I have a new to me 1988 John Deere 310C backhoe. It has about 7000 hours and starts and runs fine. I've only had it for a month or two and only used it for about 10 hours to this point. Haven't really gotten to know it yet and this is my first diesel.
Was out using it this morning for about 3 hours trying to stabilize a road between two fields. Worked it pretty hard trenching, moving previously piled dirt into the road bed, hauling limestone base about 300 yards and only got it stuck once. First time I had to learn how to use the boom to get myself unstuck.
About two hours in it died once. Suddenly and without notice. I had checked fuel and knew it wasn't empty. It was probably at a quarter tank. But I went and got 5 more gallons just in case and put it in. She fired up and I worked for another hour. A couple of times on the 300 yard bucket hauls of limestone it seemed to gallop on me a bit.
I decided to take a break and park it back where I normally do. When I stopped, it wouldn't go down to low idle. There is no tachometer but it was idling high. I turned the key off and it kept running at that high idle - no difference. It wasn't that low, loping diesel - it was still running at high idle. I called a friend of mine over who works on diesels and he said he never saw anything like it.
With the key in the Off position it would run at high idle and the throttle would not respond. With the key in the On position the throttle would respond. We checked the electrical connections to the pump. Nothing loose but that ground needs to be cleaned.
Eventually (10 minutes of running in the Off position) it started to decrease idle and labor a bit and finally shut down. We started it back up again easily and once again it would not shut off. Again, after 10 minutes it would eventually idle down and shut off.
The fuel filter looks like it has never been touched. I'll change that merely as standard maintenance and getting to know the machine. Think I might have sucked something into the pump when it was lower but not out of fuel?
Any ideas why it is acting the way it is? Thanks.
RedDawg
Was out using it this morning for about 3 hours trying to stabilize a road between two fields. Worked it pretty hard trenching, moving previously piled dirt into the road bed, hauling limestone base about 300 yards and only got it stuck once. First time I had to learn how to use the boom to get myself unstuck.
About two hours in it died once. Suddenly and without notice. I had checked fuel and knew it wasn't empty. It was probably at a quarter tank. But I went and got 5 more gallons just in case and put it in. She fired up and I worked for another hour. A couple of times on the 300 yard bucket hauls of limestone it seemed to gallop on me a bit.
I decided to take a break and park it back where I normally do. When I stopped, it wouldn't go down to low idle. There is no tachometer but it was idling high. I turned the key off and it kept running at that high idle - no difference. It wasn't that low, loping diesel - it was still running at high idle. I called a friend of mine over who works on diesels and he said he never saw anything like it.
With the key in the Off position it would run at high idle and the throttle would not respond. With the key in the On position the throttle would respond. We checked the electrical connections to the pump. Nothing loose but that ground needs to be cleaned.
Eventually (10 minutes of running in the Off position) it started to decrease idle and labor a bit and finally shut down. We started it back up again easily and once again it would not shut off. Again, after 10 minutes it would eventually idle down and shut off.
The fuel filter looks like it has never been touched. I'll change that merely as standard maintenance and getting to know the machine. Think I might have sucked something into the pump when it was lower but not out of fuel?
Any ideas why it is acting the way it is? Thanks.
RedDawg