MF-135: bleeding the fuel system

[ozzie tractor]

Reason why I suggested cracking open rearmost injector only? The rest are a BEAR to get at. I've always been able to bleed from one injector. BIG, old fingers don't get into tight spaces anymore.

cant disagree with that,
hey here's an idea, lets put the fuel tank on top of the engine so you cant reach anything.
it is doable, but not easy. the spanner never really sits properly on the nut but. so rounding them off is a possibility. most of the bleeding i do is from engine rebuilds or after fuel system repairs (darn injector pump top seals again!) so there is usually a lot of air to get out. in this situation if there is not fuel at atleast 2 injectors they generally wont fire up. if 1 works for you who am i to argue, you probably have more skin left on your knukles than me too......

 

[Farmwithjunk]

cant disagree with that,
hey here's an idea, lets put the fuel tank on top of the engine so you cant reach anything.
it is doable, but not easy. the spanner never really sits properly on the nut but. so rounding them off is a possibility. most of the bleeding i do is from engine rebuilds or after fuel system repairs (darn injector pump top seals again!) so there is usually a lot of air to get out. in this situation if there is not fuel at atleast 2 injectors they generally wont fire up. if 1 works for you who am i to argue, you probably have more skin left on your knukles than me too......

Bleeding a fuel system is one of those jobs where you do JUST ENOUGH to get results and not one step further. I've always had good luck with bleeding one injector on my 150 (3 cylinder) But when I bled the system on a 6 cyl. Deere I once owned, it required bleeding at 3 or 4 points to get it to fire.

Also to consider. I never have had the injector pump apart on that Perkins 3-cylinder in the Massey. Maybe if I was dealing with a dry injector pump, I'd need to bleed at all 3 injectors. In that event, I don't see how a human hand is supposed to reach those 2 front injectors.

 

[jimmysisson]

I think I changed fuel filters on my 135 diesel three times. Never had to bleed or crack an injector, just leave the filter housing loose and pump the hand lever. Guess I was lucky - just a little spilt fuel and a minute of rough running and I was in the clear. An advantage of the top tank is fuel wants to get to the primary pump, disadvantages are it's tough if it doesn't. Give it a try - the instructions of other posters should be all you need.
Jim
Jim

 

[flusher]

I think I changed fuel filters on my 135 diesel three times. Never had to bleed or crack an injector, just leave the filter housing loose and pump the hand lever. Guess I was lucky - just a little spilt fuel and a minute of rough running and I was in the clear. An advantage of the top tank is fuel wants to get to the primary pump, disadvantages are it's tough if it doesn't. Give it a try - the instructions of other posters should be all you need.
Jim
Jim

Thanks for the info. Hope I'm just as lucky.

Could you see how much crud had collected on those fuel filters that you replaced?

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Thanks for the info. Hope I'm just as lucky.

Could you see how much crud had collected on those fuel filters that you replaced?

I've changed filters on my 150 at least once a year. A few busy years got 2 changes. So 40 or 45 changes. Maybe 10 or 12 went like a charm. i.e. bleed the filters and start up, let run, do nothing! Some days the blind squirrel finds an acorn.

It's not out of the question to see SOME water, VERY little real "dirt", but even that's better off seen in the filter than in an injector. Ideally, you want to replace a clean filter at schedualled intervals. Real world? There's some dirt going to make it all the way to your fuel filter. That's why it's there.

See a LOT of dirt at the fuel filter, a serious tank cleaning (at least) is in order more'n likely.

A little bit of dirt each year X many year old tractor = dirty fuel tank 9 times in 10. (Removed and flushed fuel tank on my 150 @ 25 year mark. Wasn't horrible, but I was amazed at how much dirt had accumulated. )

 

[flusher]

I've changed filters on my 150 at least once a year. A few busy years got 2 changes. So 40 or 45 changes. Maybe 10 or 12 went like a charm. i.e. bleed the filters and start up, let run, do nothing! Some days the blind squirrel finds an acorn.

It's not out of the question to see SOME water, VERY little real "dirt", but even that's better off seen in the filter than in an injector. Ideally, you want to replace a clean filter at schedualled intervals. Real world? There's some dirt going to make it all the way to your fuel filter. That's why it's there.

See a LOT of dirt at the fuel filter, a serious tank cleaning (at least) is in order more'n likely.

A little bit of dirt each year X many year old tractor = dirty fuel tank 9 times in 10. (Removed and flushed fuel tank on my 150 @ 25 year mark. Wasn't horrible, but I was amazed at how much dirt had accumulated. )

I'm thinking that I'll be cleaning the fuel tank also. I assume you flush it with diesel. Any special tricks to that chore?

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I'm thinking that I'll be cleaning the fuel tank also. I assume you flush it with diesel. Any special tricks to that chore?

A lot depends on how dirty, what sort of "dirt", how much rust (loose particals or surface rust on tank) The tank off of my 150 was all loose. Nothing had bonded with the tank itself. Hot soapy water and a hose got it spotless. Rust or dirt that's attached itself needs more work. Last really bad one I did went to work with me. I chucked it into a paint shaker we have to do 5-gallon cans. Then I stuffed 16' of 1/4" chain, all but the 2 hook ends, in through the filler opening. 1/2 hour, then invert for another 1/2 hour. You do the best you can with what you have to work with. Before getting too carried away, most of the popular older tractors are easy to get aftermarket replacement tanks.

Some radiator shops can hot tank a gas tank for you. They're clean after that.

Be careful to keep things clean when fueling a tractor, start with a clean tank, and keep clean filterS, and you eliminate a great many FUTURE problems.

Clean fuel, clean oil, and clean air, clean coolant .

 

[wombat50]

I realize this is an old thread but it really bailed me out. I have a 69 Massey 135, 3 cylinder Perkins diesel.
I am a beginner when working on tractors. I was not replacing filters. I had let the fuel tank run dry.
Thought I'd supply some pics because the ones in the manual were not clear to me especially
loosening a pressure line on the injection pump. As one poster mentioned I only had to do the one that ran to the rear cylinder.
If I had to do the others it would have been difficult to get a wrench on.
I hope the pics are not incorrect or misleading. Thanks for this thread!

 

[ceeceebee]

Well, just done the job, MF135 classic, 6 speed, 1966 shell fenders...wonderful runner, no smoke, starts well...I ran out of fuel and took the time to replace the filters.... job done solo, charge up the battery completely before anything else, you will need it fully charged, ...after fitting the new filters, using new seals moistened with fuel, fitted the two filters and tightened up the screws after spinning on the fittings, not the nut on top for a good central seal...if you look on the filter housings and you will see the arrows pointing the fuel flow direction, slacken off the fist inflow pipe union nut a few turns, not right off, pump the fuel through to the first filter and you will see fuel (about 25 pumps), tighten up the union, do the same with the outflow union (only a couple of pumps) tighten up, same again for the second filter, DO NOT SLACKEN THE RETURN FROM PUMP UNION... go to the lower bleed screw on the pump, use a ring spanner, slacken and pump until the fuel comes through without bubbles, second upper bleed, same again, YOU WILL GET BUBBLES, keep going until no more bubbles, pump again, check the return pipe union of the second filter for no bubbles. Right, now spin the engine over a good few times, if the engine doesn't catch, a short burst of Easystart and it will cough (the engine turns are needed to lubricate the engine anyway), spin over again and spray for 3 - 4 seconds and it will start, it will clear the air in the pipes and run fine.... if it runs rough, you will need to keep it running and loosen off the unions on the injector pipes sequentially whilst running to clear any air (I had to do this with a JD model 303 with a Standard 23c engine, a pig to start even when warm)... well this worked for me, first time and took about an hour all told.. Easystart I think it's ethylene, for you Yanks !!... Cheers from sunny SW France...

 

[Yeti49]

This post saved the day for our old community tractor following a fuel blockage. Many thanks.