rlaughton
New member
Temperature dropped to -10 deg C on Friday. Lots of work to do and planning for big snow storm Saturday. Tractor started fine, warmed up nicely, ready to get to work.
Ten minutes later, start losing power - OEL WARNING LAMP comes on and tractor stalls. It will restart and able to back it into a safe area - equestrian operation so lots of students and parents.
Manual says basic words like "Electrical and fuel delivery" problems. Call the dealer, might be diesel gel due to cold temperatures. Suggests adding fuel conditioner and if that does not work, remove and drain fuel filter, fill with fresh fuel (the filter) and try again.
Neither solution works. Head home and search the web - nothing here about the issue but I see some saying "DIESEL 911" is the best emergency solution - good, the storm is only 12 hours away. Off I go to get the product and a few others.
Dealer's service rep is 2 hours east of Toronto on another call and can stop by the farm on the way home. He is the only one with the scanner tool to check if there is an electrical issue with the fuel pump etc.
An hour later I hear from the dealer - they are great about helping in a crisis - that the service rep stopped at the farm. He got the same results, tractor starts, runs 45 seconds, OEL lamp lights, tractor shuts down. Starved for fuel he thinks - as I did I but no idea why?
TURNS OUT TO BE SOMETHING NOBODY EXPECTED - the air release on the fuel cap on the tank was plugged, probably condensation and froze. Without the fuel cap on the tank the tractor starts and runs perfectly. Clean out the fuel cap assembly and all is working well. Once it stalls and you leave it for a while, enough air gets into the fuel tank to allow it to start again, then the process repeats.
Regardless, I now have a batch of fuel additives for the next event and have added it to my 45 gallon bulk tank. It has a water/particulate filter as well, but it was real cold.
NO COST - the tractor is still under the 2 year warranty and it was a mechanical problem with the fuel cap.
Ten minutes later, start losing power - OEL WARNING LAMP comes on and tractor stalls. It will restart and able to back it into a safe area - equestrian operation so lots of students and parents.
Manual says basic words like "Electrical and fuel delivery" problems. Call the dealer, might be diesel gel due to cold temperatures. Suggests adding fuel conditioner and if that does not work, remove and drain fuel filter, fill with fresh fuel (the filter) and try again.
Neither solution works. Head home and search the web - nothing here about the issue but I see some saying "DIESEL 911" is the best emergency solution - good, the storm is only 12 hours away. Off I go to get the product and a few others.
Dealer's service rep is 2 hours east of Toronto on another call and can stop by the farm on the way home. He is the only one with the scanner tool to check if there is an electrical issue with the fuel pump etc.
An hour later I hear from the dealer - they are great about helping in a crisis - that the service rep stopped at the farm. He got the same results, tractor starts, runs 45 seconds, OEL lamp lights, tractor shuts down. Starved for fuel he thinks - as I did I but no idea why?
TURNS OUT TO BE SOMETHING NOBODY EXPECTED - the air release on the fuel cap on the tank was plugged, probably condensation and froze. Without the fuel cap on the tank the tractor starts and runs perfectly. Clean out the fuel cap assembly and all is working well. Once it stalls and you leave it for a while, enough air gets into the fuel tank to allow it to start again, then the process repeats.
Regardless, I now have a batch of fuel additives for the next event and have added it to my 45 gallon bulk tank. It has a water/particulate filter as well, but it was real cold.
NO COST - the tractor is still under the 2 year warranty and it was a mechanical problem with the fuel cap.
