QuestionI purchased this 1990 ford 5610 tractor in march of 2009, it has 5600 hours, with a 4 cylinder diesel. Prior to the breakdown I noticed an occasional surge in the motor while operating. This morning I was blading off snow, the tractor motor had run 45 minutes & all of a sudden motor lost power and wouldn't fire. The fuel tank registered just over half tank treated fuel, I'm confident it didn't gel up. This would be my first time to change a fuel filter on a diesel motor. I went and purchased a fuel filter for it, the parts man made a comment that a filter was a good starting point I agreed. My concern is I have never changed a fuel filter on a diesel motor, I know I can, but not sure if you agree with my diagnosis. Also would love to have some recommendations on the best way to replace the filter, and should I mess with draining the sediment bowl at this time. I'm very concerned about losing the prime on the injectors, and injector pump if I haven't already messed that up. One recommendation from the parts store was to fill the new filter with dextron transmission fluid, he said it sounds crazy but he does it on his cummins diesel every time he changes the filter. Finally if I need to bleed air out of the system what would you suggest. Please be aware the weather is cold it may make the upper 20s tomorrow, The repairs will be done half mile from the home. I have good mechanical abilities and generally do all my own repairs. Thank You time and expertise!
Answer Why in the world would anybody put transmission fluid in a fuel filter? What an idiot, tell him to stick to selling parts. Obviously if you want to fill the fuel filter with something you should fill it with what it's intended to have in it, FUEL. And I thought I had heard everything when I heard a guy bragging how he saved so much money fixing his air conditioning by filling it with propane instead of freon. It sounded like a Jeff Foxworthy joke about how to tell if you're a redneck. I hope he was competent enough to give you the correct filter.
Anyway, yes the fuel filter is the best place to start. Even with winter blend fuel or fuel conditioner added, it's still possible for fuel to gel up in the winter. Definitely clean the sediment bowl, and while the bowl is off, check the flow of fuel from the tank. The fuel petcock on the bottom of the tank likes to plug up with dirt. Don't worry about losing prime, you're going to have to bleed the entire system anyway. Turn the petcock off, remove the bowl and clean it out. Turn the petcock on and see how much fuel flows from the tank. It has to run full stream, a little dribble is not enough. If it's plugged, the petcock should be removed from the tank and cleaned out. If you try to blow air in it without removing it, you're just blowing the dirt back into the tank so it can plug up again later at a more inconvenient time and place. Remove the old filter, and install the new one. If it's the cartridge type with 2 rubber o-rings like I think it is, make sure you get the larger o-ring seated in the groove of the filter head, and put the smaller one between the filter and the bottom bowl. There is also a very small one for the bolt that holds the filter on. You can't pre-fill this type of filter because the bottom bowl is a separate piece and it won't hold fuel until everything is bolted together on the filter head. Open the bleed screw on top of the filter head and turn on the petcock. Some tractors gravity bleed, and some have a primer pump that you operate by hand to pump the fuel from the tank into the filter. When fuel with no more bubbles comes out of the bleeder, tighten the bleed screw. Normally you would be able to start the engine now, but because the engine quit running while you were using it, it probably won't start without bleeding the lines to the injectors. Loosen the nuts on all the injector line fittings at the injectors, not at the injection pump. Crank the engine over until fuel squirts out, then tighten the fittings back up. Try to start the engine. If it doesn't start and there's no smoke coming out of the muffler, it's still not getting fuel and there is still air trapped somewhere so bleed everything again.
Upper 20's is a heat wave. It's 5 below zero here and we're digging out from a blizzard last night.
