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Ford 860 trying to vapor lock and overheating gasoline.

D

Dave O'Brien

Member
I've been brush mowing with a new to me 860. Tall grass, weeds, etc. After about an hour and a half or so, the engine starts sputtering as though starving for fuel and the sediment bowl that is mounted at the carb has vapor bubbles coming from the supply line. I shut it down to cool off and could hear the gasoline boiling inside the tank. This does have the under-hood muffler. I'm thinking that whoever replaced the fuel line between the tank and carb has the routing wrong, possibly undersized and that there should be some sort of insulation between the heat shield and the bottom of the tank. If anyone has suggestions or experiences with this, please share them.
 
First is to check the radiator and see that it is clean, front and rear of it. If it is really clean, then look at the fan belt. A loose or glazed belt won't spin the fan fast enough and then the engine runs hotter than it should.
 
The 860 uses a 1/4 steel fuel line. The lines runs from the fuel
tap passes between the ports of the intake/exhaust manifold down
to the fuel strainer. I've never seen any type of insulation or
heat shield on the fuel line on any hundred series tractor.
 
Is the heat shield over your muffler bolted to the tank or missing? You can cut some rubber hose and slide it over the line where you think it might be getting the most heat. I have an 85 Chevy dually with dual tanks and when someone installed some big 3 pipes on it (the pipes are like paper thin, probably Chinese made) the pipes don't keep the heat inside because they are so thin. On a hot day in Florida after about an hour on the intersate it would overheat my fuel lines and vaporlock til the truck woudn't run anymore. It trashed one fuel pump also. Those thin pipes also dump heat into the cab from underneath. Back to the rubber hose, I actually used silicone hose and spiral cut it. I never have a problem with vaporlock anymore.
 
Thanks! I found a picture of an aftermarket/reproduction fuel line that looks nothing like what is on mine. Routing the line through/between the manifold does make more sense in this case, as does installing the correct size line. I'll try that and see what happens.
 
If your mowing tall stuff it'll clog your raditor fins pretty quick. My father used to tie a croker sack to the front and when the engine started getting too warm he'd stop and shake the junk off the front and go right back to mowing. Works good with a front bumper mounted too. It will keep a lot of small junk from getting into areas of the radiator that you can't blow out.
 
Growing up with an 860 and 881 in the 50s and early 60s we often had vapor lock problems on hot days.
We finally routed the gas line to go in front of the manifold instead of through it,and that solved the problem.
 
(quoted from post at 21:34:25 08/08/21) Growing up with an 860 and 881 in the 50s and early 60s we often had vapor lock problems on hot days.
We finally routed the gas line to go in front of the manifold instead of through it,and that solved the problem.
Click to expand...
y name isn't Albert Einstein, but this alternate routing sure gets line away from the hottest parts.
AuUMSwv.jpg

Looks like improvement over this original route:
NPZAcNw.jpg
 
(quoted from post at 06:10:23 08/09/21)
(quoted from post at 21:34:25 08/08/21) Growing up with an 860 and 881 in the 50s and early 60s we often had vapor lock problems on hot days.
We finally routed the gas line to go in front of the manifold instead of through it,and that solved the problem.
Click to expand...
y name isn't Albert Einstein, but this alternate routing sure gets line away from the hottest parts.
AuUMSwv.jpg

Looks like improvement over this original route:
NPZAcNw.jpg
Click to expand...



The OP states that he hears it boiling in the tank which makes it sound like the problem is the tank not the tube.
 
I live in the south, and the 860 series has a bad problem of vapor locking from the factory. Ive seen many that had this problem. Make sure any heat guards that are supposed to be on it are there.
The biggest fix is to re route fuel line much like JMOR showed, this usually fixes the problem. The fuel will boil in the line sending bubbles back up through the tank, so you will hear boiling in the tank, but rerouting the fuel line usually fixes the issue. Seen many of this series with this problem and the fuel line is the biggest culprit.
Good luck.
 


I made a replacement for the original on my 961 with a few inches of rubber fuel line and 5/16 brake line. I converted my 960 from 1/4 to 5/16 the same way. They both go down through the manifolds so that bubbles have smooth sailing back up to the tank.
 
(quoted from post at 06:37:35 08/11/21)

I made a replacement for the original on my 961 with a few inches of rubber fuel line and 5/16 brake line. I converted my 960 from 1/4 to 5/16 the same way. They both go down through the manifolds so that bubbles have smooth sailing back up to the tank.
Click to expand...
personally think Ford had it right on the NAA and wrong on the hundreds.
UR8dHvZ.jpg
 
(quoted from post at 10:29:20 08/11/21)
(quoted from post at 06:37:35 08/11/21)

I made a replacement for the original on my 961 with a few inches of rubber fuel line and 5/16 brake line. I converted my 960 from 1/4 to 5/16 the same way. They both go down through the manifolds so that bubbles have smooth sailing back up to the tank.
Click to expand...
personally think Ford had it right on the NAA and wrong on the hundreds.
UR8dHvZ.jpg
Click to expand...


I did both of mine around 15 years ago.
 
Interesting, had the same thing happen to me yesterday. Looks like I'll be getting the brake line bender out.....
 
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