Power update.

[MotorSeven]

Does this mean that over time water, and perhaps the other nasties, are likely to be accumulating at the bottom of my diesel tractor's fuel tank.

Maintenance schedules don't comment on periodic cleaning of fuel tanks.

Doesn't emptying the fuel filter bowl when changing the filter get rid of accumulated water trapped by the filter ?

Yes, but we are talking about bacteria and algae that form colonies in the tank big enough to gag the fuel pickup inside the tank. This is was before it gets to a filter. Also, I have read that if you have a real bad infestation, once a biocide is applied and the stuff is killed their little sea monkey bodies can get sucked into the filter clogging it up tight.

 

[dfkrug]

Does this mean that over time water, and perhaps the other nasties, are likely to be accumulating at the bottom of my diesel tractor's fuel tank?

Maintenance schedules don't comment on periodic cleaning of fuel tanks.

Yes, indeed! Every one of my project tractors, which were all
less than 10y old had sludge in the bottom of their fuel tanks. It was
an accumulation of water, bacteria, and probably algae. Only my later
Deeres had a fuel drain in the bottom of the tank, just below the fuel
inlet. Why hasn't Kubota, Kioti, and others done this?

 

[dennis52]

Seems to be a good reason not to let the fuel level get too low.
After 5000 hours I better have a closer look inside my old Kubota's tank.

 

[dfkrug]

Seems to be a good reason not to let the fuel level get too low.
After 5000 hours I better have a closer look inside my old Kubota's tank.

Since probably all the fuel inlets from the tank to the filter bowl are
above the bottom of the tank, it is more a question of how deep is the
sediment? Eventually, it will rise to the level of the inlet.

Try taking some 1/4" diameter clear vinyl hose and threading it to the bottom
of your tank from the filler hole. Suck on it just a bit, pinch it off, and see
what enters the tip of the hose. If you can get the sludge to enter the
hose, then you can remove some of it that way. In my Deere 4300, the
sediment had become semi-solid, and would not come out of the drain
without encouragement.