L4600 won't start now. Water in fuel?

[avery155]

Hello all,
So for the last 20 to 30 gallons of fuel seem to have problems with my l4600. Originally thought it was water related. Loss of power, black to grayish smoke, hesitation when throttling up. Drained tank, changed fuel filter and off we go. The exhaust smells almost like a kerosene heater, and last night while brush hogging it started smoking again then started knocking. I killed the PTO, crept up the hill and parked it. This morning a friend came over to hear it he it reluctantly started he didn't put it under any load and shut it off. He seen the smoke and smell.

I went to restart it and now it won't catch. We pulled the filter seems like water if you blow back through the filter it foams up a lot so we are thinking it is still water related even though before this filter the tank was drained and new filter installed.

The knocking sounds similar to what it sounded like before when it was hesitating. But last night any load it would start knocking even low gear on the flats.

Any help is appreciated especially to get it fired up again in case i have to take it somewhere. Just over 1000 hours on the clock.

 

[radios1]

drain everything again, and get fuel from a different source, your present place could be selling bad Diesel, and it's possible someone could be sneaking to your tractor at night, and putting water in the tank too.. some people are very weird!..

 

[Wagtail]

Wouldn't the 'water in fuel' indicator (red floating ring) in the fuel bowl show if you've got contaminated diesel?

 

[avery155]

Not sure don't seem to have any indicator on my tractor.

I drained tank, added diesel 911 to 5 gallons, bled the line from filter to injection pump. Got it running let it idle for a while to get fresh fuel through the system. Under slight load it still knocks, or rapid rpm change. Still doesn't smell right either.

Loosened first 2 injectors I could reach, they are fine. Went to pump side loosened the back injector fuel line, it started leaking fuel out but no change in rpm. Can't reach middle two with tools on hand so went to front injector line on pump side no fuel leaked but once again rpms dropped so first and second Injectors are fine.
I'm assuming injector 3 is fine doubt it would happily idle or run on the front 2 cylinders.

Other than me loosening injector 4 more than 1 why would fuel leak out of the line for injector 4. Would that indicate clogged injector?

Either way I have an injector comming on Saturday.

How likely is the cylinder damaged or dead and other than a compression test what signs would I look for to see if it is dead? (Rapid rise in oil level?)

 

[Wagtail]

Not sure don't seem to have any indicator on my tractor.

Wow, you're right... sorry for my assumption.

I Googled the L4600 fuel bowl and didn't see anything to indicate 'water in the fuel'.

 

[radios1]

water will sink to the bottom of the fuel bowl, and be clear. if Kerosene or something similar is in there, I'm not sure if that will sink or float on top, if the Diesel lights with a match(take a small sample), there's something in it that don't belong in a Diesel!..

 

[moship]

Not certain why you're so resistant to doing a compression test to verify state of each cylinder. If it is tool related, I believe other members have used the Harbor Freight diesel tester with success. It's priced around $30.

Don't assume #3 is OK without data. If your suspected fuel injector issue is due to poor fuel it is likely all four have degraded somewhat. That also goes for the injection pump itself.

Good luck on your repair and I hope it is only a minor repair.

 

[BHD]

I Has been my experience, if you suck water in tot he injection pump, you have injection pump damage, and may need to replace it or rebuild it,

on my old deere, there are two drains one at the bottom of the tank and the actual fuel line is about 2 inches off the bottom, need to drain off the bottom to remove the water,

I have glass filters and if there is water one can see it seperate in the bottom of the filter, on the other tractor there is a drain in the bottom of the can, one can crack it and see if water is present,

diesel or kero will float on water, and "kero" is #1 diesel, in most instances, (they sell #1 diesel, for kerosene) in our part of the country, I run #1 in the winter time in my tractor, does not jell up in the cold,

 

[Jstpssng]

How did your fuel filter look? Between the water separator in the sediment bowl and the filter before the injector pump, water shouldn't have gotten any farther. Is the sediment bowl staying full or is the fuel barely trickling in? I had problems with mine last year related to water in the fuel, resulting in a plugged filter in the tank. I ended up blowing back through the line from the sediment bowl to the tank to clear it; then draining the tank completely. I then flushed it out with diesel/PS microbe cleaner twice, and haven't had a problem since.

 

[moship]

Avery155,

Did you ever resolve your issue?

Please report back what you found and the fix.

Thanks