l3400 dies soon after start up.

[swampvol]

Full tank of diesel and was bush hogging the rear of the property for the last time this year.

20 minutes in, the rpms start to decline a little and the tractor starts to lose power. I stop and adjust the throttle and the rpms started to go back up, then right back down. After about a 5 minutes it just dies and wouldnt restart. I let it sit for a minute and it would start with no problem, run, then the rpms started fluctuating again then it shuts down.

I had an extra fuel filter laying around so I replaced it. Started it back up, sounded fine for a minute, then the same thing. No rough idle, just rpm fluctuation then shut off.

Drained the diesel, which is about a month old, and am going to put some new fuel in tomorrow. Unfortunately I dont feel real confident that it will be the fix.

Any help would be appreciated.

400 hrs on the machine.

 

[BeezFun]

Look in tank to see if something fell in there and is blocking the fuel line out of the tank.

 

[Rocky Hoffler]

Check also for algae. I have seen this block fuel at filter its a black thick goo if you get fuel on hands or arms and it starts to itch you probably have algae in tank they make additives to get rid of it.

 

[Tx Jim]

Check for good fuel flow out of tank to inj pump. Is fuel tank/cap venting? Is fuel return line open(not plugged) back to fuel tank?

 

[Boondox]

It's going to be either air or fuel. Air blockage wouldn't give you intermittent issues like that. Has it gotten cold enough there to gel the fuel? The south had a pretty wild time last winter. If it was cold enough to cause gelling it may have partially clogged your filter. Gunk accumulating in the filter over a summer of use may have contributed to the blockage to the point where symptoms you describe might occur. Replacing the fuel filter is cheap.

 

[swampvol]

I put fresh diesel in and let it run for 5-10 minutes (pinched for time today). Got it up to operating temp and it seems to be fine. I will know for sure when I get back to cutting this afternoon and put a load on it.

Maybe the fuel I put in a few weeks ago was bad.:confused3:

Thanks for the replies!

 

[TomSeller]

Maybe the fuel I put in a few weeks ago was bad.:confused3:
!

Very likely. I have had bad diesel before that acted like that.

Are you sure it wasn't a little gasoline in there by mistake? Maybe even from your source. Many diesels run "bad" on a limited mixture of gas in diesel, but they do run.