Oil & Fuel John Deere 4105 stalls

[usnfiveo]

I have had my John Deere 4105 since 2010, got it new. It has a whopping 275 hours. I just use it to mow 5 acres and push some snow off the driveway in the winter. Earlier this summer the tractor started stalling out on me. I'd be mowing on along and out of nowhere the RPM would drop and the engine would die. It would start right back up and I'd be on my way, it would do this about once every 2 hours. Today it did it and I actually had trouble getting it back to the garage. I'd make it 0-25 feet before stalling again. I'm using off road diesel from the same tank I used when I had my John Deere 770 - now that was a bulletproof machine...but under powered for my applications. I haven't changed my maintenance habits, fuel or anything between the 770 and the 4105. Every now and then I check eBay for the 4105 and I am seeing a ton of fuel shut off solenoids for sale. Is this my problem or is it something else. Any feedback would be GRATEFULLY accepted.
Dave

 

[beenthere]

:welcome: to TBN

From your description, using the same fuel from the same tank as your 770. I could interpret that as the fuel is now over 5 years old if indeed it is the same fuel.

But the stalling sounds most like a plugged vent cap. Next time it acts like it will stall, loosen the fuel cap and see if that helps.

Also, if that doesn't work, how long has it been since the water was drained from the water collect. bowl and when was fuel filter changed out last? Just asking....

 

[usnfiveo]

beenthere, Thanks for the timely reply.
Maybe not the SAME fuel, same supplier, same 200 gallon oil tank - BTW Geothermal is the bomb if you like it cool. I was gonna start by praying, then replacing the fuel filter tomorrow. Plugged vent cap sounds right up my alley - cheap/requiring no technical background fix. I was hoping somebody could explain away my problem for under $100. This'll be a good start.

 

[beenthere]

For those few hours per year, my suggestion would be to pick up 5 gal of "fresh" diesel at the pump which prolly wouldn't be more than 2-3 times a year for you. That will be much better for your tractor than keeping diesel for a long time in a barrel. Too many things can go wrong, and give you stale fuel.
One thing to watch out for is algae in your fuel, be it the storage tank or your tractor tank. Ugly stuff.

Hope it is the vent... and a cheap fix.

 

[RalphVa]

This happened one time on my JD 4010 with the ONLY batch of off road that I ever bought. What was causing its inability to run faster than idle was some wax globs that had come out of solution during a cold spell in the winter. It's possible that some wax globs could have come out of solution last winter (our coldest here in 15 years) and only now starting to partly plug the fuel tank outlet.

I had to siphon off the fuel in the tank and then fish out the wax globs with a 3 finger mechanic's fish tool. Could have poured some warm kerosene into the bottom of the tank and melted the wax, but it might have had to be gotten pretty warm. We used to heat kero to about 180 F to melt/disslove wax off our filters in propane dewaxing. Could be some safety issues in getting kero this hot. Safer to fish the wax globs out.

Ralph

 

[Wagtail]

:welcome: to TBN

From your description, using the same fuel from the same tank as your 770. I could interpret that as the fuel is now over 5 years old if indeed it is the same fuel.

But the stalling sounds most like a plugged vent cap. Next time it acts like it will stall, loosen the fuel cap and see if that helps.

Also, if that doesn't work, how long has it been since the water was drained from the water collect. bowl and when was fuel filter changed out last? Just asking....

G'day Mate and welcome to TBN from Downunder.

I agree with 'beenthere' and I would drain the fuel tank (from the line that connects to the water collect) & add fresh diesel AND replace the fuel filter. You'll then need to run the tractor for awhile IOT get rid of residual fuel in the engine. Your Owners Manual will guide you.