3204 update...

First of all, who ever wrote the Cat parts manual shouldn't have listed my serial number for it! The return fuel hose is bulk hose with hose clamps. The inlet has fittings on each end. Of course the return hose isn't too hard to get to but the inlet is another story. It connects behind the fuel filter and behind the crankcase vent tube. In order to get at it is a major pain in the azz! You'd have to take the fuel filter and bracket off along with the steel lines to maybe have room to get your hands in there. If the crankcase vent was still in the way, you could maybe move it over once the filter is removed. If not, you'd have to take the muffler off.

Since I didn't have the proper inlet hose, I checked the hose that was on the Cat and it seemed good to me. I thought maybe I could try blowing air back through the inlet line. I took the steel line off at the transfer pump but there was no way to put a hose on the fitting. I thought I'd check the strainer again. It looked clean. Then I thought I could take the 90 deg. elbow, before the strainer, off and put a hose on it. I loosened the jam nut and took the elbow off. By total fluke, this was the best thing I could have done. I looked inside the hex piece with the strainer and it was full of a black grungy substance. I couldn't even poke a small screw driver through it! I soaked it in gas and took a 3/32" welding rod and dug a whole pile of crap out of it. I'm wondering if someone had used a branch or something to check the fuel level and the bark came off? There was even a piece of what appeared to be plastic film. After digging most of the crap out I saw there was a hex fitting so I took the strainer right out and cleaned it some more. Put it back together and ran good for 25 minutes but I'd be completely shocked if all the crap I dug out wasn't the problem. The hex fitting must have been enough to block all the crap from going into the strainer where you could see it.

Ahh..... Don't ya wish ya done that TWO months ago? LOL.
DID SEVERAL OF US NOT TELL YOU EXACTLY THAT?

Rod

No, actually. I checked the screen that could be seen from the outside and it looked clean after I pulled some fibres out and no more fibres showed up when I later checked it. No one ever mentioned taking the elbow off and that the screen actually threaded backwards out of the hex piece with an allen wrench. Had I known that, I would have taken the screen out originally. Sometimes it's hard to know even the simplest of things, when you've never done it before. Just like I know a few simple welding tricks that a lot of people would never think of.

By the way, what's up with the Cat parts book being wrong for the inlet fuel hose?

Dave, I'm only pickin' on ya...

but I did tell you to remove the inlet line from the elbow and check it for strong flow. Unless your engine's setup is different than mine... you need an 11/16" and 9/16" wrench. You remove the inlet line from the elbow first. Then you remove the outlet line from the pump above the elbow... then you remove the elbow and strainer. You can't remove or clean the strainer without removing the elbow... at least on the 3204T in my 4H.
I will grant you this... it's not the most intuitive thing to find unless you are familiar with Cats...
On my machine... when it gets the staggers... that is the first place I go. I've probably cleaned the damn thing 200 times over the years. The sludge looks like bark... but it's more likely the sludge that results in a tank that's had some water. It's a task to avoid water if you're lugging fuel around in cans, barrels and portable tanks...


Rod

I thought the strainer was part of the hex piece. I rinsed the whole thing with the elbow in gas. At least now, I know how it goes together. I did have good fuel flow from the line before the strainer. It sounds like my setup is the same as yours.

Yep... Now, here's the sad part. You might as well get those two wrenches and whatever you need to remove the side panel if that has to come off... and put it in a tool kit on the machine. Once that crap is in there it's very difficult to get out, even by washing the tank. Best be prepared...

Rod

There is a drain on the tank for water. I'll just have to open it more often to drain any crap in the bottom out.