Monday, December 7, 2020

Tuesday Torque On The Home Front: Fun With Diesels!


 Machines that set a while seem to turn into adventures.  We bought our 4WD Kubota tractor in 2014, and the old 2WD Kubota mostly sits, just getting started once in a while. I topped up the tank today, put a hot battery in it, gave it a little glow plug and cranked it up. Have you ever had a Diesel start up and run away? That little 3 cylinder fired up and roared, going faster and faster. I pulled the throttle back and it kept revving.  I pulled the fuel cutoff and it kept going. Finally, it slowed and sputtered to a stop. Somehow, fuel had accumulated in the intake, and luckily, the engine didn't blow. That will take a little detective work to find the problem. Anyhow, then I noticed that fuel was dripping at a fairly good clip under the fuel tank.  I shone a light and fuel was leaking at the fuel outlet pipe on the bottom of the tank.  I set up  a couple of five gallon cans to catch fuel, got a spout ready to stick the fuel line in when I pulled it off the filter, wiggled that fuel line loose, and the outlet pipe fell out of the tank. Joy. Diesel fuel was flowing fast, and I could barely get the spout under the tank to catch most of it.  I saved a little better than five gallons, and ran only a couple on the ground.

1 comment:

Merle said...

The fun never stops, does it?