Oil & Fuel Fuel line froze up on my TC-35

[navyjoe]

Last summer I posted a problem with water in fuel. Well I thought I had gotten it all out. Wrong!! I was running my through the field 2 days ago and sputter sputter and it quit. Right in the middle of a mud hole of course! (Ran fine in the barn). Anyway I looked down and my fuel filter was 2/3 empty. I unscewed it and heard the air hiss in when I loosened it. As it turned out a little bit of water froze in the hose in a low point and blocked the flow. I was able to manually fill the fuel bowl twice and run the engine long enough to get it back to the barn. Well today I went out and smelled diesel fuel (About 5 gallons of fuel that I will be smelling for years to come in my gravel and dirt barn). Well bummer, the line had thawed, and I found out that I had managed to not properly tighten the bowl ring.

I have a real gripe with 2 people on this.

One is the dummy that did the work changing the fuel filter. Ought to fire that guy, but since he is me, I'm forced to keep him on.

The other is the guy that designed that fuel filter setup. I just know they told him to design it to be as hard as possible, to put as many lines and other suff as possible in the way so that a 5 minute job would only take 2 hours.

Actually I have one other gripe. The O ring. I had to buy a new one last summer. Would you believe it has swelled. Its too big to go inside of the filter housing. That is the reason it leaked. I thought it was tight, but as it turns out the O ring was bulging and got caught in the threads. I bought the O ring from the NH dealer, pricey I might add, and now I find it swells when exposed to diesel fuel. Anyone know of an alternate supplier? Do you know the specs on it?

 

[jinman]

Sorry about your troubles Joe. My guess is that the fuel you lost on the ground was a lot more expensive than the filter gasket. I'd pony up for a new one from NH and trace its dimensions onto a piece of paper. Use that as a go-by for matching up a new gasket, or buy material and make one on your own. You might also invest in a cheap strap wrench from Harbor Freight or similar supplier. They are handy for use in tight places.

Of course, I guess you realize if you had shut off the petcock at the input side of the filter all this fuel leakage would never have happened. Frustration and being in a hurry has been responsible for many instances similar to yours. I have many of those experiences under my own belt. It seems that if I do a job for somebody else, I take the time to do every detail correctly. When I do things for myself, I sometimes get sloppy.

 

[atgreene]

I've had moserate luck with gelled/frozen fuel lines using Power Service in the red bottle. If you can fill the bowl with it and dose the tank, sometimes it will free it up. Ideally a little heat to the line combined with the red bottle stuff will do the trick, then a change to the filter of course. Afterwards plenty of white bottle Power Service will keep it from acting up again.

 

[navyjoe]

Sorry about your troubles Joe. My guess is that the fuel you lost on the ground was a lot more expensive than the filter gasket. I'd pony up for a new one from NH and trace its dimensions onto a piece of paper. Use that as a go-by for matching up a new gasket, or buy material and make one on your own. You might also invest in a cheap strap wrench from Harbor Freight or similar supplier. They are handy for use in tight places.

Of course, I guess you realize if you had shut off the petcock at the input side of the filter all this fuel leakage would never have happened. Frustration and being in a hurry has been responsible for many instances similar to yours. I have many of those experiences under my own belt. It seems that if I do a job for somebody else, I take the time to do every detail correctly. When I do things for myself, I sometimes get sloppy.

It really caught me off guard. That screw on collar tightened perfectly and everything seemed ok. Of course it was about 20' with a windchill below that and my hands were half frozen so maybe I could not feel it properly. And yes in hindsight shutting off the valve would have been a very good idea! As for a strap wrench there is no room for one. I wasn't kidding about the design. Its like they said there is no room anywhere so we will have to put it here, then the next designer came behind them and added a few more hoses around it to make it even more fun.

On the old Fords they had a beautiful design. 2 big bowls, a prefilter and a final filter with a drain petcock at the bottom of one to let the water out.

As for making my own, much to exacting. This O ring fits into a recessed lip and its ID - OD - and thickness leave little room for play. Its a great design if you never had to change it!!

 

[navyjoe]

I've had moserate luck with gelled/frozen fuel lines using Power Service in the red bottle. If you can fill the bowl with it and dose the tank, sometimes it will free it up. Ideally a little heat to the line combined with the red bottle stuff will do the trick, then a change to the filter of course. Afterwards plenty of white bottle Power Service will keep it from acting up again.

I was telling my neighbor last night at church about this and he said the same thing. He uses it routinely too. So I ill definately get some on the next trip into town. thanks for the suggestion.

I wonder if I could add it to the big fuel tank when thay fill it up instead of mixing it at every tractor fill up??

 

[MikePA]

I wonder if I could add it to the big fuel tank when thay fill it up...

You sure can, as long as the recommended PS to fuel ratio is followed...or exceeded. Too much PS won't be a problem.

 

[LBrown59]

I was telling my neighbor last night at church about this and he said the same thing. He uses it routinely too. So I ill definately get some on the next trip into town. thanks for the suggestion.

I wonder if I could add it to the big fuel tank when thay fill it up instead of mixing it at every tractor fill up??

That's what i do.

 

[atgreene]

Each time I get a delivery to my skid tank I dump a bottle (1/2 gallon +- size, metric, whatever it is) into my 300 gallon tanks. Both off road and on road fuel. Has made a big difference in gelling issues, and better for the injector pumps since sulfer went away.