Harry in Ky
Veteran Member
It's not really a return line in the strictest sense. It's actually a bleed line. Problem is it also lets air bleed in as well as bleed out. Close it off and see what happens. No harm done.
Blow the fuel line back into the tank. Also dont go by the gauge.Well, its not an issue with venting the tank. I also clamped that hose off with a pair of needle nose pliers, and that didn't seem to help either. The fuel filter bowl still remained about half full while the tractor is running. That fuel line is actually new, but I couldn't see the other lines to see if they were also new or not. I'm thinking its either something clogging the line or something in the tank. I'm getting down closer to 1/4 tank and it seems like its happening more frequently. Kind of seems like I should drain the tank, and remove it, clean it out, and run new line from the tank to the TEE near the fuel filter.
I think mine is the other way around. The gauge was getting pretty low, but 5 gal of fuel almost overflowed the tank.Blow the fuel line back into the tank. Also dont go by the gauge.
My tc40 shut off on my climbing a pile. Then the key wouldnt do anything, no lights or anything. Fixed the poor battery terminal connection then it drove 20' and would just crank. Checked for fuel at the injectors, and low pressure pump, nothing. My gauge said 1/2 tank...well turns out it was empty. 12gal of fuel later and I was back up and running.
I had the same type of problem on mine when I bought it. I found plastic shavings and "crap" in the fuel line fitting at the filter AND at least one debris in the tank intermittently blocking the nipple output. I lucked out and got the piece out of the tank by grafting in a 1/4 turn petcock at the nipple. Those are wide open when on, and you can hand spin a drill bit or a screw up into the tank to grab the offender and pull thru. You can also augment by temporarily adding a Tee fitting to try to suck it through at the same time.I picked up a 2008 TC40DA in Jan to replace my old Ford 1710. Time will tell, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be some of the best money I've ever spent. That said, I do have one issue with it. After its been running for a while (30min to an hour), it acts like its starving for fuel, or developed an air leak. It looses power, and after several seconds, it dies. It will start right back up, but then does it again within a few minutes. The more I keep going, the more quickly it happens. After 4 trys, it's almost instant. If I walk away for a while (30 min), it will run for another 10 or 15 min before the problem comes back. I first noticed it this spring, but it wasn't as frequent. AFTER the problem started, I had some work done to it at a dealership which included replacing some leaking fuel lines. Problem seems worse after that, but I didn't have a lot of time on it prior so its hard to say.
I thought it acted like a clogged fuel filter, so I swapped that out last week and the problem still exists. I do notice that when the machine is running, the fuel bowl on the filter has about an inch of air at the top, but I can't see the fuel bowl from inside the cab (LOVE having a cab with AC), and by the time I get out of the machine after it dies, the bowl is full of fuel again. I'm normally running the machine in the back yard moving logs or totes of firewood, and I'm normally not running over 1500 rpm, often lower. My thinking is that either I have a lift pump that is weak, or I have air in the line prior to the fuel filter and its eventually getting to the fuel pump and injectors. Problem with that is that I'd think that it would pretty quickly work its way out and back through the return line.
Any thoughts or ideas?
Thanks,
Mark