[AT] Fuel problems (was Re: Tractor Question - 420 JD

[Mike Sloane]

I too have a story to tell along those lines: My Farmall 340 ran really 
well, when it ran. But it would periodically either die or run really 
badly. I had removed and cleaned the carburetor half a dozen times with 
no improvement. I thought maybe I had some bad fuel or water in the gas, 
but yesterday is stalled out completely in the middle of the road while 
trimming with the sickle bar. The fuel bowl was clear, but the gas 
barely dribbled out when I removed it. I managed to get the tractor back 
to the barn and decided that it was finally time to "bite the bullet" 
and get to the bottom of the problem.

I drained the 5 gallons of gas out (which took over an hour!) and 
removed the whole trap. I couldn't see any problem but I still couldn't 
get air to go through it freely. To make a long story short, I finally 
extracted a tiny piece of red plastic that was lodged inside, just above 
the outlet to the bowl. My guess is that it came from one of the red 
plastic gas cans that either I or the PO used to fill the tank. I put 
everything back together, poured the gas back into the tank (through a 
strainer!), and the engine started and ran very well.

Mike

David Bruce wrote:
> I can attest to the effects of a small amount of crud in the fuel tank.
> 
> My JD 2010 diesel got to where it wouldn't run at all.  We found a BB 
> sized ball of gunk blocking the fuel line.  After one tear down and some 
> tank cleaning that we did here I things were ok for a couple years then 
> back to the same issue.  So we took the tank off again and I had it hot 
> tanked and coated by a radiator shop.
> 
> One would think you could save money by buying the tank sealer and doing 
> the work yourself but when I investigated the whole situation I spent 
> about $20 more having the radiator shop do the work and the tractor was 
> down for a couple days rather than several days if I was piddling with 
> the tank.
> 
> My advice is to look at the fuel supply issue with a very critical eye.
> 
> David
> NW NC
>