B2150D lives again, for 5 minutes...

[BadDog]

A few years ago I was posting and learning about a B2150D project tractor for light residential use. Anyway, legs got so bad I quit doing much of anything for a while, then had both knees replaced, and just recently got back to the projects that were let go.

I live in Phoenix, so didn't think much about water accumulation over the years it sat. The tractor fired right up, and then rapidly went down over about 5 minutes until it completely died while I was cycling the hydraulics. I figured, fuel filter, so pulled it, and yes, it was past done. Completely covered in what might be some combination of rust and biologicals, mostly brown, didn't stink too bad, but collapsed the filter completely. I hope nothing got past it into the injectors.

So, drained the tank, disposed of ~4 gallons of rich amber looking fuel. I didn't get much garbage out though, it was pretty clear, and very little sediment overnight.

I figure I'm likely in for a few fairly rapid filter changes, so I bought 3 from Kubota (~$5 each).

Now that the metal tank is empty, I can see that that the bottom of the tank is basically black, with a thick coating of tar/asphalt diesel residue in the bottom.

Now the big question: How to clean that before going back together?

I also have Biobore treatment to add. Not sure I have a biological problem, but it won't hurt, and with my small "fleet" of diesel trucks, some of which sit a lot, probably a good thing to use.

 

[D2Cat]

Russ, glad you're back, but sorry you're having tractor troubles. It does sound like a growth of algae. So some algaeside will help get rid of it. If you can flush the fuel tank any way with a pump up spray with some clean diesel a few times. Or devise some kind of brush, like you were trying to clean out a deep jar, to do some scrubbing. While doing the cleaning you could pinch off the fuel line to keep it in the tank. Then open the line to let the fuel out. Just have to keep working at it, then finally put a dose of the algaeside in with fresh fuel, new filter, bleed and get it to run.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

A few years ago I was posting and learning about a B2150D project tractor for light residential use. Anyway, legs got so bad I quit doing much of anything for a while, then had both knees replaced, and just recently got back to the projects that were let go.

I live in Phoenix, so didn't think much about water accumulation over the years it sat. The tractor fired right up, and then rapidly went down over about 5 minutes until it completely died while I was cycling the hydraulics. I figured, fuel filter, so pulled it, and yes, it was past done. Completely covered in what might be some combination of rust and biologicals, mostly brown, didn't stink too bad, but collapsed the filter completely. I hope nothing got past it into the injectors.

So, drained the tank, disposed of ~4 gallons of rich amber looking fuel. I didn't get much garbage out though, it was pretty clear, and very little sediment overnight.

I figure I'm likely in for a few fairly rapid filter changes, so I bought 3 from Kubota (~$5 each).

Now that the metal tank is empty, I can see that that the bottom of the tank is basically black, with a thick coating of tar/asphalt diesel residue in the bottom.

Now the big question: How to clean that before going back together?

I also have Biobore treatment to add. Not sure I have a biological problem, but it won't hurt, and with my small "fleet" of diesel trucks, some of which sit a lot, probably a good thing to use.

Yep like D2 Said, Nasty Algae, go to napa and get some SOLTRON (not startron) add it to some fuel, it will eat it out of there in less than a day and throughout the entire system.

I did that with mine way back when I had it opened up to rebuild the transmission and a black tank in the sun grew some nasty stuff in a quick hurry!

 

[BadDog]

Thanks, glad to be getting back to be being more active.

I'll give it a try. I've got the tank completely empty at the moment, and had thought to go the small step further to remove it completely for cleaning. When you talk about using SOLTRON and it cleaning the whole system, sounds like you run that just like any additive? Otherwise it seemed like the intent was to act as a wash-n-dispose? Or both? The biocide I got is Biobore JF, not sure how that fits with the Soltron, but I'll look up that stuff tomorrow and likely learn a lot more then.

I had also kicked around with loading it with a strong dilution of Purple Zep ("industrial" lye cleaner) to knock out the tar/asphalt accumulation, but sounds like Soltron may be the better bet. If that exposes rust, the maybe a hydrochloric or phosphoric wash, but wasn't sure if that would damage the seal on the metal tank (particularly the HCl).

Anyway, those were the thoughts I was kicking around in my head before deciding it would be smarter to post here rather than blind experimentation. Messics shows the tank assembly at over $1k! I think I would make a frame to adapt a smaller plastic tank LONG before going there, and with my usage patterns, a smaller plastic tank would be a lot more practical anyway.

 

[shootem604]

The L245F I rescued from sitting for 5 years had a tank full of sludge and rust. I used brushes and scrapers and a magnet and xylene to get most of it loose and rinsed out.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Yea with the Soltron, you just add it to the fuel and let it do it's thing, no need to dump it.

 

[BadDog]

Solton in hand.

I'll be cleaning out that tank first, gotta get that tarry mess out of there. And hopefully getting it all back in order this weekend. Thanks for the advice.