TC26 loaded up with fuel and quit

Nick220 · Sep 18, 2013

I have a 2007 TC26 with a little over 200 hours and the other day, after starting, I left it at idle while I worked nearby. After a minute or two RPM started dropping and it was loading up on fuel with black smoke coming from exhaust. This had happened once before, but I caught it in time and by advancing throttle got it cleared out.

This time I didn't get there fast enough and it quit and wouldn't start again. I tried starting it again a day later and still no luck. It caught maybe on one cylinder and then nothing. Today I shut off fuel before the filter and tried three or four times to get started, but nothing. Then emptied fuel filter bowl, checked filter, bled it, tried starting again with fuel on, and nothing. I don't know what to do next and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

dave1949 · Sep 18, 2013

I have no idea really.
If it has start-up glow plugs, could they be fouled/coated and not working correctly since the black smoke incident?
Does the oil on your crankcase dipstick look and smell like it should?
I guess the most likely suspect is something with the fuel injectors/pump.

jinman · Sep 19, 2013

Check the air filter for blockage. Something could have gotten in there. Also, check the fuel solenoid is energizing properly. It's on the back of the injector pump and has one wire going to it. You may have caused more problems with the fuel flow by trying to start with the fuel off. You need to see that the fuel is getting to the injector pump. There's a bleed screw right where the hose goes to the pump. Loosen that and see if bubbles come out when you crank the engine over. Also, try starting with your throttle lever at full speed.

I think you had fuel starvation instead of too much fuel. If too much fuel the engine would have revved before it quit. The black smoke is just because there is raw fumes getting into the exhaust when the mixture is too lean to fire. The hot exhaust causes smoke.

Nick220 · Sep 19, 2013

Thanks for all the suggestions. I pulled the air filter out, tried starting, and no luck. It had power to solenoid, so then I loosened nuts at injectors and had fuel there when cranking.

I buy good fuel at a place where many truckers fill-up so I didn't think that would be the problem. But, with nothing else left to try, I drained most of the fuel, put in fresh fuel and a new fuel filter and bled it at the pump. After some cranking it fired up and ran fine. Whew! I was running out of things to try and getting desperate enough that I thought I was going have to hire the dealer to come take a look at it. For lots of money.

Thanks again for the help. If anyone has questions on (carbon) steel fabrication maybe I can help there. Been in business doing that for almost 40 years.

jinman · Sep 20, 2013

Nick, sorry it was so involved to get your tractor going, but maybe the trash is gone for good and you'll not have to worry about this again.

Carbon steel fab. . . is that making things with carbon steel like building structural components? If you were making the steel, that would be carbon steel forging, wouldn't it? I think I have my terminology correct.

Nick220 · Sep 20, 2013

Jim, In general, steel fabrication includes a lot of different types of fabrication - including buildings. But, I have a fairly small shop where I've made and repaired gear for commercial fishing boats, and designed and made different types of machines -from a large clay extruder for a pottery operation to a vertical edger for a saw mill. For the last 10-15 years I've mostly designed and made dampers for wood-fired masonry heaters. That was going pretty good until things collapsed in 2008.... I put the carbon part in there because I don't work with stainless, but I do know something about working with medium and high carbon steels, which can be a little trickier than working with low carbon. Forging isn't making steel, but is heating and generally hammering steel to make stuff. From hinges to tongs to hammers, chisels, etc. That's how I got started.

jinman · Sep 21, 2013

Thanks Nick. That sounds like an interesting and ever-changing profession. You have to be ready to shift to the ever-changing demand. I guess I've watched too many shows about making knives, swords, and axes where they heated the metal in charcoal to add carbon and then repeatedly hammered and folded it to get very hard layers and edges.

Nick220 · Sep 21, 2013

Jim, I'm 72 years old and guess I'm done with trying to keep up with the changing market. The knives, etc. folded over and hammered are what's called Damascus steel process, but these days usually start with a high carbon steel and don't add carbon. For instance, Mudd Sharrigan, does it with a gas forge. I met Mudd back in the late 1950's when we were both into hot rods and dragsters and just a couple of years ago learned he now lives about 30 miles from me and is making knives. Really good knives. Here's a video of an interview with him done by local community TV producers. At about nine minutes they go down to Mudd's shop and look at knives. Here's link. Wuzzup Knives - Function And Art on Vimeo

jinman · Sep 21, 2013

Wow! That Mudd sure put out a table full of interesting and useful knives. I'm not a big knife user, but love to watch the process and details of making them. I keep thinking to myself and wondering how in the world the process of hardening and working steel started. Forge welding didn't just jump up out of a caveman's fire. Like many other processes, it was probably an accident or unintended discovery that improved step-by-step over years and years. When you see the variety of Mudd's craft and hear him talk about his knives, it seems likely that his handmade craftsmanship will become more rare as older generations pass on. With those knives, the story behind each one is a large part of their value.

Nick220 · Sep 26, 2013

Jim,

I came across this website that might be worth checking out, since you're interested in knives. It's a thread in a knife discussion forum, with a post mentioning Mudd's knives.

Why 1/8 inch blade stock?

Nick