HELP!!!!

chessman54 · Jun 3, 2005

I own a Shibaura 1500 B 2 cylinder diesel tractor. I love my tractor!! I pull a 5 ft finishing mower on the back, but now I am experiencing my first major problem, loss of power in the motor.

I changed my fuel filter 3 times now and there was some gumminess in the first 2. I strained my fuel and put a "see through" filter on so I could see if it was the fuel. No more look of gumminess or dirt is present now.

When I try to put pressure on my motor it wants to "die down" as if it has no power. What can it be? Glow plugs? Injectors?

Help me guys the grass is getting too high! We've had a lot of rain in Florida.

Thanks, Chessman54

Bob_Skurka · Jun 3, 2005

It is not going to be the glow plugs, but if you had some sort of gunk in the fuel filter, then you may very well have some of that same gunk in your injectors. I'm guessing it runs OK with no real load on the engine but doesn't run well when you try to run it up, based on what you said. The first thing I would do now is to put in some high quality diesel conditioner with a cleaning component in it. Run it in the engine for a while and see if that helps. My guess, and only a guess, is the injectors are partially gummed up.

EDIT :: By the way, as this is more of a generic engine problem than a problem related specifically to gray market tractors, you may want to ask one of the moderators to move this thread to the general "OWNING/OPERATING" forum, you might get some folks who are diesel experts who read that forum but don't read some of the specialty forums.

AntrimMan · Jun 3, 2005

Air, fuel and compression.
If it isnt the fuel, hows the air filter?
Best of luck,
Martin

thcri · Jun 3, 2005

Is it possible you have some bad fuel. A while back I changed my filter because it was running bad. Didn't help so I dumped the tank and put new in. It ran funny for about ten minutes and then worked its way out of it. Another thing you could check is your air filters.

murph

chessman54 · Jun 3, 2005

Thanks, thcri & antrimman, for your quick response!

I have cleaned my air filter, but the bad fuel may be my answer. The only thing that bugs me is, I can let the thing cool and after about 20 minutes I can go back out there and it will cut for about 30 minutes then it happens again. Would that still possibly still be the fuel? It works perfectly for the 30 minutes then it starts acting as if it looses power.

What do you think? In the mean while, I am going to do your suggestion thcri, I'm draining the tank and puttting new fuel in!

Again, thanks for your help!

Chessman54

thcri · Jun 3, 2005

Based on that it points more toward your air filter. You said you cleaned it, try replacing it. You may have some dirt down deep and you are not getting it out. Bad fuel usually shows up right away. Otherwise you may be looking at an injector pump. But your past my knowledge at this point and I sure would not go diggin in the pump until some of the smarter guys here jump in.

murph

Charolais · Jun 3, 2005

If it runs for 30 min. great and then starts to go down hill. I'd check the feul tank for flow. I've had problems in that area over the years. Sometimes I'd just have to remove the tank and give it a good cleaning. Neighbor just did that with his baleing tractor. He would start rolling hay and after 2o min. the engine would start to die down when the baler was just about full. Think he found some wasp wings and other things in the tank. It would settle over the outlet hole after the tractor had run for a bit.

Also make sure the vent on the fuel cap is open. Next time you run the tractor for 30 min. stop and remove the tank cap. If you hear air being sucked in then the vent is plugged. It'll starve an engine if it is.

Just a couple of easy things to check before you get into the hard stuff.

SPIKER · Jun 3, 2005

one other thing is after 30 min the engine is getting WARMED UP GOOD, there COULD and I repeat COULD be something going south in the engine a bearing perhaps? what is the Oil Pressure at cold and at warm when it is happening? also make sure that the engine vent is ok for the oil press. some times it can clog and cause excess pressure in the engine which will show up as high oil pressure (infact the intire crank case gets pressurized and can make things move a bit more than usuall.

back to the more likely culprit in the fuel system .

make sure the injector pump oil is clean and full. I'm not familiar with you're specific engine but I belive pretty much all of them contain some oil for lubing it's internal workings. check for screens in the banjo fittings too, I know this is common for many tractors to have extra screens inside the fittings to trapp anything that may come appart just ahead of the injector pump. also check for soft rubber hoses in between that may be collapsing, (soft rubber means it can get sucked closed on the in side of the injector pump.) the hoses can even peel appart on the inside making a FLAPPER that will flap open and partly close the fuel hose... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif don''t ask me HOW I found this one out befor and yes it is nearly impossable to find & duplicate!...

MarkM

PineRidge · Jun 3, 2005

Some years back I had a Chinese made tractor that did the same thing. All of a sudden it would just seem to fall on its face and if you shut it down and let it rest then the cycle would start all over again.

After it quit one time I quickly took the fuel line apart where it came out of the fuel filter and found that the diesel was down to a trickle even with a fresh fuel filter.

We siphoned the diesel from the fuel tank and unscrewed the sediment bowl from the fuel tank to find a screen up in the tank that was all but completely plugged.

Used a broomstick with a rag on the end to clean any residual gunk out of the fuel tank, then cleaned and reinstalled the bowl and screen.

From that point forward it ran like a champ. The moral of this story is to visually check for good fuel flow. Make sure that you don't have some kind of restriction.

SkogenMe · Jun 4, 2005

Similar comments to those by Charolais....
I had a tractor that would die after about 15 minutes. I had cleaned the filter and bled it many times...About the time it died in the middle of the road at night while snowplowing was the time I convinced myself it was a serious problem /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif...turned out the fuel level float was coming apart (it was something like cork) and pieces of it were plugging the fuel tank discharge. Replaced the level sensor and never had the problem again in the six years I had the tractor
good luck