Fuel Filter Problem

[rjlogan]

I have a New Holland TC35DA. I ran out of fuel this morning. I filled the tractor with fresh diesel and tried to bleed air from the system by loosening the bleed screw on the pump. No fuel appeared during the bleed. I checked the fuel filter and found no fuel was entering the filter when the filter valve was open. I need to check the line going from the tank to the filter but is there anything else that would prevent fuel from entering the filter? Thank you.

 

[dlctcg]

Does the filter bowl fill if you slightly loosen the filter bowl retaining ring?

The TC series are gravity fed from the tank to the fuel filter bowl, so yo may have to loosen the filter bowl slightly to let the air be pushed out by the fuel from the tank...

There are other issues to look for but that would be the 1st thing I would try...

 

[rjlogan]

Thanks. I took the bowl off and opened the valve. No fuel.

 

[aba4430]

Have you tried turning the key to energize the fuel pump, assuming it has an electric fuel pump? Worst case, crank the engine and the bowl should fill up. Is there a fuel shut off valve (had to ask) that is potentially closed?

 

[Harry in Ky]

My money is on crap in the fuel tank. You ran it out of fuel. The tank was empty (in theory) when you poured fuel into it. That fuel spilling in stirred up whatever is on the bottom, which then found it's way to the outlet fitting. Now nothing (or very little) comes out of the tank so no fuel to the filter. Take the hose off the filter from the tank. remove the tank filler cap, blow back into the tank and see what changes. If that gets fuel flowing again you know what the problem is. May be only a temporary fix.

 

[rjlogan]

My money is on crap in the fuel tank. You ran it out of fuel. The tank was empty (in theory) when you poured fuel into it. That fuel spilling in stirred up whatever is on the bottom, which then found it's way to the outlet fitting. Now nothing (or very little) comes out of the tank so no fuel to the filter. Take the hose off the filter from the tank. remove the tank filler cap, blow back into the tank and see what changes. If that gets fuel flowing again you know what the problem is. May be only a temporary fix.

Thanks Harry! That did the trick.

 

[Harry in Ky]

Yours is by no means the first tractor to ever do this.

 

[nyone]

I would look into draining that tank and cleaning it out.

I had a old ford 851 that would suck up a glob of solder from a previous owners repair every now and then. It would always stop the tractor at the worst times.

 

[stevem5215]

I had that happen once on my Ford 1900. It had bees in the tank blocking the flow. I used my kero pump to siphon all the critters out. Was fine afterwards.

 

[rjlogan]

I still haven't managed to get the tractor to start. After getting the fuel flowing, I turned the ignition key and the PTO light came on. The engine will not turn over. I crawled under the tractor and bypassed the PTO switch. The PTO light is still on. I verified the operator safety system fuse was good. Can you suggest something else to try? Thanks again.