She Quite, what do I check????

meledward23 · Feb 17, 2006

SO my TC-55da, quite on me the other day. Here is how it went.

Cranked up just fine, no problem (below 30 degrees to boot).

Ran for about 5 minutes. Put the backhoe down and dig four light digging passess ( scrapping the surface to allow some puddles to drain) First two passess went without incident. The third pass the engine whined , like I put a heavy load on it, (this digging is far from heavy) on the fourth pass it stalled out.

It wont start. Fuel in the Fuel Tank.

I need a list of things to check before I call a mechanic. I hate to spend $ 70.00 for a visit to my farm, becuase I forgot to check XXXXX and xxxxxx. I did check to make sure the fuel switch was on. The manual ball valve next to the filter or something.

Let me preface this with, I am as mechanically inclined as Elmer Fudd if that far. My brother is a professional mechanic (claims to know nothing about disiel, partially to avoid messing with them). But becuase he is a mechanic, I have never saw a need to learn the difference between a cylinder head and piston.

Thanks for any input....

billbill1 · Feb 17, 2006

It sounds like maybe your fuel gelled on you or you got water in the fuel system. Get some Power Service in the fuel tank and get the tractor some place where it can warm up to around 50 degrees and it will probably start. Check your sediment bowl and see if it has crud or water in it.

beenthere · Feb 17, 2006

It (she) just quit ? Sounds like it is fuel related, so check the manual for fuel related troubleshooting, or call the dealers mechanics and ask some questions.
I don't think it will be quite as much problem as you suspect.

JerryG · Feb 17, 2006

Sounds like gelled fuel to me. Dump the fuel bowl, put in some PowerService, then pour some in the tank. Bleed the bowl if needed per the manual and then try starting it.

tawilson · Feb 17, 2006

He said below 30, not 30 below. I misread it at first, then saw he was from Tennessee. Fuel won't gel at that temp, will it?

beenthere · Feb 17, 2006

Nope. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

DieselMonk · Feb 17, 2006

Does the engine still crank over no problem, or does she have a hard time cranking over as well? Sounds maybe fuel related to me as the enginge was lugging and stalled. (Like not clutching a stick shift car and stopping). Anyway that is how I understood it, right? Can you give more info?

Max

jinman · Feb 17, 2006

It sure sounds to me like you had a rather fast and progressive clog of fuel. Just to be sure, you'd want to check the air filters before you pull the fuel filter. With the fuel filter off, open the petcock and see if fuel drains out freely or trickles to a stop. If if flows pretty well I'd replace the fuel filter and try again(catch as much fuel as you can in a small coffee can or similar so you can look at it for trash). If the fuel does not flow freely with the petcock open, then you may have trash in your fuel tank. Hazmat's dad had that problem with his and it makes me think that New Holland may have a sloppy assembler somewhere in their plant. I've heard of several people with a similar problem, but as yet I've not had any fuel feed problems...except being able to afford it. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Tazz · Feb 17, 2006

It does sound like fuel but meledward23 did say something that got me thinking of hydraulics. He said "The third pass the engine whined , like I put a heavy load on it, (this digging is far from heavy) on the fourth pass it stalled out."
Could there be something causing excessive hydraulic pressure to build up and stall a cold engine? I realize there are bypass-pressure releif valves but what if one of them had ice block the valve or filter?
Maybe bleed off the pressure on the lines to the backhoe and try to start it again.
Just thinking outside the box here.
Tazz