Oh No, forgot to replace fuel cap. Now what?

[mikerose]

I think everybody has done this once! When I refuel now I always put the cap on the seat, so that I'd "notice" it when I sit down on it........

 

[Gord Baker]

RTFM for Fuel drains, filters, care etc., and everything else.

 

[Shenandoah MF1760]

Cover filler tube until you can find cap or buy new one. Minimal water entered tank

I agree with Streetcar. If you want to see the most water that could have gotten in, grab something roughly the diameter of your cap and fill it with 4" of snow. Melt the snow and see how much could have entered the tank. Chances are the anti-gel and the water separator will take care of it. You might just want to check the separator more often until your next tank fill.

 

[NUTTERDW]

So about 2-3 weeks ago, we had a huge snowstorm. After 2 days of being snowed in, I decided to try and clear my 300' driveway with my BX. Unfortunately, I could not get it to run for more than about 2-3 seconds. I figured that it was due to fuel gelling up or something. A week later, temperatures warmed up and I was able to start it and clear the driveway. Not wanting to have the fuel gel up again, I added some anti-gelling additive. We are expecting another snowstorm tonight/tomorrow so I just went out to move the tractor into the driveway in preparation. While I was moving it, I smelled diesel, so I looked at the fuel filler and noticed NO CAP! Oh No! I put the additive in over a week ago and we've already had 2-4" of snow between when I put in the additive and today. No doubt, some snow has found it's way into the filler opening. What do I do now? The tractor seems to run fine at the moment. Of course tomorrow evening after the storm, temperature is supposed to drop to -4*. Any suggestions? Just leave it and hope any moisture eventually works it's way out of the system?

A few years ago my dad was using my tractor and got water in the fuel. He drained everything but did not change the filters, Well the first real cold night we had the water in the filters turned to slush and was sucked into the injection pump. I took the lines off of the pump and found the ice. It cost me a rebuild on the injection pump. I would say new filters would be a must if it was my tractor.

 

[SandburRanch]

I think everybody has done this once! When I refuel now I always put the cap on the seat, so that I'd "notice" it when I sit down on it........

That's how i remember to take a ( smaller ) item with me . Place in the seat of the truck .

 

[Tony H]

Let tractor sit. Fuel and water will separate. Get small tube (1/4"-3/8"). Push it down to the bottom of fuel tank and siphon out bottom of tank... That's where the water will be. Siphon to clear jug so you can see clear water turn to yellowish diesel as you get it all out. Then I'd run it a bit so fuel pump circulates what water is left with the product you added to the tank.

 

[Tony H]

Well, I sure hope that doesn't happen to me, because I dread working in the cold. This is a subcompact and not a big tractor that is easy to crawl under. When the weather is freezing, its even worse due to my arthritis. If the tractor won't start or if it quits, it's staying right there until weather turns fair again.

But I'm hoping maybe I lucked out. I went outside, started it up and ran it at med-high rpm (estimating about 2200) for about 10 minutes until temperature gauge went up to 1/3. No skipping, ho stumbling, no hiccups. Ran smooth the whole time. I presume I'm going to be OK until I get the chance to swap out the filters again, and rig up a water separation device, which Kubota should've done from the factory. The filters (2 of them) are these tiny things you'd expect to find on a home depot lawn mower. You know the ones, clear with orangish pleat material and molded nipples. One filter is underneath (not easy to get to) and is behind the lift pump, which itself looks like a metal body fuel filter. The 2nd one is installed on the engine in front of the injection pump. That's it. I tarped up the tractor so I won't have to sit on snow covered seats and foot rests and will hope for the best for Friday morning. Thanks for all the advice. Crossing my fingers and will report back in a couple of days if there's anything worth reporting, that is.

John deere has the same lame filters on their 5wd lawn tractor. 758? Overpriced toy filters.

 

[BobLou]

I live in Northern Ontario, its -40F.
I need a block Heater on my tractor.
I did the same thing about 1 month ago, forgot to put the fuel cap on my tractor while snowblowing, after 1 hour of blowing notice my tractor was not running well.
Then i saw my mistake, no cap..
I used about one cup of methyl hydrate
This will not harm the fuel or the tractor.

Also i went back to the shed and re installed the cap, a platic bag or a glove with an ekastic to replace tge cap will not work for very long
A fuel cap has a hole in it, a breather hole. You needs this hole so the tank can be drained by the pump air needs to go into the tank if fuel is cumming out.

I have been doing the methyl hydrate
Trick for years, and it works, fuel or gas.

 

[Superduper]

Update: Well since then, I've put about 3 hours of use on the tractor, moved 35 tons of AB3 gravel, and it has run normal the whole time, so I guess it was a non-issue after putting in that additive. I also purchased a couple of new filters and a racor clone filter/separator to splice into the system but you know how it goes... work first. Then discovered the steering cylinder is dripping so another $300 expense upcoming. I'll will get to splitting the fuel lines and replace the filters but that can probably wait for fairer weather now that the tractor seems to be running normally. Thanks everyone for chiming in. I initially thought I screwed things up big time, glad that it was a scare more than a real issue. These tractors are really fuel efficient... I still haven't emptied the tank yet with all that work.