Workmaster 33 won't run

[NTG]

My Workmaster 33 has about 750 hours on it. The other day I went to get something from my shed and it was idling and it just shut off. When I got back over there, I cranked it up and throttled up to move on and it died again. It will not run for me. The "engine problem" light comes on when it dies, but I guess that's about like a "check engine" light because it doesn't tell me much. No AB codes or any other indicators are displayed on the dash. I'm thinking maybe the DPF deal is clogged up. I went and bought a drum of off-road diesel from a Sunoco store the other day. I didn't think to check if it was ultra low sulfur or whatever it is New Holland says to use. I've burned about a half tank now in my tractor and this problem has popped up. Any time I get a drum of diesel, I treat it with that Diesel Kleen that Walmart sells, but since this is the first time I've used this other brand of diesel, I'm wondering if there's something crappy in it that's not burning clean and I've clogged up my DPF. I've ordered a can of DPF Clean from Amazon to try and it'll be here in a couple days, but I don't know if I'll be able to get the tractor to run long enough for this to work even if it will. Any thoughts? The tractor will be 4 years old in September and I've done all the regular servicing according to the manual and haven't had any other problems with it so far. Oh btw, my environment is pretty dusty so I tapped a lot of dirt out of my outer air filter and the inner air filter looks like new. I also cleaned the junk off the screen in front of the radiator. I'm a complete novice, so I don't know where to turn next. Thanks for any help!

Pat

 

[Peter 315]

Have you changed the fuel filters at all..?

 

[NTG]

Yes, strictly according to the manual. I guess something still could be in there. I'll check on that. Thank you!

 

[DieselMonk]

or dirt in the line / fuel tank.

 

[NTG]

Well..... I *guess* I fixed it. I poured a couple ounces of this stuff in my fuel tank. Before I fired it up, I remembered reading in another thread where someone said check the vent on the gas cap. I figured what the heck, so I took the gas cap off. It has a little liner that comes down in the middle with a hole and then there's a groove in the threads so air comes from underneath. There was some kind of trash completely filling that groove, so maybe it wasn't venting properly. I cleaned out that groove, fired it up and it ran fine the rest of the day. Go figure. :thumbsup: I do think I'm not running it hard enough though to clean out the DPF so I'll use the cleaner I bought when it gets here and I'll run it at a higher rpm. I let it idle a lot and I only run it at 2K rpm unless I'm using the PTO and then I run it where the line is at 2400 rpm for pto devices. I guess I should run it all the time at 2400 and not let it idle so much. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions!

 

[thclimer]

Well..... I *guess* I fixed it. I poured a couple ounces of this stuff in my fuel tank. View attachment 650915 Before I fired it up, I remembered reading in another thread where someone said check the vent on the gas cap. I figured what the heck, so I took the gas cap off. It has a little liner that comes down in the middle with a hole and then there's a groove in the threads so air comes from underneath. There was some kind of trash completely filling that groove, so maybe it wasn't venting properly. I cleaned out that groove, fired it up and it ran fine the rest of the day. Go figure. :thumbsup: I do think I'm not running it hard enough though to clean out the DPF so I'll use the cleaner I bought when it gets here and I'll run it at a higher rpm. I let it idle a lot and I only run it at 2K rpm unless I'm using the PTO and then I run it where the line is at 2400 rpm for pto devices. I guess I should run it all the time at 2400 and not let it idle so much. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions!

Nice to hear your running again.

I have also heard that diesel's with a DPF are better run at a higher rpm = less soot produced?

 

[fried1765]

Well..... I *guess* I fixed it. I poured a couple ounces of this stuff in my fuel tank. View attachment 650915 Before I fired it up, I remembered reading in another thread where someone said check the vent on the gas cap. I figured what the heck, so I took the gas cap off. It has a little liner that comes down in the middle with a hole and then there's a groove in the threads so air comes from underneath. There was some kind of trash completely filling that groove, so maybe it wasn't venting properly. I cleaned out that groove, fired it up and it ran fine the rest of the day. Go figure. :thumbsup: I do think I'm not running it hard enough though to clean out the DPF so I'll use the cleaner I bought when it gets here and I'll run it at a higher rpm. I let it idle a lot and I only run it at 2K rpm unless I'm using the PTO and then I run it where the line is at 2400 rpm for pto devices. I guess I should run it all the time at 2400 and not let it idle so much. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions!

Stanadyne is widely respected...good stuff!
You should consider using it regularly.

 

[NTG]

I was until I started treating the whole drum with the Diesel Kleen. Probably wouldn't hurt to run the Stanadyne through periodically as well.

 

[NTG]

Been meaning to come back and update..... still having problems. I ran it that whole day after my last update here and it ran fine with no problems whatsoever. But now it is periodically cutting off on me at various points. Sometimes it just throttles down lower and lower until it dies. Sometimes it'll rev up like it's leaning out maybe with a fuel blockage or something and then it dies. I've tried various things with varying results, none of which apparently are fixing the problem. I guess I have a load up and a trip to a shop somewhere in my future. Somehow or another, I missed the maintenance step in my operator's manual that I'm supposed to drain the water in the fuel filter every hundred hours and I have not been doing that. I do have one of those Goldenrod filters on my fuel drum so hopefully that caught any water in there, but I guess does nothing for condensation in the tractor tank. I drained the water out of the tractor filter and thought that fixed it, but nope. Peter 315, thinking maybe my fuel filter was wonky, I went ahead and changed the pre-fuel filter and fuel filter again to make sure that wasn't the problem..... didn't fix it. I haven't drained my tank yet, but I did disconnect the fuel line and let a little bit run out to see if that flushed any trash out..... next time I run out of fuel (not completely, I know not to do that), before I fill up I'll completely drain the tank and see if there's any trash or anything in the bottom. I've got one of those screens in the neck of my tank, but I guess something could have gotten in there somehow. I'll flush the tank out good before I fill it back up. That's exactly how it's acting, like something is blocking the fuel line and it leans out and quits. Sometimes when it's sputtering before it quits, the glow plug light comes on or sometimes flashes on and off making me think I've got some electrical problem, but maybe if the tractor is losing power, those bump on to try to keep it running? I'm not sure how those work, other than their normal purpose of assisting cranking a diesel engine. It's just weird, sometimes it'll work several hours like nothing's wrong and sometimes it's like it's "just not going to play today". The other day i drained the water (I can't really see any difference in what's coming out, so I don't think there's excess water in there, I just let it out for a couple seconds and then close the valve) from the fuel filter and that's when I took the fuel line off the tank and let the tank drain for a couple seconds. It fired up and I worked on one of my roads with my back blade for an hour or two and it ran with no problems. Then it just went to heck. I said I was done, but I did clean the chaff off the screen in front of the radiator (was completely covered, but I had just cleaned it a couple weeks ago) and I tapped out as much dust as I could out of my outer air filter. I'm working in pretty dusty conditions so I need to bring my compressor over there and blow the air filter out from the inside as directed. (Not time to change the outer filter yet, but I will if y'all think that might be it) I know there's a ton of dirt in that filter (inner filter looks clean and brand new) and I might suspect that if it wasn't leaning out before dying most of the time. Lack of air would cause it to richen and just die, right? That being said, it wasn't wanting to run more than a few seconds and I said "screw it I'm done for the day", but it did run for maybe five or ten minutes to get from my front road back to where I park it after I cleaned the screen and outer filter. So next thing I'll do is take my compressor over there and blow that filter out real good. After that, I'll follow whatever anyone has to offer here, I'll ask my neighbor's advise who has a ton of experience with all things tractor and I'll get to googlin' for anything obvious. And if none of that works, I'll load 'er up and get 'er to the shop. I'm just figurin' with my luck it'll either be the DPF unit or something clogging the injectors and I'll be looking at a $2-$3K repair bill. Thank y'all for your help!

 

[Jerry/MT]

You live in the SE where high humidity abounds. Are you draining your fuel filter and the water separator regularly? Are you finding water in what you drain out? If you are, you probably have a bacterial sludge in your tank. They live in the fuel/water interface. You can't eliminate condensation but you can reduce by trying to keep your tank full of fuel. If you can remove the outlet fitting in you tank, drain the duel out and see if you get a snotty looking substance to come out. Treat your fuel with a good biocide to kill the bacteria and keep treating it. Check the filter head and the separator head itself for debris as well as all the lines from the tank to the IP. If you have a boost pump, make sure that if it has a filter, it's clean. It should supply fuel at 3-5 psi to the IP. you should have full flow from the tank to the boost pump inlet line. If you don't then there is a restriction. Make sure your fuel solenoid is working. It's what shuts down the engine. It's possible for it to intermittently fail. The next time it shuts down, immediately check it by switching the ignition key on and off. You should hear t click open.

I assume you have a common rail fuel system so you have all kinds of sensors feeding info to a computer that's determines when the injectors should open and for how long they stay open. the only way to check that part of the system is using the manufacturer's proprietary software that the dealers should have.
If you go through the fuel delivery system and convince yourself that it is thoroughly clean, then putting it on the dealer's analyzer is the next step.
Good luck!