I have an old L175 that I ran out of fuel yesterday. I opened the bleed nut and cranked it and never got any fuel out. I squirted in some ether, with oil, into the intake and got a couple of bumps but it wouldn't start. Mosquitos were eating me up so I left it until morning. In the morning the glow plugs aren't working so I hot wired them for 20 seconds and tried it again for naught. Squirted WD40 and it burped a couple of times. Took the fuel lines loose and cranked until it was wet, put it back and still no start. Took the fuel lines off and cranked until fuel was coming out of the pump in spurts; put it back together and still no start. Removed the injectors, cleaned and blew down the holes; put it back together and still no start. Couldn't leave it out in the street so I removed the bushhog and towed it home. How do I get the damn thing to start please. BTW I took the filter off, emptied it and blew it out, and refilled it. It ran fine for the past few months after I had the clutch freed from non use for a couple of years.
Won't start.
- Thread starter Alex from GA
- Start date
Russell King
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Lifetime Member
Equipment
L185F, Modern Ag Competitor 4’ shredder, Rhino tiller, rear dirt scoop
You need to bleed it in the right places and make sure you have fuel at the injectors.
Since you have messed with some things then start with the line into the fuel filter and make sure it is running out of the tank at a good rate. If so then move to the bleed screw on the injection pump and let it run out there until it gets all the air out of the filter and lines.
Do not m mess with the lines on top of the injection pump.
Go to the lines at the injectors and loosen them up a couple of turns. You don’t need to remove them from the injectors.
Now open the hand throttle to full throttle and crank the engine in short spurts like 10 seconds and let it rest for a minute or you will over heat the starter. If you can use the decompression knob then you will be able to crank faster and for longer like 30 seconds.
You will see fuel and bubbles out of the lines at first and then the bubbles will stop and you will only see fuel. Keep bleeding for another round or two and then tighten the lines.
You may need to charge the battery or you can let the starter cool off and try to start it. It may start on one cylinder and run roughly but you can try to bleed one cylinder at a time while it is running but try to close the line quickly if it starts to die.
Since you have messed with some things then start with the line into the fuel filter and make sure it is running out of the tank at a good rate. If so then move to the bleed screw on the injection pump and let it run out there until it gets all the air out of the filter and lines.
Do not m mess with the lines on top of the injection pump.
Go to the lines at the injectors and loosen them up a couple of turns. You don’t need to remove them from the injectors.
Now open the hand throttle to full throttle and crank the engine in short spurts like 10 seconds and let it rest for a minute or you will over heat the starter. If you can use the decompression knob then you will be able to crank faster and for longer like 30 seconds.
You will see fuel and bubbles out of the lines at first and then the bubbles will stop and you will only see fuel. Keep bleeding for another round or two and then tighten the lines.
You may need to charge the battery or you can let the starter cool off and try to start it. It may start on one cylinder and run roughly but you can try to bleed one cylinder at a time while it is running but try to close the line quickly if it starts to die.
First of all, don't use starting fluid to try to get your engine going. It's a good way to break piston rings and damage the engine. I'm going to assume that you have full fuel flow from the tank to the fuel filter. If you don't, you'll have to make sure you do. t will not start if the tank outlet or hose is blocked.
You need to bleed the entire fuel delivery system after you run it out of fuel. Do you have an owner's manual? If you don't, try to find one because it will have specific instructions for your tractor.
Here's some general instructions that may help you. First of all, make sure the battery is fully charged because you'll be doing some cranking UNLESS you have a primer pump. Fill the tank with fresh fuel. Replace the fuel filter. (You can't "blow out" a fuel filter. You'll most likely damage the element.)
If it has a tank valve open it and open the bleeder screw on the top of the fuel filter. Crank the engine until no bubbles and just fuel comes out of the bleeder screw. Crank in 15 second bursts. When just fuel runs out of the fuel filter breather, screw it closed.
If you have a bleeder screw on the injector pump, open it up and do the same thing. Crank until the only fuel comes out of the bleeder, then close the bleeder.
Now go to the nut that attaches the fuel line to an injector. Unscrew the nut, but do not take it off. Crank the engine in sort bursts until nothing but fuel is evident at the nut. Repeat on the other injectors until the engine starts. As an alternative, you can loosen all the injector lines connections and crank until no bubbles of air are evident. Then tighten them down and crank to start.
Good point. Running out of fuel may have dragged some trash to the outlet and blocked it. So you really need to start there, and then work your way along the fuel system to make sure you have full fuel flow at each point.
Don 't just thrash around and try this and try that. That's a recipe for frustration and wasted time.
I finally got to work on the tractor today and failed. I filled the new filter and installed it, turned the fuel back on, loosened the bleed @ the top of the pump and got a steady stream from there with no cranking. Closed that and cracked the lines @ the injectors and cranked with the valve lifter pulled out. I got timed spurts from each line with no air that I could see. Tightened the lines, put 12v on the glow plugs for 15 seconds and tried to start the engine. Doesn't hit a lick. There's 1/3 of a tank of fuel. Can it be flooded? I added a few spoonfuls of diesel last week trying to start it. I have jumper cables on it so it's spinning fast enough.
Captain13
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M7040 4WD ROPS, ZD28, Woods (84” box blade, 72” harrow, 48” pallet forks)
Test you glow plugs, although as much as you are cranking you should be building some heat for it to have ignition. Pull the wires off the glow plugs and measure the resistance.
I believe yours will be around 1 ohm. Shouldn’t be more than 3.
It’s not flooded.
Bleed the system again and with good glow plugs it should start.
I believe yours will be around 1 ohm. Shouldn’t be more than 3.
It’s not flooded.
Bleed the system again and with good glow plugs it should start.
Russell King
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Lifetime Member
Equipment
L185F, Modern Ag Competitor 4’ shredder, Rhino tiller, rear dirt scoop
When you added the “few spoonfulls of diesel” where did you add the fuel?
You may have created a hydraulic lock in the cylinders and bent the rods. A compression test will provide information on how the engine health is
You may have created a hydraulic lock in the cylinders and bent the rods. A compression test will provide information on how the engine health is
Russell King
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Lifetime Member
Equipment
L185F, Modern Ag Competitor 4’ shredder, Rhino tiller, rear dirt scoop
Do you have good fuel flow and how do you know it is good? That is the main question I have. You may have to bleed it several times to be sure it has pumped all the air out of the lines. I read that you have good flow to the pump and injectors but no “firing off” unless you provide some external fuel and then it fires until that fuel is spent. That sounds like a fuel issue or maybe low compression.
You are probably aware that the tractor needs three things to run =fuel, air and compression. It was running before it was out of fuel so the major suspect is fuel to me.
I know I had trouble with rust inside the tank so you may have to verify that you have good fuel flow out of the tank to get me to get off the fuel band wagon!
Did it start easily before it was out of fuel?
You are probably aware that the tractor needs three things to run =fuel, air and compression. It was running before it was out of fuel so the major suspect is fuel to me.
I know I had trouble with rust inside the tank so you may have to verify that you have good fuel flow out of the tank to get me to get off the fuel band wagon!
Did it start easily before it was out of fuel?
The glow plugs quit working so I had to spray ether into the intake the first time to start it. After it was warm it started easily. With the filter off the fuel runs out of the tank so I know it's getting there. I opened the bleed nut on the top of the pump and fuel ran out with no air. I cracked the lines going into the injectors a couple of turns and fuel spurted out with each crank with on air that I could see. I have the rubber intake hose from the air cleaner disconnected. I'm going to rebleed it now and I'll answer back this evening. Thanks for all the help.
Fail again. Fuel comes out of the bleeder above the pump in a steady stream. Loosened the lines into the injectors and cranked the engine; fuel comes out of them in spurts with no air that I could see. Tightened the lines, hooked up the glow plugs for 20 seconds and cranked the engine. It won't turn over enough to start without the valve being open even with a jumped battery. Usually I could just close the valve lifter a little bit and it would start, not today. I have 6 ohms across both glow plugs, 9 on 1 and 14 on the other.
Russell King
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Lifetime Member
Equipment
L185F, Modern Ag Competitor 4’ shredder, Rhino tiller, rear dirt scoop
I would replace the glow plugs and see if that resolves it. I would also replace the indicator just to be safe. Getting the dash off may be difficult for that if you have not had the steering wheel off. None of these are expensive when I did it a while ago.
If it starts then you may also want to replace the compression washers underneath the injectors just to be sure that there is no leak. I would put some fuel or oil on the base of the injector to see if it creates any bubbles there if it is running and see. The washers may have been scratched or too hard to seal.
If it starts then you may also want to replace the compression washers underneath the injectors just to be sure that there is no leak. I would put some fuel or oil on the base of the injector to see if it creates any bubbles there if it is running and see. The washers may have been scratched or too hard to seal.
You realize that you can damage the engine with the use of starting fluid, don't you? If you do that, you'll spend a lot to get this machine running again. Find the root cause of the problem and fix that. You appear to have fuel to the injectors but you claim the glow plugs are bad. If your glow plugs aren't working, if this were my tractor, I would not do anything until the glow plugs were working. My experience with my M4500 is that in cooler weather, you need the glow plugs for easy starting. The colder the ambient air temperature is, the longer the glow plug "ON" time period.
Good luck.
Busy fishing all week so got on it today, Saturday. Installed the new glow plugs, got a new battery installed and it didn't hit a lick. Bled the fuel system again for the 4th time and nothing. The indicator on the glow plugs glows again so they're working. Put a jumper on the battery and it spun great but still doesn't start. I've had the tractor for 18 years and this is the first time I've had a problem I couldn't solve. The last two times I've ran out of fuel it started after a while. Please help!!!
So you have fuel with no air bubbles at the injectors, your glow plugs are working, and the new battery really spins the starter and still no start. I'd do a compression check. If you have a compression relief on your engine, make sure that it closes when you crank.
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