First Post G2160 Fuel Issues

[perryg114]

I just bought a 2002 G2160 pretty cheap $2000 with 900 hrs on it. It was a school unit not well taken care of but not abused either. I think maintenance was when something broke. I have rehabbed most of the problems but I still have a problem with it stalling after the tank gets below about half full. Filters have been replaced. It will run 2 hours in 95 degree heat so I don't think it is heat related. It is also level sensitive when it starts getting low. The guy at the Kubota place thinks it is something with the tank and maybe the end has rotted off or damaged and sucking air when the tank gets low. Great running machine despite the rough childhood. Next step is messing with the tank.

I also have B7800 I bought new and it stays at the 44 acre farm now days. Hence the need for something that will mow the 3 acres where I live.

These are tough little machines.


Perry

 

[07wingnut]

Most likely culprit is your lift pump, the pump that supplies fuel at fairly low pressure to you fuel injection pump. With a full tank, gravity may be enough to bring the fuel thru the lift pump and to the injection pump. When the fuel level in the tank begins to approach the level of the injection pump, gravity won't do the job, and you starve the engine for fuel.

 

[lugbolt]

Lift pump is electric on these.

Do a fuel flow test. Remove fuel line from the injection pump on the engine, then point the fuel line into a bucket. Turn the key on and let it pump. It should be a nice steady stream. If not, you either have a blockage somewhere-which can be anything from a plugged fuel filter, line, or malfunctioning lift pump. Isolate it from there. That will give you an idea.

Also possible to have a leaf or something similar down inside the fuel tank. Or the pick up tube falling off/broken/etc.

Lots of possibilities.

 

[perryg114]

Pickup tube is fine. Removed hose from injector pump and it flows well. Pressure is not great and pump runs all the time even when there is nothing flowing. Not sure of this is normal or not but car fuel pump reach a certain pressure and shut off. This one keeps running.

Perry

 

[uglyboy]

Lift pump normally does run all the time, you should hear it as soon as you turn the key on, before you start the engine. It is a low pressure pump, to supply fuel to the injection pump. Did you have the hose off and verify fuel flow when the problem was present, ie with below half tank level or elevated front of tractor ? Could be the diaphram in the lift pump is kaput.

Pete

 

[perryg114]

Ok I was in the process of replacing the fuel pump. I let the pump, pump the tank dry or as far as it could. So then I look in there with a flashlight and I see three items. A filler neck for a gas can, and screen from that neck and a missing seat bushing. How the hell the bushing ended up in there, I will never know. The filler neck section was about 2 inches long and it was sticking straight up where the suction tube goes. I think that the tube was sticking down inside the neck and when the level got low, fuel could not get into that filler neck. Never seen anything like this. I just had a buddy make some extra bushings for the seat mechanism only to find the missing one in the fuel tank. This mower was owned by a high school. Must have been a football player or the coach mowing the grass LOL.

Perry

 

[perryg114]

Another problem I am having seems to be related to the gas cap not venting properly. Ran for about and hour and I check my fuel and problem went away.

Perry

 

[D2Cat]

Perry, you better be careful who you criticize on here or you may hear crickets when you post a question!!

Good that you got it running. On second thoughts, maybe it was the shop teacher who did the maintenance and was having a bad day when he thought the fuel tank was a good place for the bushing.

 

[lugbolt]

Ok I was in the process of replacing the fuel pump. I let the pump, pump the tank dry or as far as it could. So then I look in there with a flashlight and I see three items. A filler neck for a gas can, and screen from that neck and a missing seat bushing. How the hell the bushing ended up in there, I will never know. The filler neck section was about 2 inches long and it was sticking straight up where the suction tube goes. I think that the tube was sticking down inside the neck and when the level got low, fuel could not get into that filler neck. Never seen anything like this. I just had a buddy make some extra bushings for the seat mechanism only to find the missing one in the fuel tank. This mower was owned by a high school. Must have been a football player or the coach mowing the grass LOL.

Perry

I do a lot of work for the local school system, on their equipment.

The coaches don't do the work. The kids do, and not all of them have any common sense. Some of them are real careless. Some are vandals, spiteful or just to be "different"? Some even think it's funny. I've seen the same things in fuel tanks over the years, plus other items that we won't talk about on public forums. I found a diamond ring in a ZD tank once. Dunno whose it was, I bagged it and gave it back to the owner. Those kids just run the equipment at full speed ahead and they'll mow anything. Trees. Bushes. Shrubs. Curbs. Curb stops. Sometimes rocks jump out in front of them but they just use the mowers for rock crushers or rock mulchers. They don't care since it's not their equipment and they have no responsibility with it. There were 1 or 2 of these kids when I was in school, but nowadays you have an entire district full of them-and it shows.

 

[perryg114]

Blew out gas cap with air hose and problems have gone away. Working on cooling system leak issues now.

Perry