BlakeTyner
New User
Hey all. I've posted here in the past and gotten good help, so hopefully y'all have some ideas that I don't have.
Backstory: Was driving my 80 model John Deere 2040, PTO disengaged, and everything was running fine. I hit a bump, accidentally goosed the foot throttle, and within about 30 seconds the tractor just died, as though I had killed it with the fuel shutoff switch. Will not crank again. Flat, level ground. I dropped the cutter and towed the tractor back to the house. There was no obvious fuel leak or fuel under the tractor when it died. Tank had half a tank of diesel.
What I know so far:
1) I know the engine is getting air. Just to check, I pulled the air filter to see if it'd start. It didn't. However, the tractor WILL fire for a few seconds (3-4) if starter fluid is squirted into the air intake.
2) My first thought after that was air in the fuel lines. I know the fuel transfer pump on the right side of the engine is working, as you'll see below. Filter is full of clean fuel.
3) Fuel IS getting from the fuel tank, through the fuel filter, through the transfer pump, and to the left side of the tractor.
This is where it gets weird and I don't know how to proceed.
4) There are 2 bleed screws on the injector pump on the left side of the engine. In the photo below, I've marked them as 1 and 2.
If I loosen bleed screw 1, which is the bottom one, and crank the engine, I get a steady supply of diesel out of it. However, if I loosen bleed screw 2 and crank the engine, there is ZERO fuel coming out.
5) Following about the only thing I know how to do, I then loosened and removed the fuel lines from the 3 fuel injectors, as well as disconnected the fuel return line above them, at the front of the engine, just above what I've labeled injector 1 in the photo below:
So here's the weird thing (to me anyway.) When the black fuel return line (to the top of the fuel tank) is removed, and I crank the engine, I get a steady flow of fuel out of it. However, with the fuel lines to the injectors taken off, I only see a few dribbles of fuel coming out of the fuel line for injector 2 (the middle cylinder) and NO FUEL coming from the lines for injectors 1 and 3.
So...I'm stuck. The batteries are now dead and I need to tow the tractor closer to the house so I can recharge them and keep working. I'm really hesitant to pull the entire fuel injector pump off the tractor (I'm just a shade tree guy...) but I'm curious about taking the upper cover of the pump off--I know that's where the 'valve' is for controlling fuel flow via throttle and kill switch. I'm wondering if a piece in there just finally gave out and maybe broke or got stuck closed. What do you guys think?
<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto4295.jpg"/>
<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto4296.jpg"/>
Backstory: Was driving my 80 model John Deere 2040, PTO disengaged, and everything was running fine. I hit a bump, accidentally goosed the foot throttle, and within about 30 seconds the tractor just died, as though I had killed it with the fuel shutoff switch. Will not crank again. Flat, level ground. I dropped the cutter and towed the tractor back to the house. There was no obvious fuel leak or fuel under the tractor when it died. Tank had half a tank of diesel.
What I know so far:
1) I know the engine is getting air. Just to check, I pulled the air filter to see if it'd start. It didn't. However, the tractor WILL fire for a few seconds (3-4) if starter fluid is squirted into the air intake.
2) My first thought after that was air in the fuel lines. I know the fuel transfer pump on the right side of the engine is working, as you'll see below. Filter is full of clean fuel.
3) Fuel IS getting from the fuel tank, through the fuel filter, through the transfer pump, and to the left side of the tractor.
This is where it gets weird and I don't know how to proceed.
4) There are 2 bleed screws on the injector pump on the left side of the engine. In the photo below, I've marked them as 1 and 2.
If I loosen bleed screw 1, which is the bottom one, and crank the engine, I get a steady supply of diesel out of it. However, if I loosen bleed screw 2 and crank the engine, there is ZERO fuel coming out.
5) Following about the only thing I know how to do, I then loosened and removed the fuel lines from the 3 fuel injectors, as well as disconnected the fuel return line above them, at the front of the engine, just above what I've labeled injector 1 in the photo below:
So here's the weird thing (to me anyway.) When the black fuel return line (to the top of the fuel tank) is removed, and I crank the engine, I get a steady flow of fuel out of it. However, with the fuel lines to the injectors taken off, I only see a few dribbles of fuel coming out of the fuel line for injector 2 (the middle cylinder) and NO FUEL coming from the lines for injectors 1 and 3.
So...I'm stuck. The batteries are now dead and I need to tow the tractor closer to the house so I can recharge them and keep working. I'm really hesitant to pull the entire fuel injector pump off the tractor (I'm just a shade tree guy...) but I'm curious about taking the upper cover of the pump off--I know that's where the 'valve' is for controlling fuel flow via throttle and kill switch. I'm wondering if a piece in there just finally gave out and maybe broke or got stuck closed. What do you guys think?
<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto4295.jpg"/>
<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto4296.jpg"/>