Tractor Died While Blowing Snow!

[Bobrown14]

My problems went away when the temps got up into the 40s F - tractor running GREAT and no more snow! Now worrying about why we are having a thaw in late December?? Everything should be rock solid now we have a mud layer with ice under it = recipe for drive-line issues like in the early spring.

Time to do maintenence since its warm weather and mud. Yesterday was 62F - in upstate New York. I've never seen it this warm this time of year.

 

[hube2]

My problems went away when the temps got up into the 40s F - tractor running GREAT and no more snow! Now worrying about why we are having a thaw in late December?? Everything should be rock solid now we have a mud layer with ice under it = recipe for drive-line issues like in the early spring.

Time to do maintenence since its warm weather and mud. Yesterday was 62F - in upstate New York. I've never seen it this warm this time of year.

I've seen weather like this before, but never a 10 day stretch. But this is going to be one of those years when the ground never really freezes and I'll need to keep larger skids on my blower so I don't scrape and blow the top off my lawn.

How far north are you? Another 4 days of warm temps forecast for me and mostly above freezing during the day for the next 2 weeks. That's going to make for some more wet, sloppy snow and continued muddy conditions.

 

[spruce Deere]

Yep, I'm 35/38 degrees and 28/30 at night. With rain and snow on occasion.

Everywhere I Plowed is an ice skating ring now....

 

[LouNY]

I've seen weather like this before, but never a 10 day stretch. But this is going to be one of those years when the ground never really freezes and I'll need to keep larger skids on my blower so I don't scrape and blow the top off my lawn.

How far north are you? Another 4 days of warm temps forecast for me and mostly above freezing during the day for the next 2 weeks. That's going to make for some more wet, sloppy snow and continued muddy conditions.

Yea, 50F this afternoon here. A sloppy muddy mess.
Quite a change from 10 days ago. And the long range looks like no hard freezeup for a while.

 

[5030]

least we had a good hard freeze to kill off the vermin.

 

[dcarman]

Very definitely sounds like a fuel issue. I've seen it to many times. In the winter I don't mess around any more. I use straight #1 starting in October. No more problems!

 

[5030]

The thing I find somewhat interesting is that people wait until the last minute to buy winter additive and then cannot find any. I always keep at least a half gallon of anti gel on the shelf, just in case. Much easier to buy in the summer.

 

[Bob in RVA]

-2 degrees is not even a temperature that should be encountered. The best thing to do is move to Texas or Alabama.

 

[RedDawg]

-2 degrees is not even a temperature that should be encountered. The best thing to do is move to Texas or Alabama.

Heck, I live in Tennessee not that far from the Alabama border and it got to -3 here that first really cold morning. Moved here 31 years ago from Minnesota. I remember on some cold mornings here, my dad saying, "We didn't move far enough south!".

 

[manzer7]

I let the tractor warm up for almost an hour, after all, its -2F outside. I let it idle for about 20 minutes with the block heater plugged in, then revved it up to 15K for the 40 or so more minutes. Everything was functioning fine, while I started work. About 20 minutes into clearing the snow off the road, the tractor started flashing S94 F11 (Fuel Rail Pressure Control Fault), went into limp just before shutting down!

I let the tractor sit there for about 10 minutes or so while I walked to the house to look up the code in the good book.

Frustrated and ticked off, I went back out to start working on it under the glow of my headlamp. I gotta get it running, its blocking the road.

I attempted to start it, and it fired right up! No codes, no issues, full range of RPM. Well, ok! Lets get back to work then!...

Down by the county road, it died again. I tried to start it up again, but it wouldn't stay running. I let it sit for maybe 5 minutes. It fired up and I started up to the house. I gotta park it and figure it out. About 10 seconds later, it died. I let it sit, started it, and drove it another 20 feet. Did this all the way up to the house. All the while thinking about what it could be.

The book says its a fuel rail pressure control fault. The fixes in the book do not make sense for the symptoms of the tractor. I'm leaning towards gelled fuel? Maybe its so cold the treated fuel is gelling, but getting warmed by the engine as it sits, just before sucking up more gel? I havent pulled the fuel filter (its negative 2 and dark right now).

What are your thoughts?

Wow ! Let it idle for an hour and it was only -2° F. It was -6 the other day (coldest day yet for us) and I let it idle for about 10 - 15 seconds and off I go snowblow. I had a problem with it cutting out the engine with the blower on and going into reverse (when it came back from a warranty item - brake had broke - 2nd time). I tied the switch under the seat so it stayed good with good contact. That fixed it. When I first got it - I used to wait about 2 - 5 minutes after starting and would let it idle a few minutes before turning it off. I found out that it is not necessary - just like a car or truck !! I'm almost at 800 hours now - and it works just fine - I never set the brake or use it unless I have to. And I live on a hill. The bucket (FEL) or the snowblower "down" are good brakes for most places - with good judgement !!

Your dying issue could be a dirty filter at the tank (under the floorboard), a loose electrical connection, or a bad relay. That is my take on it. I can't see gelling at that low temp of only -2° F !!