Fuel Filter Change question.

yomax4 · Nov 23, 2013

Greetings smarter than me people. I have what may be a dumb question.. I have an Iseki TA247 3cyl close match to a massey 1240 if that helps. It had suddenly started to smoke a little when I would rev it a little. I have not changed fuel but someone told me it was likely the fuel filter. It's a little harder to start cold and seems like it lost a couple HP. The filter is in a plastic bowl with a an on/off and another position I cant read. My question is, If I remove the bowl will I have to re-bleed the fuel system? Or turn it off, change out filter and turn back on? I have not changed the filter in approx. 800 hrs.
Thank You !!

Ilikeurtractor · Nov 24, 2013

If you remove the fuel filter bowl, you normally will need to bleed the system. Even if you didn't have to, it would be a good idea to do it anyway as it is not that hard and eliminates possible other problems.

If it is smoking black, then you probably aren't fuel restricted (i.e. it's not your fuel filter). You might want to consider taking a look at the air filter and replacing it. I'd probably do both if each has over 800 hours of run time.

yomax4 · Nov 24, 2013

Thanks.

Gary Fowler · Nov 24, 2013

I would second that. Black smoke is usually caused by unburned fuel due to engine overload OR air filter stopped up. You are getting more fuel that the tractor can efficiently burn so I doubt your fuel filters are bad. If you can visually see that the fuel bowl doesn't have any water or sediment standing in it, then I wouldn't mess with the filters yet. IF you use clean fuel all the time, it may not need a new filter at all, HOWEVER, I have to agree that 800 hours is a long time between fuel filter changes.
I would get the air cleaner changed first to see if the black smoke goes away and then change out the fuel filter as a matter of course in preventative maintenance.

yomax4 · Nov 25, 2013

Thanks so much.. Getting an air filter today. I did keep it blown out, Sprayed it with solvent and blew it out again and let it dry. May not have been good enough. I'll see what a new one does.

yomax4 · Nov 28, 2013

New Air Filter fix'd the black smoke issue. I know the importance of the air filter but the one I took out was pretty clean. Maybe I damaged it by spraying it down with carb cleaner and blowing it off with the air hose or maybe the diesels are that fussy. In any event it's running perfect now with the new filter.
Thanks again for the assistance.