Ran out of fuel

[PeterH]

I can't believe I did this. I ran out of diesel. Do I have to bleed the pump?
Maybe somebody else used it while I wasn't looking!!!! Any tips to get it happy again. Thanks Peter

 

[stuart]

A fairly experienced operator ran my B7001 out of fuel the other day, so I got to watch the process. It was not as easy as I expected.
He did not bother with the fuel pump itself.
Open decompression lever to make cranking easier on the battery.
For each cylinder, loosen off the fuel feed line a bit, crank until all the air is gone and fuel comes out consistently. Watch out, it is under considerable pressure. He didn't take the injectors right out, said it was not necessary.
Close decompression lever, heat glow plugs & start as usual.
Sounds straight forward, but it took a lot of adjusting to get the fuel lines back on properly, and to get the engine running smoothly. It would start, run a but then stall as if it found another air pocket. Then bleed again, etc.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

Yeah I'll admit I've made that same mistake myself a time or 3 before. Its a pain in the ass and more time consuming more then anything else. You'll need a set of flair nut wrenchs to crach open the injector lines and bleed off each one at a time.

 

[Bulldog]

I can't believe I did this. I ran out of diesel. Do I have to bleed the pump?
Maybe somebody else used it while I wasn't looking!!!! Any tips to get it happy again. Thanks Peter

It will depend on what model you have as to what you will need to do but it is a simple process. My old B series had a small bolt on the pump where the fuel line hooked to the pump that you could loosen just a little then crank the engine over. As the engine turned it would allow the air to escape and the fuel to leak out. When the fuel started to run out around the bolt just tighten it back up and then it would crank right up like normal.

My L series has a small knob where the fuel line hooks to the pump that you can turn out and then crank the engine over. As the engine turns over it will create a natural vaccum on the fuel line and it will bleed the air off by itself and the tractor will crank up. After it cranks just tighten the knob back down and you are ready to go.

My M series has a large bolt where the fuel line hooks to the pump that you can loosen up. After it is loose just bump the engine over until the fuel spurts out and then tighten the bolt back up. Then just fire it up like normal.

Of course all of these steps where done after the fuel filter was primed and all that was needed was to get the fuel from the filter to the pump. I may just be lucky but I have never had a need to disturb the injector lines. All of mine have been factory equiped with a way to bleed the air out of the line going to the pump. So far in my experience if you get fuel to the pump that doesn't have air in it the pump will do the rest for you. I hope this will help.

 

[dusty-t]

I guess experience counts for something. I spent enough time with old diesels, case, international, and such and run out of fuel enough times. And dicked around getting them started again. I don't run out of fuel often now (experience). But when I do I shut the tractor off before the engine dies. No bleeding no pumping just put fuel in and carry on. Changing fuel filter right after can save some grief. Dusty P.S. Ya I have really good ears when it comes to such things.

 

[Will In Tx]

Peter, 1st let me say Welcome to OTT!!!! Lotta guys here know there stuff.
I can not say I have ran out but on a Case 580L Dozer the line blew a nice size pin hole in it.
Can you say I fixed it!!! Yepo, could not call a service man to do it because it was my dozer at the time and I had to order the part which was Fex-Exed next day.
Bleed the lines was intersting to say but the old Case came back to life.
Hell, it happens to the best of us! Be safe and wear eye protection while changing.
Just my 3 cents......

 

[PeterH]

Boy I love you guys. Thanks for all the replies, now I don't feel so stupid. The fix was easy when I knew what to look for. There was a little bleed screw on the side of the pump, even an access hole in the housing to put a screw driver thru. That of course was covered by the frame holding the bucket mechanism but I could get to it. We are happy now. Thanks again Peter

 

[Eric McCarthy]

Well now I dont feel so bad and I am in good company of others scew up's I'll fess up to this story. I screwed the pooch bad one time and wasnt paying attention to what the hell I was doing when I went to grab a fuel can off the truck. I had a hot blonde stuck it my eye and I assidently grabbed the gas can an not diesel. SO needless to say I dumped 5 gallons of gasoline in the diesel tank of the tractor. You talk about a cluster truck to fix!

 

[Bulldog]

I hope you caught that mistake before you tried to crank it.