Accidently put gasoline in Kubota L3240

[TexasL3240]

I recently was in a hurry and put 5 gallons of gasoline into my tractor. The tractor had about a 1/2 tank of diesel in it at the time. It cranked and ran for about a 1/2 day before losing power and then began to spit and sputter. After I realized what happened, I drained the fuel tank and replaced with diesel fuel and replaced the fuel filter. Since then, I have not been able to get it to crank. Not even a hit. Any suggestions to what I am doing wrong.

 

[Ezlivn]

I googled and found this.......

Diesel fuel has a lower ignition temperature than gasoline, allowing combustion to occur simply by compressing the air/fuel mixture. Gasoline engines require a spark plug to ignite the fuel. Too much gasoline will not allow the engine to work efficiently and quite possibly not at all.

Also, diesel engines use an injector pump to pressurize the diesel so it will form a fine mist when pushed through the injectors. These pumps require the lubrication of diesel to continue to work. Excess gasoline will cause failure in the injector pump and damage the injectors.

 

[zman007007]

did you fill the fuel filter with diesel before installing? If so you may still have to bleed the injectors to get the air out of the lines before it will crank.. zman

 

[rjkobbeman]

When you say you cannot get it to crank, I assume you mean fire? The battery should crank the engine over until it is dead. (Don't recommend cranking it for too long at a time.)

Anyway, as has been said, you may need to replace the mixed fuel as best as you can with the new diesel... in the filter/water collector/etc. If you don't drain those out, you will be cranking a LONG time before the fresh diesel gets to the cylinders. I don't know how much fuel the injector pump hold... but that might take a bit to get new fuel to it.

 

[TexasL3240]

Yes, I forgot to state that. when I replaced the filter, I filled it with diesel before trying to crank it. I thought I might have to bleed the system but am not sure how to do that. the manual states that to bleed the system you turn the knob while the engine is cranked and it will bleed the air from the system. not sure what to do since i cant crank it. does it have a manual pump or do i still crack open the knob and try cranking it.

 

[rjkobbeman]

Yes, I forgot to state that. when I replaced the filter, I filled it with diesel before trying to crank it. I thought I might have to bleed the system but am not sure how to do that. the manual states that to bleed the system you turn the knob while the engine is cranked and it will bleed the air from the system. not sure what to do since i cant crank it. does it have a manual pump or do i still crack open the knob and try cranking it.

Oh, so when you say you can't crank it... you really mean you can't crank the engine over? Is the battery dead from too much cranking already? Not being able to crank the engine should have nothing to do with the bad fuel. It has probably drained the battery from already cranking it too much trying to start it.

If you can't crank the engine over, that is the first problem you have to deal with. I would start by charging the battery.

 

[Sumpter]

If you cranked till the battery died you may have damaged the starter. Check that all out and then bleed the injectors. I would think it would fire right up then. IMO

 

[ultrarunner]

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news...]

Two years ago at my Kubota Dealer they had a new tractor... less than 30 hours and all torn down... I asked what had happened.

The owner let his brother-in-law use it and the nephew filled it with 5 gallons of gas... they continued to run the tractor until it lost power... they were not able to get it to run again.

The fuel injector, head, cylinder bores and pistons were damaged... lack of lubrication and heat.

 

[Jeepnford]

Could the cylinders be full of gas and liquid locked? Or worse,seized? Oops,while I goofing off Ultra posted something similar.

 

[doall]

I think he means "start" not "crank". If you loosen the fuel line in the top of the injectors and turn the engine over until fuel comes out it should start. Dont forget to tighten the lines back up when fuel comes out though.:thumbsup: