L3540 hydro power questions

[rScotty]

Alrighty, took your advice

Alrighty, took your advice and went to strain and reuse that fuel. I had drained it into a white 5 gallon bucket and when getting ready to pour I could see the line between the diesel fuel and water. So I poured slow and kept an eye on things so as to not mix them. Things went fine and I had 1/2 to1 gallon of water maybe in there so I'm thinking that was a lot of the culprit giving me problems.

Again, thanks everyone for the help!

Well, that's a lot of water by any standard.... too much, in fact.

You'd best figure out where it is coming from and fix it. Until you do, consider starting now to use a diesel additive like Schaeffer's, Opti-lube, Power Service, Lucas, Stanadyne, or one of many others.

The only downside to additives is the slight increase in fuel cost. The cost of not treating fuel and then dealing with sub-standard fuel is much higher. It's just insurance,

Here is a real good technical manual on diesel fuel that I ran across online. Chevron explains in great detail how they make diesel and what each step does .

The section on additives is at the end. It goes into types and why they are used.

rScotty

 

[jonsstihl]

I would also drain your filter bowl again just to be sure. Biobor also has good info on their website about dealing with contaminants in fuel.

 

[hunt4570]

I would also drain your filter bowl again just to be sure. Biobor also has good info on their website about dealing with contaminants in fuel.

Yes, I should do that, and will next time I get it out. The tractor that is.

 

[hunt4570]

Ok, kind of an update on this. Now about 4 months later I'm having the same problems again, so I re-did the same thing. Checked the fuel filter, it was new in May and looks great so I rinsed it, blew it out and reinstalled it. Drained the tank by removing the line from the tank to the filter, it seemed to flow just fine! When the tank was empty, I blew air through the line, poured a little fresh fuel into kind of rinse it and put it all back together. Seems once again to run ok, so here is my thinking on the subject, but I'd love to hear your thoughts, where the fuel exits the tank to head to the filter I'm thinking there is a screen there or something and as time goes on its packing up with junk so I need to pull the tank and rinse it out and remove whatever might be in there, yes? BUT... as I said as I was draining the tank with that hose it seemed to flow fine, which seems wrong to me, if it was starving the tractor why does it flow so good draining the tank??
Thanks..

Oh, and no water in there this time.

 

[RjCorazza]

Could still be a larger piece of debris, intermittently causing problems. I skimmed the thread, and noted that you mentioned the return line... Did you blow low pressure air through the return?

I recently had fuel starvation issues on my diesel zero turn. What fixed my fuel issue came down to one of two things:
I replaced the (3) aftermarket filters (new) with oem filters, AND blew low pressure compressed air through the return line. Thing's been running like a champ since then. It's possible one or more of the aftermarket filters were defective, but I highly suspect that the return line was clogged causing a fuel starvation issue.

I had previously done everything I could think of, including draining the tank, blowing out the supply lines, replaced lift pump, and a number of other things.
Good luck.

 

[JWR]

Well, that's a lot of water by any standard.... too much, in fact.

You'd best figure out where it is coming from and fix it. Until you do, consider starting now to use a diesel additive like Schaeffer's, Opti-lube, Power Service, Lucas, Stanadyne, or one of many others.

The only downside to additives is the slight increase in fuel cost. The cost of not treating fuel and then dealing with sub-standard fuel is much higher. It's just insurance,

Here is a real good technical manual on diesel fuel that I ran across online. Chevron explains in great detail how they make diesel and what each step does .

The section on additives is at the end. It goes into types and why they are used.

rScotty

Good info and link to the Chevron book. Thanks for providing that very detailed tech info.

 

[hunt4570]

Could still be a larger piece of debris, intermittently causing problems. I skimmed the thread, and noted that you mentioned the return line... Did you blow low pressure air through the return?

I recently had fuel starvation issues on my diesel zero turn. What fixed my fuel issue came down to one of two things:
I replaced the (3) aftermarket filters (new) with oem filters, AND blew low pressure compressed air through the return line. Thing's been running like a champ since then. It's possible one or more of the aftermarket filters were defective, but I highly suspect that the return line was clogged causing a fuel starvation issue.

I had previously done everything I could think of, including draining the tank, blowing out the supply lines, replaced lift pump, and a number of other things.
Good luck.

Interesting, I blew out the feed line but never thought about the return line, I will track it down and give that a try, thanks.
If that doesn't work I guess I'll pull the tank if I can figure it out. I have the WSM and nowhere can I find any reference to the fuel tank!!

 

[rScotty]

Interesting, I blew out the feed line but never thought about the return line, I will track it down and give that a try, thanks.
If that doesn't work I guess I'll pull the tank if I can figure it out. I have the WSM and nowhere can I find any reference to the fuel tank!!

I'm a real believer in those clear fuel fllter bowls for tractors and marine engines. The universal type will it anything, and they make it easy to see a problem.

 

[hunt4570]

I'm a real believer in those clear fuel fllter bowls for tractors and marine engines. The universal type will it anything, and they make it easy to see a problem.

Yes the fuel filter bowl on my tractor is clear.

 

[masscity]

I have a 2012 L3540HSTC-3. It has a lift pump, which failed and wouldn't start, I had changed a few years ago.

I had my valves adjusted last year, a little over 800 hrs. Three valves needed to be adjusted. Mechanic did it.

I have a manual, for the valves the tank has to be removed and the FEL mount also to see the timing mark.

 

[jonsstihl]

I'm pretty sure your 3540 does not have a lift pump unless it was added as aftermarket.
loader mount can stay on as long as you can visualize which valves are doing what and know which stroke you are on. tank definitely should come off with the tank frame unless you have tiny monkey hands and can adjust valves blindly.

 

[masscity]

I'm pretty sure your 3540 does not have a lift pump unless it was added as aftermarket.
loader mount can stay on as long as you can visualize which valves are doing what and know which stroke you are on. tank definitely should come off with the tank frame unless you have tiny monkey hands and can adjust valves blindly.

So what do you think that the injection costs $35 is lower down middle on the right side of the engine. It wouldn't start,

no fuel, changed the small pump and guess what started right up.

 

[jonsstihl]

the high pressure injection pump is thousands of dollars to replace. the 40 series is gravity feed to the high pressure injection pump, atleast from the factory. I would change out the fuel filter and fuel lines if you are having trouble with fuel starvation. a lift pump just masks the problem until it gets worse.

 

[masscity]

This is what my mechanic changed when my L3540HSTC-3 wouldn't start a few years ago. My friend found one on the

internet for $35 or so, but I was in a hurry and had already ordered one from Messick's, maybe a $100 or so.

 

[Tony H]

This is what my mechanic changed when my L3540HSTC-3 wouldn't start a few years ago. My friend found one on the

internet for $35 or so, but I was in a hurry and had already ordered one from Messick's, maybe a $100 or so.

Thats mounted directly to the engine?

 

[Tony H]

With thf new sulfur free diesel fuel, algea in the fuel is a big issue. Now that this creeped up on you again, i would blow back into the fueltank as you siphon the fuel out. This would blow the crap off the in-tank screen and allow you to siphon it out. Put the fuel in a clear container to look for crud and water separation. Id use Bio-clean for a full containers worth. Keep an eye on the clean filter. See where you get with that.

 

[hunt4570]

With thf new sulfur free diesel fuel, algea in the fuel is a big issue. Now that this creeped up on you again, i would blow back into the fueltank as you siphon the fuel out. This would blow the crap off the in-tank screen and allow you to siphon it out. Put the fuel in a clear container to look for crud and water separation. Id use Bio-clean for a full containers worth. Keep an eye on the clean filter. See where you get with that.

Great idea!! I was dreading removing the fuel tank to clean it out, this just might do the trick! Thanks I will try this!

 

[Flogger]

On diesels I use an air powered vac. pull the bag and put a hose on it to direct the flow to a pan. I can then pull a lot of junk out of an old tank. I wouldn't even consider it with gas.

 

[jonsstihl]

I stand corrected, sorry for spreading mis-information about the 40 series on the forum. we do indeed have a lift pump. I was not expecting to see a mechanical pump on the injection pump. that pump is now 210$ CAD. so about 145 USD

removing the tank really isn't all that hard especially if you don't have a loader. but if the loader mounts are on there you just need a long extension to help put the bolts back in.

 

[hunt4570]

So an update on this:
I bought a diesel transfer pump/kit from amazon. Worked great getting stuff out of my tank (see pics) BUT, still doing the same thing, flat level land or downhill motor just cooks right along, as soon as I turn uphill the rpms just drop off! Of I’m running 540-550 it will drop off to maybe 500 rpms or so!!!
IDEAS????