Greetings all .. New to the forum. I do cemetery restorations and use a Kubota BX23S in my work. Recently, I was refueling, and an oak leaf came out of nowhere and landed directly in the tank and disappeared out of sight. I don't know how to retrieve it. Any ideas?
Leaf in the fuel tank!
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North Idaho Wolfman
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Oh your not going to like this answer... you need to disassemble the rops and seat and fender to p[ull the tank and flush it out.
One wide hair option: If it was one full leaf get a scope camera and try and fish it out before it becomes a lot of pieces of leaves.
That doesn't sound like fun.ugh.. But, having it block the line every few minutes isn't much fun either. I hadn't thought about a scope camera, but will for sure look into that option first. Thank you for the reply.
it's not that bad of a job,just a lot of steps and having an extra body to lift the HEAVY seat off will save time. Also nice when lifting the fender pan off.
Before you start...order a 'cold coffee Mason jar filter' ! Recently saw here TEMU had them for $12 ? Amazon of course, prices vary. I got mine from TEMU for about $15 (?) years ago, Super fine cylinder of SS,fit PERFECT.
5-6 years ago a 'sliver of black plastic' got wedged in the exit spigot,so tank HAD to come out. I 'booked' 3 days for the job, summer, nice weather, no hurry.1 to get it out, 1 to clean, 1 to reinstall. Two guys, warm garage,good lights,great music ,it'd be a 4 hr job.
Before you start...order a 'cold coffee Mason jar filter' ! Recently saw here TEMU had them for $12 ? Amazon of course, prices vary. I got mine from TEMU for about $15 (?) years ago, Super fine cylinder of SS,fit PERFECT.
5-6 years ago a 'sliver of black plastic' got wedged in the exit spigot,so tank HAD to come out. I 'booked' 3 days for the job, summer, nice weather, no hurry.1 to get it out, 1 to clean, 1 to reinstall. Two guys, warm garage,good lights,great music ,it'd be a 4 hr job.
I'd use my EWK vacuum extractor (with compressor) to suck the fuel out and hope that the leaf sticks to the end of the suction tube. Once the tank is empty you could look around and get the leaf with the suction tube ... maybe.
www.ewktool.com
10.5L Pneumatic/Manual Oil Extractor Pump | EWK
EWK 10.5L Pneumatic / Manual Vacuum Fluid Evacuator makes the oil extraction easy, mess-free and super safe! No limited to places, change oil anytime & anywhere!
www.ewktool.com
I think a friend of mine who runs an auto repair shop might have a camera. That vac extractor sounds like a nice thing to add to my arsenal. Thank you for the reply.I'd use my EWK vacuum extractor (with compressor) to suck the fuel out and hope that the leaf sticks to the end of the suction tube. Once the tank is empty you could look around and get the leaf with the suction tube ... maybe.
10.5L Pneumatic/Manual Oil Extractor Pump | EWK
EWK 10.5L Pneumatic / Manual Vacuum Fluid Evacuator makes the oil extraction easy, mess-free and super safe! No limited to places, change oil anytime & anywhere!
There's another post about same issue, few days -week or 2 ago, I laid out the steps....kinda like peeling an onion, just heavier. Having help is a HUGE bonus ! None is 'complicated'. You really need to pull the tank as it's 3 chambers and the spigot WILL get plugged up with bits of leaf..That's a Murphy thing !
Why not start out with simple, quick and cheap approaches. It would take a few minutes to extract the fuel and the OP might get lucky.
When you get the leaf out, order one of these (32 oz) for your fuel tank.
whitetiger
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here's the tank picture... not too sure how you can 'extract the fuel' AND be 'lucky', odds are the leaf would break into 1001 pieces !
Oak leaves are pretty durable, the two fuel filters will catch the small stuff.
Like @McMXi said, even fishing around with a siphon hose has a good chance of catching the leaf. Heck, stick a garden hose in and start a siphon, keep filling the tractor tank while running the siphon until the leaf swirls into the hose then pull it out. A grabber (or your hand, depending) may or may not help getting it back through the filler opening--it's a large opening so your chances are really good of getting it out without removing the tank.
As @Speed25 reminded me, the 2370 uses a different filter from the 2380: "The 80-series needed a slight taper or a portion of the filter slightly dented in to fit some in-tank obstruction," and @imnukensc posted the correct filter for the 2380.
Like @McMXi said, even fishing around with a siphon hose has a good chance of catching the leaf. Heck, stick a garden hose in and start a siphon, keep filling the tractor tank while running the siphon until the leaf swirls into the hose then pull it out. A grabber (or your hand, depending) may or may not help getting it back through the filler opening--it's a large opening so your chances are really good of getting it out without removing the tank.
As @Speed25 reminded me, the 2370 uses a different filter from the 2380: "The 80-series needed a slight taper or a portion of the filter slightly dented in to fit some in-tank obstruction," and @imnukensc posted the correct filter for the 2380.
The 1st filter will only catch leave parts IF they make it there..odds are real good they'll plug up the exit spigot first.
And the point here is to try easy solutions first that will take very little time and effort and might work. If they don't work you won't be adding complexity or creating a bigger problem for yourself.
Remove the fuel from the tank and get the wet, dry shop vacuum out and suck the leaf out. I have pulled a lot of bean stubble and corn leaves out of a lot of combine fuel tanks with out removing the tank. Removing the tank is the last resort. McMXi I didn't see your post until I hit the button.
North Idaho Wolfman
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L3450DT-GST, Woods FEL, B7100 HSD, FEL, 60" SB, 743 Bobcat with V2203, and more
The biggest issue with the BX tanks is the design of the tank makes it really hard to get anything into the opposite end of the tank.I was also going to suggest using a vacuum once the tank has been drained.