Having to bleed fuel system at random times

Farm208 · Sep 7, 2018

I have a Massey Ferguson 165.great tractor. Last week fuel pump leaked and screw on rear was stripped so I installed a new pump. Worked good. It has died about 3-4 times this past week. It will rev up just a little before it shuts down. I ran tractor yesterday about 1-2 hrs with no issues. Started up this am and got 100 yds and quit again. Bled again and started. Again it reved up slightly right before it died. Somehow Its got a leak somewhere cause system is getting air in. I used it again this afternoon for 1-2 hrs with no issues. Any thoughts on where I may have a leak etc. Ive looked all over and cant find a leak anywhere. Thoughts appreciated..if it’s reving up a little before it dies is it trying to get fuel. Dont want to have to keep bleeding it after it runs ok only for it to die..

Waterhead1234 · Sep 8, 2018

I'm far from a guru and I have never laid eyes on a MF 165 but my feeble mind tells me to look for old crunchy fuel lines or poor connections between the tank and the lift pump. Anything between the lift pump and injector pump should be positive pressure and not likely to draw air. I suppose a bad diaphragm in the lift pump might also be a good place for air to get in. At least that's the way I understand it...

DLTTrekkers · Sep 8, 2018

Waterhead1234 said:
I'm far from a guru and I have never laid eyes on a MF 165 but my feeble mind tells me to look for old crunchy fuel lines or poor connections between the tank and the lift pump. Anything between the lift pump and injector pump should be positive pressure and not likely to draw air. I suppose a bad diaphragm in the lift pump might also be a good place for air to get in. At least that's the way I understand it...

meteringvalve in pump sticky ? Water in fuel ?

thepumpguysc · Sep 8, 2018

Some of those pumps sealed w/ what they call "olives".. its a small rubber sleeve that goes on all the metal connectors/lines..
Prob. the easiest ones to check is the pipe coming from the filter TO the inj. pump inlet..
The olives get extremely hard.. & they're a real pita to remove.. they're usually stuck INSIDE whatever they're supposed to seal..
Remove that line & have a GOOD LOOK inside.. you should see it/them..
Replace the olives..
So, prob. what happened was, when u worked on the supply pump, you disturbed the old rotten olive.??
Good luck.

Farm208 · Sep 8, 2018

On the line off the fuel pump it had a crack so I used a flaring tool to remake the line. It had a rubber grommet,I guess this is the olive u r talking about and I took it off and reapplied it behind the flare I made on the fuel line. I tightened it up and had no leaks. Should I have gotten a new one as the one was hardened? Also the other end of the line that went into the inlet filter did not have a rubber grommet on it. Again I had no leaks so I assumed it was ok.

Texasmark · Sep 10, 2018

Assuming you are running fresh fuel with no water in it, you might pull your fuel line connector from the bottom of the tank and inspect it (and the bottom of the tank) for rust and debris. A 165 has been around for many many years and crud does develop that can block off fuel flow at the filter screen in the tank. Bouncing around in the tractor can move it around so that you have an intermittent problem. When you put it all back together, don't forget to bleed it again. Wink! Good luck.

DLTTrekkers · Sep 10, 2018

Texasmark said:
Assuming you are running fresh fuel with no water in it, you might pull your fuel line connector from the bottom of the tank and inspect it (and the bottom of the tank) for rust and debris. A 165 has been around for many many years and crud does develop that can block off fuel flow at the filter screen in the tank. Bouncing around in the tractor can move it around so that you have an intermittent problem. When you put it all back together, don't forget to bleed it again. Wink! Good luck.

Remenber to clean the fueltanktap