fuel gauge head scratcher

[oosik]

The fuel tank vent tube connects to the upper section of my fill pipe. It's a closed system that the mud daubers can't get to. It's the vent for the rear transmission that has the small filter on its end. I found, over the years, fuel gauges are not sophisticated enough to be really too accurate. At least, on tractors & riding mowers. Over the road vehicles - different story.

My answer to this - simply fill the fuel tank after each and every use. I've never run any of my equipment long enough, at one time, to use much over half a tank.

 

[LouNY]

Sure enough, The vent line was plugged solid. I looked in the down the end and it looked like there was an orange plug in it. I cut off the last two inches, that orange plug ended up being a paper like material packed in very tight. I wouldn't know a mud dabber if I saw one, but something sure plugged it up. The material went further up the line. I cut off as much as I could (about a foot) and it was still full of this stuff!

I looked at pulling the entire vent line, but that would be a very difficult task. No way I can get my hand up to disconnect them at the tanks and the tee is totally inaccessible. So I pinched off each vent line out of each side of the tank, one at a time, and blew air through them. They cleared ( I boiled a bit of fuel out of the fill spout in doing so).

Afterwards I was able to put about 4 gallons in the tank (I filled the tank yesterday, ran about a gallon out today by using the tractor, and boiled maybe a pint or quart at the most out when blowing the lines). So I obviously didn't fill both tanks yesterday.

Time will tell, but I am pretty sure that things will work better (I might be able to go more than 5 hours on a tank of gas and my fuel gauge might actually work)

Thanks again, Lou, for pointing bringing this subject up.

Glad it worked out for you,
it's amazing how much work a little insect can cause and
how nice it is to get a full tank of fuel in.

 

[Cougsfan]

Pull up your rubber floor mat. You may be pleasantly surprised at what you'll find......access plates.

I made that discovery shortly after purchasing the tractor, and I did pull my mat and removed the access panels yesterday. Access was still much better from under the tractor and if I had the hands the size of a 5 year-old, I could have easily removed the lines. Fortunately I could get to the lines with some needle nosed vice grips to pinch them off so I could blow them out individually.

 

[Cougsfan]

My answer to this - simply fill the fuel tank after each and every use. I've never run any of my equipment long enough, at one time, to use much over half a tank.

My situation is a bit different than yours. I quite often use my tractor for long stretches of time continuously (it takes over 10 hrs to mow my west 19 acres). I have ran out of fuel in the last year or so more than once, and it is usually where I have to walk the furthermost to get fuel. The fuel gauge worked fine for quite a while after I got the tractor, but seems to have a random position generator lately, which doesn't help. Both problems appeared around the same time. Hopefully both of those situations are rectified.

 

[Cougsfan]

As a preventative measure, I did follow Lou's lead and ordered a $5 small engine fuel filter to put on that vent line and would advise others to do the same