Well, I was out clearing some brush yesterday and something clipped the fuel filter housing and it broke. This happened the first time a few months after owning my L3800, about ten years ago.
Of course this happened about as far away from the barn as I could get on my property. I had a pair of vise grips in my tractor tool box, so I pinched the fuel line to prevent all the fuel from leaking out. An hour later I get back with a T to bypass the filter housing in order to get it back to the barn and out of the woods. FYI, you don’t need a T, just a fitting to connect the fuel line. The top hose is just a vent, wish I would have realized that at the time. Got in hurry as it was going to get dark soon. Lesson learned…
Once the fuel line was reconnected I tried starting the tractor and she wouldn’t fire. Turns out the vise grips didn’t pinch off the line enough and the remaining fuel about 1/4 tank had leaked out. Now the fuel system had air in it. Back to the barn, then to buy fuel. 45 minutes later it’s dark and I’m back with fuel and wrenches to break loose the fuel lines.Still couldn’t get fuel through the lines. Found a thread here about an L3200 that wouldn’t start and it was mentioned that there is an air vent cock. Well that did the trick, started getting fuel through the lines, buttoned it all back up and she fired up.
Lesson for the day, check the manual before guessing and wasting time, lesson learned…
Has anyone fabricated a guard for the exposed fuel filters on the L3200/3800?
Of course this happened about as far away from the barn as I could get on my property. I had a pair of vise grips in my tractor tool box, so I pinched the fuel line to prevent all the fuel from leaking out. An hour later I get back with a T to bypass the filter housing in order to get it back to the barn and out of the woods. FYI, you don’t need a T, just a fitting to connect the fuel line. The top hose is just a vent, wish I would have realized that at the time. Got in hurry as it was going to get dark soon. Lesson learned…
Once the fuel line was reconnected I tried starting the tractor and she wouldn’t fire. Turns out the vise grips didn’t pinch off the line enough and the remaining fuel about 1/4 tank had leaked out. Now the fuel system had air in it. Back to the barn, then to buy fuel. 45 minutes later it’s dark and I’m back with fuel and wrenches to break loose the fuel lines.Still couldn’t get fuel through the lines. Found a thread here about an L3200 that wouldn’t start and it was mentioned that there is an air vent cock. Well that did the trick, started getting fuel through the lines, buttoned it all back up and she fired up.
Lesson for the day, check the manual before guessing and wasting time, lesson learned…
Has anyone fabricated a guard for the exposed fuel filters on the L3200/3800?
