L3200 out of gas - would not restart

[gpreuss]

So I ran out of gas about 1/4 mile from the barn - uphill both ways, naturally. I was tilling my garden patch, and it just quit. I figured it was out of gas, and fueled it up. Read up on bleeding the fuel lines, and charged out to restart it.
It started, ran about 10 seconds, and quit again. And again, and again, and again..... Each time it ran a bit less. Finally it got dark, so I quit for the night.

This morning, same thing. It would run maybe a second or two -- or less - and quit. I pulled the bleeder valve off; NOTHING dribbled out. I pulled the line from the gas filter off of the fuel pump; NOTHING dribbled out.

So I pulled the hose down as low as it would go, and fuel started to flow!! Whoopie! I pushed the hose back on the fuel pump, and a second later fuel came out of the fitting for the bleeder valve. I screwed it back on, started the tractor, and proceeded with the bleeding routine. All OK now.

I cannot say a whole lot good about the fancy bleeder valve they now use. Since it does not ever drip fuel, you cannot tell what it is doing, or what you have. Or are supposed to have. On the old 185, you loosened a nut, and gravity fed fuel out around it. When you saw fuel, you tightened it up, and that was it. Ah, the good old days...

 

[Eric McCarthy]

You are pouring DIESEL into the fuel tank and not gasoline correct?

 

[gpreuss]

Darn!! Do you suppose that could have been it?! Whatever the stuff is, the tractor is burning it fine.

 

[vickark]

So I ran out of gas about 1/4 mile from the barn - uphill both ways, naturally. I was tilling my garden patch, and it just quit. I figured it was out of gas, and fueled it up. Read up on bleeding the fuel lines, and charged out to restart it.
It started, ran about 10 seconds, and quit again. And again, and again, and again..... Each time it ran a bit less. Finally it got dark, so I quit for the night.

This morning, same thing. It would run maybe a second or two -- or less - and quit. I pulled the bleeder valve off; NOTHING dribbled out. I pulled the line from the gas filter off of the fuel pump; NOTHING dribbled out.

So I pulled the hose down as low as it would go, and fuel started to flow!! Whoopie! I pushed the hose back on the fuel pump, and a second later fuel came out of the fitting for the bleeder valve. I screwed it back on, started the tractor, and proceeded with the bleeding routine. All OK now.

I cannot say a whole lot good about the fancy bleeder valve they now use. Since it does not ever drip fuel, you cannot tell what it is doing, or what you have. Or are supposed to have. On the old 185, you loosened a nut, and gravity fed fuel out around it. When you saw fuel, you tightened it up, and that was it. Ah, the good old days...

I'm going to try that this morning. Thanks

 

[BotaDriver]

E is for ENOUGH, right?

 

[lturbeville]

Exact same thing happened to me. Here's my story: Went back out the next morning with a charged battery. Same thing happened. It would sputter, but not start and run for more than a few seconds. My guess was that the fuel pump needs to fill with diesel to prime. I read this post where gpreuss disconnected the fuel line that fed the pump, lowered the line to the ground until fuel flowed freely, then reconnected. I was desperate, so thought I'd give it a try. Me being me, I was tracing all the fuel lines and found a line running from the pump to near the top of the fuel tank. What's that line for? Vent? No, because it wouldn't vent if fuel tank was full. Diesel would run down to the pump!

I had put just a couple of gallons in the tank to get it out of the woods. So, I filled the fuel tank, and within 3 minutes afterwards the system was fully bled and the engine was running smoothly