L3540 hydro power questions

[rScotty]

Alrighty, took your advice

Alrighty, took your advice and went to strain and reuse that fuel. I had drained it into a white 5 gallon bucket and when getting ready to pour I could see the line between the diesel fuel and water. So I poured slow and kept an eye on things so as to not mix them. Things went fine and I had 1/2 to1 gallon of water maybe in there so I'm thinking that was a lot of the culprit giving me problems.

Again, thanks everyone for the help!

Well, that's a lot of water by any standard.... too much, in fact.

You'd best figure out where it is coming from and fix it. Until you do, consider starting now to use a diesel additive like Schaeffer's, Opti-lube, Power Service, Lucas, Stanadyne, or one of many others.

The only downside to additives is the slight increase in fuel cost. The cost of not treating fuel and then dealing with sub-standard fuel is much higher. It's just insurance,

Here is a real good technical manual on diesel fuel that I ran across online. Chevron explains in great detail how they make diesel and what each step does .

The section on additives is at the end. It goes into types and why they are used.

rScotty

 

[jonsstihl]

I would also drain your filter bowl again just to be sure. Biobor also has good info on their website about dealing with contaminants in fuel.

 

[hunt4570]

I would also drain your filter bowl again just to be sure. Biobor also has good info on their website about dealing with contaminants in fuel.

Yes, I should do that, and will next time I get it out. The tractor that is.

 

[hunt4570]

Ok, kind of an update on this. Now about 4 months later I'm having the same problems again, so I re-did the same thing. Checked the fuel filter, it was new in May and looks great so I rinsed it, blew it out and reinstalled it. Drained the tank by removing the line from the tank to the filter, it seemed to flow just fine! When the tank was empty, I blew air through the line, poured a little fresh fuel into kind of rinse it and put it all back together. Seems once again to run ok, so here is my thinking on the subject, but I'd love to hear your thoughts, where the fuel exits the tank to head to the filter I'm thinking there is a screen there or something and as time goes on its packing up with junk so I need to pull the tank and rinse it out and remove whatever might be in there, yes? BUT... as I said as I was draining the tank with that hose it seemed to flow fine, which seems wrong to me, if it was starving the tractor why does it flow so good draining the tank??
Thanks..

Oh, and no water in there this time.

 

[RjCorazza]

Could still be a larger piece of debris, intermittently causing problems. I skimmed the thread, and noted that you mentioned the return line... Did you blow low pressure air through the return?

I recently had fuel starvation issues on my diesel zero turn. What fixed my fuel issue came down to one of two things:
I replaced the (3) aftermarket filters (new) with oem filters, AND blew low pressure compressed air through the return line. Thing's been running like a champ since then. It's possible one or more of the aftermarket filters were defective, but I highly suspect that the return line was clogged causing a fuel starvation issue.

I had previously done everything I could think of, including draining the tank, blowing out the supply lines, replaced lift pump, and a number of other things.
Good luck.

 

[JWR]

Well, that's a lot of water by any standard.... too much, in fact.

You'd best figure out where it is coming from and fix it. Until you do, consider starting now to use a diesel additive like Schaeffer's, Opti-lube, Power Service, Lucas, Stanadyne, or one of many others.

The only downside to additives is the slight increase in fuel cost. The cost of not treating fuel and then dealing with sub-standard fuel is much higher. It's just insurance,

Here is a real good technical manual on diesel fuel that I ran across online. Chevron explains in great detail how they make diesel and what each step does .

The section on additives is at the end. It goes into types and why they are used.

rScotty

Good info and link to the Chevron book. Thanks for providing that very detailed tech info.

 

[hunt4570]

Could still be a larger piece of debris, intermittently causing problems. I skimmed the thread, and noted that you mentioned the return line... Did you blow low pressure air through the return?

I recently had fuel starvation issues on my diesel zero turn. What fixed my fuel issue came down to one of two things:
I replaced the (3) aftermarket filters (new) with oem filters, AND blew low pressure compressed air through the return line. Thing's been running like a champ since then. It's possible one or more of the aftermarket filters were defective, but I highly suspect that the return line was clogged causing a fuel starvation issue.

I had previously done everything I could think of, including draining the tank, blowing out the supply lines, replaced lift pump, and a number of other things.
Good luck.

Interesting, I blew out the feed line but never thought about the return line, I will track it down and give that a try, thanks.
If that doesn't work I guess I'll pull the tank if I can figure it out. I have the WSM and nowhere can I find any reference to the fuel tank!!

 

[rScotty]

Interesting, I blew out the feed line but never thought about the return line, I will track it down and give that a try, thanks.
If that doesn't work I guess I'll pull the tank if I can figure it out. I have the WSM and nowhere can I find any reference to the fuel tank!!

I'm a real believer in those clear fuel fllter bowls for tractors and marine engines. The universal type will it anything, and they make it easy to see a problem.

 

[hunt4570]

I'm a real believer in those clear fuel fllter bowls for tractors and marine engines. The universal type will it anything, and they make it easy to see a problem.

Yes the fuel filter bowl on my tractor is clear.

 

[masscity]

I have a 2012 L3540HSTC-3. It has a lift pump, which failed and wouldn't start, I had changed a few years ago.

I had my valves adjusted last year, a little over 800 hrs. Three valves needed to be adjusted. Mechanic did it.

I have a manual, for the valves the tank has to be removed and the FEL mount also to see the timing mark.