Cold weather woes

[FrozenOrange]

I finally ran into a cold weather problem that has me vexed. My 3901 started running rough and then would only idle. I li.ped itto the front of the garage. Myglass site bowl had ice in it up to the service line. I pulled that bowl and it had fuel flow there ( forgot the shut off). I went and got a new main filter and I stalled it. I turned on the fuel shut off valve and turned on the key the bowl filled. I unscrewed the dleederon the main filter housing and had fuel pressure there.
At this point I plugged in the block heater and it would not start. I put a charger on the battery and have a bullet heater blowing warm air under the tractor. It turns over fine. What am I missing? Acts like no fuel yet it has it at the main filter. Ideas?

 

[Crash277]

could have gelled up in the line from the bowl to the injectors. Got a heat gun? Or alternatively toss a tarp over the engine compartment and keep The heat from your bullet heater going for a few hrs.

 

[FrozenOrange]

Thanks. I put plywood all around the front and across the loader arms. Blew heat in for several hours. What a puddle under the machine. Put power service 911 in the tank. After some cranking it finally lit off.
Ran it for a while know. Running great. Good idea covering the front and being patient and letting the heater do it's work.

 

[Ikc1990]

Takes alot of btus to heat up an ice cold hunck of metal full of cold fluids just think how long it takes a lake to thaw in spring with help of rain sun and moving water under neath and warm temps lol. Glad you got it going I run the shite jug like the 911 in my fuel all winter in upper vt to keep from gelling in tractor, trucks, and busses.

 

[sheepfarmer]

By glass site bowl do you mean water separator? Was it really ice or was it gelled diesel? The reason I ask is that the prevention strategy, now that you have it running is different. These common rail tractors have high pressure fuel pumps that are very sensitive to water in the fuel. You want to make sure water doesn't get past that water separator. I am not sure how diesel 911 interacts with water.

 

[whitetiger]

The L01 series with Common Rail is very finicky about bleeding the air from the system. You need to loosen the bleeder on top of the filter housing 2 or 3 turns and leave the key switch in the Run position. It will circulate the fuel thru a passage through the bleeder valve, into a vent hose and return the fuel to the tank. Let it circulate for several minutes. Snug the bleeder valve back up and crank the engine. Removing the bleeder valve with the key switch in the Run position makes a big mess and when the engine does start, the fan blows the fuel back and onto the operator. Been there, done that, got the Tee shirt, coffee cup, key fob, and a plaque for the wall.

 

[Crash277]

I froze my atv solid out ice fishing. I used a jet heater 40,000btu and burned an entire 20lb tank of propane to thaw it out.

the tarp helps keep the heat in because I don’t have my ceiling in my garage done so my wood stove is nice to sit next to to warm up but won’t warm the entire garage.

every tank of diesel i put in my machine gets some conditioner put into it. It hits -35c quite a bit here. I use staybil in all my gas engines. Starting in end sept/early oct I start adding the conditioner/fuel stabilizer to my cans when I fill them up.

 

[FrozenOrange]

The L01 series with Common Rail is very finicky about bleeding the air from the system. You need to loosen the bleeder on top of the filter housing 2 or 3 turns and leave the key switch in the Run position. It will circulate the fuel thru a passage through the bleeder valve, into a vent hose and return the fuel to the tank. Let it circulate for several minutes. Snug the bleeder valve back up and crank the engine. Removing the bleeder valve with the key switch in the Run position makes a big mess and when the engine does start, the fan blows the fuel back and onto the operator. Been there, done that, got the Tee shirt, coffee cup, key fob, and a plaque for the wall.

I wish I'd read that before got the same T shirt and coffee cup. I'm watching the water seperator closely. Also filtering for ice when I fill the tractor. Lesson learned.