. Good luck. . . . . . .
Smilinjak

 

[EE_Bota]

They are just low pressure rubber lines with spring clamps, probably 1/4".
They went to plow snow again today and half way through the tractor quit again. Pulled the filter bowl off and removed to more blades of grass that had moved down from the tank. Must still be some crud in there, just don't know how or why.....
At least now they won't bother looking for other causes such as water in the fuel.

I'm sure that is getting frustrating, but hopefully you are catching up to it and will soon be done with it. And you did mention a bright spot...you now know what the deal is at least, and every time...you are making a bit more progress toward smooth running.

 

[WilliamTO-35]

I'm not necessarily disputing any answers given above, but it does remind me of how the inline fuel filter on my riding mower operates. It's a gravity feed from the tank to the carburetor, with the fuel filter mounted in the line. The filter is mounted so that fuel enters it, and flows slightly uphill in the clear filter housing to the carburetor. Oddly enough, while running the filter looks nearly empty , and only looks full of fuel when the engine is off. This is normal for my mower, and has run like that using at least 3 different filters over the last 6 years. There are no running problems with the engine.
My point is that, while running, a fuel filter may in fact look nearly empty . The gasoline can be seen rapidly wicking through the filter element, but not filling the filter housing. It's a bit odd. On the other hand, the glass sediment bowl on my big tractor always looks full , running or not. It's also a gravity feed.

 

[smilinjak]

I'm not necessarily disputing any answers given above, but it does remind me of how the inline fuel filter on my riding mower operates. It's a gravity feed from the tank to the carburetor, with the fuel filter mounted in the line. The filter is mounted so that fuel enters it, and flows slightly uphill in the clear filter housing to the carburetor. Oddly enough, while running the filter looks nearly empty , and only looks full of fuel when the engine is off. This is normal for my mower, and has run like that using at least 3 different filters over the last 6 years. There are no running problems with the engine.
My point is that, while running, a fuel filter may in fact look nearly empty . The gasoline can be seen rapidly wicking through the filter element, but not filling the filter housing. It's a bit odd. On the other hand, the glass sediment bowl on my big tractor always looks full , running or not. It's also a gravity feed.

Inline and sediment bowl filters work on different principals. By definition there must be enough surplus fuel to allow the time delay for "sediment" to percipitate out of the fuel, the inline filter traps the sediment/contaminates in the filter media.
Smilinjak

 

[mehig]

Hello Kayaker....thanks for posting this....The same exact thing was going on with my Challenger 256b(same thing as a Massey 1533)I pulled the settling bowl filter valve completely off and blew air thru the valve body and got a nice little surprise just like yours. On closer inspection of the material clogging the the inlet orifice it appears to be black plastic shavings that were not cleaned out of the fuel tank from the factory. I have several kayaks myself and always look forward to getting on the river

Victory! It looks like the problem was junk clogged up in the intake of the fuel bowl assembly. It never made it to the fuel bowl, clogged up in the 90 degree elbow. Thanks for all y'alls help. I decided to track the flow of fuel. It was pouring out the line from the tank to the fuel bowl. When I attached it to the fuel bowl assembly and opened the flow, it barely dripped. Any fuel in the bowl was being sucked in from the fuel pump. I used and air compressor and blew into the fuel bowl assembly and held my finger on the fuel line entrance nozzle. BINGO! Below is a picture of the gunk/junk that came out. And of course a nice pic of a full filled fuel bowl!

 

[Man from Crooked River]

Just to put in my 2 cents worth, I have a 1532 that had the same issues, shortly after purchasing the tractor new. The engine would lose power, sputter and fart around barely having enough power to get back to my shop. The fuel feeding into the sediment bowl would not keep up to the amount of fuel the tractor needed to run. I would remove the filter and once removed I would blow air back through the filter housing at the fuel line port opening the shut off valve at the same time. This blows air back to the tank without having to remove the fuel line. Put the filter back and its good to go again, full power. I did this a few times and even removed the fuel hose, to check actual fuel flow and something else I found is a small pea sized pellet with a small orifice which I believe is to regulate the fuel flow.
So in short this means there is something in the tank, that is getting into the fuel line, plugging the small orifice. So thats why anything bigger than the orifice cannot make it to the filter, just plugging the fuel line. With my tractor being on warranty, I sent it to the dealer and they cleaned out the tank. What they found is dead flys which they think the got in the tank through the vent hose, being attracted to the sweet smell of the diesel.
Since cleaning out the tank no more issues.

 

[GTEdge]

@crooked river. Interesting.