Dirty Fuel

[KubotaLou]

Hello all,

Did something stupid, grabbed the wrong can and put dirty kerosene in my BX1850, 3 cyl. diesel, D722 engine. Realized after a few minutes running and shut down. Changed all filters (2), fuel pump, and have blown out injector lines and fuel block on top of injector pump. Symptoms are it runs ok for 15 seconds then bogs down. Now it runs poorly most all the time. I am reasonably sure I have dirt somewhere in the injector pump and/or injectors. Thinking to pull injectors now and try to blow out / clean.

Has anyone had this happen, any advice apprecriated.

~Louis

 

[Roadworthy]

Make sure you've gone through the procedure to bleed the air out of your lines after having drained them. You could still have some air to purge.

 

[D2Cat]

What is "dirty kerosene"? What's in it that makes it dirty? If it's actually dirt the filters should have done their job. You did drain the dirty fuel and replace with clean?

If you have clean fuel and filters and having trouble with it running, it may just air in the fuel system.

 

[BigG]

You may need to use several filters to get clean fuel out of the tank. Check the flow from the filter before you start taking the injectors out. Make sure everything up stream of the injectors is flushed out first. If the filter did its job there should not be any dirt in the injectors.

It took 3 filters on my tractor one day before it started to run correctly after bogging down as I was raking hay.

 

[RCW]

Yeah - as the guys said, a little kerosene won't hurt anything.

If the filters are good, I would be more concerned with proper bleeding the air now that you've had everything in the fuel system opened up.

 

[KubotaLou]

Dirty kerosene was a jug from my parts washer after years of use. Lot's of crud down in the bottom, not sure how much got in the tank. I'm thinking some of the grit got past the filters maybe.

I did drain the tank, put new fuel filters, new electric pump. And bleed the injector lines by cracking them while running. Is there a specific bleeding procedure?

 

[Bulldog]

Did you flush the tank or just drain it? May have the bottom full of crud.

 

[KubotaLou]

Did you flush the tank or just drain it? May have the bottom full of crud.

I did run some fresh diesel through the tank.

 

[armylifer]

I did run some fresh diesel through the tank.

It is still possible that you have some more crud in the fuel tank. See if you can siphon some fuel from the very bottom of the tank and look at that sample. If there is anything at all in that fuel sample you can bet that you have much more contamination in the bottom of the tank.

 

[Henro]

Dirty kerosene was a jug from my parts washer after years of use. Lot's of crud down in the bottom, not sure how much got in the tank. I'm thinking some of the grit got past the filters maybe.

I am sorry but LMAO. You sure answered the question as to how you know the kerosene was dirty!

Hope you get things resolved quickly!

 

[SidecarFlip]

Did you flush the tank or just drain it? May have the bottom full of crud.

Guess we have an advantage in the both of ours have drain plugs...

 

[Bulldog]

Guess we have an advantage in the both of ours have drain plugs...

Yes and mine are never filled with a jug. Filtered fuel from bulk tank only for me.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Yes and mine are never filled with a jug. Filtered fuel from bulk tank only for me.

same here, from the bulk tank through a filter into the tractors. Now, I do use a jug if I'm in the field and run low, but that is the only time and the jug fuel comes from the bulk tank too.

 

[mikester]

Dirty kerosene was a jug from my parts washer after years of use. Lot's of crud down in the bottom, not sure how much got in the tank. I'm thinking some of the grit got past the filters maybe.

I did drain the tank, put new fuel filters, new electric pump. And bleed the injector lines by cracking them while running. Is there a specific bleeding procedure?

What was your clue so something was wrong, the long stringy black porridge like substance coming out at the very end?!

Rinsing the tank in diesel would probably work, your filter should have caught the big bits. New fuel pump too? Were you driving around a while before you decided there was a problem?

If you didn't run the engine after the messup I'd wait overnight for the crud to settle, drain the tank, rinse with clean diesel until only clean fuel drains out. At worst pull the tank out to give it a good rinse and shake.

 

[GeoHorn]

When refueling the airplane from outback runways down in Mexico we always poured the fuel thru a felt hat to remove water and rust, etc. (No... I wasn’t running drugs... I was carrying rich guys down to outback guided hunts.)

If you serve fuel to your equipment from jugs.... do yourself a favor and install a screen on the spout and pour it into the equipment via a funnel with a felt filter. (Remember the little metal fuel filters that came with your Coleman camping stoves/lanterns? They ALL had a felt filter in the bottom of the funnels. Genuine felt will not allow water OR contaminants to pass-thru.)
Go steal some felt from your wife’s sewing-fabrics collection or buy some and line the inside of your funnel when you use it.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I'd have pulled the tank off and cleaned it 'on the bench', filling it with soapy water,drain, several times, then alcohol for final 'rinse'. FILL with fresh diesel then let that drip into a clean 5G pail. Using 2-3 filters downstream to 'clean' the crud from the tank , is kinda wasteful. Start with a CLEAN tank..then clean everything towards the injpump.
It does sound like you might have a wee bit of air in the system....