Avoid Cumming GA Dealership - At all costs

[Gafn]

Do you buy fuel from the same place? How often had you replaced fuel filters before you started having problems? The dealer says the filters fell apart in his mechanic's hands. I have seen some really dirty filters in past years but never have seen one that was close to falling apart..

I normally buy fuel at the same location - when possible.
Same fuel goes in my diesel pickup - so I am not really thinking it is a fuel quality issue, as my truck has not had any issues with the fuel.
As far as the fuel filter goes - book says every 100 hours - my hour meter was busted - I changed it annually, and with only 230 hrs on the tractor - more than the recommended interval.
I normally changed it around hunting season - so had not changed it in 2019 yet, but Nov/Dec 2018 it was changed.
I try to set stuff up for the winter like the mowers and tiller about that time each year...
It should be noted that I never had an issue with the tractor before the visit to the dealership - ran like a champ.
Well ok 1 issue - the primary hydraulic hose from the pump to the hydro pedal burst. That was in the first 50 hours or so - just a bad hose from the factory, replaced it and good to go for the next 3 years...

 

[atsah]

I normally buy fuel at the same location - when possible.
Same fuel goes in my diesel pickup - so I am not really thinking it is a fuel quality issue, as my truck has not had any issues with the fuel.
As far as the fuel filter goes - book says every 100 hours - my hour meter was busted - I changed it annually, and with only 230 hrs on the tractor - more than the recommended interval.

Did you actually see the falling apart filter?

If I was a mechanic and I had a fuel filter that was falling apart in my hand and injection/injector problems on equipment I worked on I would sure as heck show it to the owner..

 

[Gafn]

Did you actually see the falling apart filter?

If I was a mechanic and I had a fuel filter that was falling apart in my hand and injection/injector problems on equipment I worked on I would sure as heck show it to the owner..

No Sir, no photos, no nothing on that, just told it fell apart.
I was shown my old fuel sending unit that they removed/replaced - it was corroded to heck and back again...
I am still not understanding how corrosion can occur in a tank of diesel - I normally try to keep the tanks as full as possible.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I never consider fuel from bulk tanks, the gas station or containers as CLEAN. That's why we have filters. We have earwiggs here and they crawl up the fuel nozzles. I don't worry about it. Filters!

If it were not for filters, this society, powered by the diesel engine, would stop pretty quickly.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

^^^^^^^^^Maybe your to close to Baltimore...

Most of baltimore is nasty bad.

 

[snymat68]

opcorntub:opcorntub::scratchchin:

 

[Deere Dude]

Hard to believe all that rust from a plastic tank. Was any diesel fuel holding tank ever emptied through a sieve or cheesecloth just to make sure... I could see one tank of dirty fuel but not two.

I am also wondering about the extra fuel pump bolt alluded to. I don't recollect how that ended up.

 

[fried1765]

LOL, you know the industry!

A few type ratings and 31,000 hours!

 

[Ford850]

No Sir, no photos, no nothing on that, just told it fell apart.
I was shown my old fuel sending unit that they removed/replaced - it was corroded to heck and back again...
I am still not understanding how corrosion can occur in a tank of diesel - I normally try to keep the tanks as full as possible.

I'm just spit ballin' here. Fuel stored outside in 5 gallon cans (plastic containers), and a sending unit severely corroded. Very possible the fuel had moisture accumulated which corroded the sending unit, and contaminated the rest of the fuel system. I know you said you used Mr Funnel, but did you do that from day one? Maybe it only removes separated water, and not water absorbed into the newer diesel.

 

[mred2]

Ford850 may have a good point. I have purchased fuel that was had a high water content. A truck burning a large amount of diesel can take a lot of the water, but a small tractor with a small fuel system, it burns a little fuel, may run for short periods of time. May not get hot enough to burn off water. The best filter can only remove so much water. I have had a 5 gallon can that was over a gallon of water after setting for a few days. And yes they cleaned the tank, but may not have cleaned all the fuel lines. And with only that few of hours? Letting a tractor set is one of the worst things you can do. I make a point to start every tractor and let it run (not idle) for at least 30 minutes every two weeks, even if I don't use it. I hope both parties can learn from this and move on.

 

[Gafn]

Ford 850 and mred2

ok guys - maybe your comments are possible to explain injector pump #1, please explain how that could cause injector pump #2's failure?
I mean - clean tanks, clean pipes, new injector pump, and fuel from the dealership - so not from my station.

If the Branson's are so impacted by water in the fuel - then we would be seeing a huge amount of similar stories. And we are not...

We have an old Massy 230 down at the deer lease with a metal tank, it sits for months at a time without being started, yet the old girl fires up and runs like a top, no attention is taken to keep the fuel tank full, the fuel filter on it is nothing special.
By both of your posts that tractor should never run, the fuel containers for the Massy are plastic, they sit outside for months at a time as well... fresh fuel is taken only during food plot planting, otherwise it is old fuel.... why does that not cause the Massy to fail...

Yes my Ram has a FASS on it with a water separator, but it has not required being emptied, running the same fuel as the tractor.

Ford850 - yes I bought my first Mr. Funnel in 2013, after a fuel incident with a generator.

mred2 - "May not get hot enough to burn off water." What do you mean - how hot an engine on a tractor gets has no impact on water absorbed into the fuel in the tank
- I am not following you on this...
The heat of the engine has an impact on the DPF cycles - but not the fuel in the tank.

 

[Oldpath05]

Was injector pump 2 a rebuilt one or factory new?

 

[atsah]

I was gonna say you would see water in the separator on you're truck if the fuel you are buying had water in it.. It's a mystery.. I think we are missing information from the people in the fixing process, we will never know..

 

[Gafn]

I was gonna say you would see water in the separator on you're truck if the fuel you are buying had water in it.. It's a mystery.. I think we are missing information from the people in the fixing process, we will never know..

Atsah - I agree, and with that.... I am going to drop from this thread, as I have a new 2019 3520R with all of 6 hours on it.... Time to get off the forum and get on the tractor. I thank everyone for their insight and comments. There are some interesting items in the new manual I will share in a new thread - like every 2 years - Replace your Electric cables...

Thanks all

 

[atsah]

Atsah - I agree, and with that.... I am going to drop from this thread, as I have a new 2019 3520R with all of 6 hours on it.... Time to get off the forum and get on the tractor. I thank everyone for their insight and comments. There are some interesting items in the new manual I will share in a new thread - like every 2 years - Replace your Electric cables...

Thanks all

Good luck with you're new one, purchasing another Branson after all this says a lot about the brand and tells me you are a pretty patient guy..

 

[Ford850]

I was shown my old fuel sending unit that they removed/replaced - it was corroded to heck and back again...
I am still not understanding how corrosion can occur in a tank of diesel - I normally try to keep the tanks as full as possible.

I'm just spit ballin' here. Fuel stored outside in 5 gallon cans (plastic containers), and a sending unit severely corroded. Very possible the fuel had moisture accumulated which corroded the sending unit, and contaminated the rest of the fuel system. I know you said you used Mr Funnel, but did you do that from day one? Maybe it only removes separated water, and not water absorbed into the newer diesel.

Ford 850 and mred2

ok guys - maybe your comments are possible to explain injector pump #1, please explain how that could cause injector pump #2's failure?
I mean - clean tanks, clean pipes, new injector pump, and fuel from the dealership - so not from my station.

Ford850 - yes I bought my first Mr. Funnel in 2013, after a fuel incident with a generator.

Piecing it together from the OP, mechanic, and dealer replies I think it can make some sense. Water in fuel from years ago could have deteriorated the sending unit/lift pump. That caused the first injector pump to fail. The dealer tested the lift pump and it tested fine, so they replaced the injector pump and fuel filter. Tractor runs fine for a few hours then second injector pump fails. Dealer then checks fuel system more thoroughly and finds rust in tank and corroded lift pump. That's when they replaced the lift pump, cleaned everything, and replaced the injector pump again.
Who knows where the water came from. Gafn, you mentioned having a previous fuel incident with a generator, and that you hoped the funnel would remove algae from fuel. Algae is caused by water in fuel, so that goes back to a cause for corrosion. Or maybe water was in the tank when you first bought the tractor. Either way that sending unit which was corroded to heck and back again, is the smoking gun in my mind.
I'm glad you got a new tractor, and by reading your other posts it sounds like that's a better model for you too. :thumbsup:

 

[Gafn]

you mentioned having a previous fuel incident with a generator, and that you hoped the funnel would remove algae from fuel. Algae is caused by water in fuel, so that goes back to a cause for corrosion. Or maybe water was in the tank when you first bought the tractor. Either way that sending unit which was corroded to heck and back again, is the smoking gun in my mind.
I'm glad you got a new tractor, and by reading your other posts it sounds like that's a better model for you too. :thumbsup:

That generator fuel incident was back in 2013 - that old tractor was a 2015... so not related...

Yes I am loving the "R" model more and more... picked up a Grapple with the new tractor and freaking love that thing.... I can clear brush in the summer without fear of snakes... hate the dang copperheads, would much rather be on the tractor than on the ground.

 

[ovrszd]

I've never tried to do this, is it possible for an OP to change a thread title?

 

[Industrial Toys]

It's annoying when you discover a typo. I always wondered why it was set up that way. Probably the way the database has to set up.

 

[Gafn]

Good luck with you're new one, purchasing another Branson after all this says a lot about the brand and tells me you are a pretty patient guy..

Yea - one thing I hope this thread shows is that I was always happy with my 3520H.. prior to the visit to the dealership - it was really reliable...

recap of my issues:

with less than 50 hours the hydro hose from pump to pedal housing blew - I figure a bad hose... crap happens - no big deal replaced and good to go
with 180 hours on it the fuel gauge stopped working
Around the same time the dashboard/Hour meter began resetting itself to zero hours

Other than those issues - I put 246 hours on the tractor in 4 years and never had another issue - so I am VERY HAPPY with Branson.
That is why I bought another one, and I fully expect this one to be passed onto my boy when I can no longer climb up onto it.