Electrical/issues

   / Electrical/issues #1  

currierej

Bronze Member
Joined
May 17, 2012
Messages
85
Location
Newalla, OK
Tractor
Yanmar 1810D
I have a early 80's Shibaura tractor, I was having electrical problems and decided to tackle it head-on.
I removed EVERY wire from the entire tractor, if it was copper and insulated it was gone.
The alternator had been leaking smoke so I replaced it with a GM single wire alternator.
The fuse block wasn't even worth looking at, it was replaced with a new blade type that has the added feature of if a fuse blows an LED light comes on to show which one is bad.
ALL idiot lights were removed and gauges were added to replace them.
A new dash was built with the original tachometer being retained.
My tractor doesn't need turn signals or hazard lights, the headlights were replaced with LED floodlights, with the same being added to the rear.
I reused the ignition switch, however I didn't reconnect the glow plugs (I have a couple of questions about them) but since I'm in Oklahoma I have had no trouble starting the tractor without them.
It's been two years since then and the tractor has been running great!
The only problem I've had is the fuel gauge quit working, I thought that maybe I had failed to tighten a wire connection and it had come loose, turns out it was a bad gauge.
I labeled all the wires with a P-touch labeler, and I'm kinda disappointed with their performance, all the labels exposed to sunlight have faded to blank, labels not exposed to sunlight have started to peel and fall off.
I have since bought a Brady labeler, they claim that their labels will resist fading and peeling.
In my previous post I detailed about all the electrical work I did on my tractor, after over a year the only problem turns out to be a bad gauge.
Tonight I replaced the gauge, when I did the rewire I also replaced the fuel tank sender (to match the new gauge) it was reading 1/8 to 7/8 instead of E to F, while I had the dash apart for the bad gauge I removed the sender and shortened the arm on the float by about 1 1/2", I figure that should be close.
Before putting everything back together I decided to drain the fuel tank completely to see how close the empty reading is (Empty is really the only reading that I care about).
I disconnected the fuel line before the fuel pump and drained it into a spare gas can.
I discovered that there is a petcock on the bottom of my fuel tank (It's tucked in behind so much cowling and linkages that I never knew it was there) it seems to be off-on-off, and the on position is literally dribbling the fuel.
It's a 1/4" fuel line it is not even flowing a steady stream.
The tractor seems to be running at full power so I believe it is getting enough fuel, but the pitiful fuel flow bothers me, when it finally drains do any of you think that I should remove the petcock and either try to improve the flow, or just eliminate it completely and add a fuel shut-off inline (or not bother at all)?
 
   / Electrical/issues #2  
seeing that you have never turned it off in the past; there would not seem to be much need for it.
 
   / Electrical/issues #3  
Most fuel petcocks have a fine screen inside the tank which is likely plugged.

Take it out now before nothing is coming out.

Dave M7040
 
   / Electrical/issues
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Found a piece of plastic in the petcock, not sure when or how it got in the tank, black plastic drill shaving that managed to block the fuel completely.
Thought I had a blocked fuel filter and ended up working up stream until I found it inside the petcock.
 
 
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