Oil & Fuel Ford 1920 fuel filter mysterious spring

[Danica]

My Ford 1900 would run about 10minutes and then die. I'd leave it sit for 5 minutes and then crank and crank and crank and it'd start and run again for another 10 and die again. I found on mine that there was blockage (bees actually) in the fuel inlet blocking the fuel coming in. I found it by taking the line off the bottom of the tank and turning the fuel on and it basically dribbled out. After cleaning the tank of the junk in the bottom with a siphoning hose and then using a paint filter and dumping the fuel back in filtered that the tractor was fine afterwards and fuel POURED out of the bottom of the tank. Not a problem after that. Bugs in the tank literally!

Every time I’ve checked fuel flow from tank it has been very strong. Sediment bowl never goes dry or even drops at all…always is full. I’ve always filtered fuel poured into tank but that doesn’t mean the prev owner who put on 300 hours necessarily did. But, it was super clean when I bought it from a guy with a massive estate and 2 full time tractor workers. I mean, it was spotless but always very LOUD which has given me pause over the years. New muffler had no effect. But, this exhaust is straight up unlike my TC45da

 

[Danica]

Now try to get wire directly from the battery to solenoid, remove the old connector to solenoid. This is basically bypassing the solenoid and manually keep it open. obviously you cannot kill the tractor by switch but can verify it is the circuit interruption rather than the solenoid.

I will try this. So unplug solenoid from ignition wire and hook a 12guage (?) wire from pos terminal of battery to the elec tab on solenoid, right?

 

[JC-jetro]

Someone else had suggested this and I’d swear they said pos batt term to solenoid would force it in the open position. I just never tried it but now it is more clear that an electrical (harness) issue could be leading to the fuel starvation symptoms.

yes that is correct. The body of the solenoid is negative or is grounded to the metal . The insulated terminal is positive. You can juice it up directly from battery. If you had a small 12 volt battery for a 4 wheeler you could have used it to engage the solenoid just for the test. if I were to do it, I would get a 5 foot section of wire 14 or 16 gauge with alligator clips mounted on each end. I would tie one end to battery positive and the other end to the solenoid positive terminal. That is basically fooling it open. I hope your mechanic can figure it out quickly while the meter is running.

 

[JC-jetro]

I will try this. So unplug solenoid from ignition wire and hook a 12guage (?) wire from pos terminal of battery to the elec tab on solenoid, right?

yes. That is basically bypassing the switch and getting voltage directly from the battery. That will keep the solenoid open hence allowing the fuel to flow unrestricted.

 

[Danica]

yes that is correct. The body of the solenoid is negative or is grounded to the metal . The insulated terminal is positive. You can juice it up directly from battery. If you had a small 12 volt battery for a 4 wheeler you could have used it to engage the solenoid just for the test. if I were to do it, I would get a 5 foot section of wire 14 or 16 gauge with alligator clips mounted on each end. I would tie one end to battery positive and the other end to the solenoid positive terminal. That is basically fooling it open. I hope your mechanic can figure it out quickly while the meter is running.

Totally get it thanks for clarifying. Theoretically this would be a great explanation and I will def try it but if this solenoid was not getting full power after 20 min or so and it started to close and ultimately completely close, wouldn’t u expect the lack of fuel to be reflected in the filter housing? I.e., it never drops.

 

[Danica]

yes. That is basically bypassing the switch and getting voltage directly from the battery. That will keep the solenoid open hence allowing the fuel to flow unrestricted.

Got it, will try as described by JC below. Thank u for response.

 

[Danica]

yes that is correct. The body of the solenoid is negative or is grounded to the metal . The insulated terminal is positive. You can juice it up directly from battery. If you had a small 12 volt battery for a 4 wheeler you could have used it to engage the solenoid just for the test. if I were to do it, I would get a 5 foot section of wire 14 or 16 gauge with alligator clips mounted on each end. I would tie one end to battery positive and the other end to the solenoid positive terminal. That is basically fooling it open. I hope your mechanic can figure it out quickly while the meter is running.

Ha ha the same thing crossed my mind since each ‘test’ takes 20 min (unless done before it cycles down too far). I’m going to show him what happens after 15min at 2,500rpm which will make it start faster.

 

[JC-jetro]

Totally get it thanks for clarifying. Theoretically this would be a great explanation and I will def try it but if this solenoid was not getting full power after 20 min or so and it started to close and ultimately completely close, wouldn’t u expect the lack of fuel to be reflected in the filter housing? I.e., it never drops.

Correct , with the exception that solenoid is not a regulating valve. It has two positions, on/off or flow and no flow. Now , let say you have no issue with the power but the plunger on the solenoid is sticking partially then it may act squirrely and either close partially or not to open fully. This is for clarification only as you have changed the solenoid and chance of new one being sticky right out of the box is extremely small.

ps. fuel shut off solenoid is almost always after or downstream from filter housing. Flow from tank to filter housing should not be impeded if the tank outlet is open, tank is clean along with clean filter.

 

[Danica]

Correct , with the exception that solenoid is not a regulating valve. It has two positions, on/off or flow and no flow. Now , let say you have no issue with the power but the plunger on the solenoid is sticking partially then it may act squarely and either close partially or not to open fully. This is for clarification only as you have changed the solenoid and chance of new one being sticky right out of the box is extremely small.

ps. fuel shut off solenoid is almost always after or downstream from filter housing. Flow from tank to filter housing should not be impeded if the tank outlet is open, tank is clean along with clean filter.

Oohhhhhhhh, I didn’t actually realize that due to its position. It is behind (towards cab) the filter so I simply assumed based on its position that it preceded (functionally) the filtration. But is see what you’re saying is very likely the case as I’ve never dealt with the component and barely knew it existed until I bought a new one. This problem has had one benefit-I’ve learned a ton more about the engine! Thank you for clarification JC!

 

[JC-jetro]

Oohhhhhhhh, I didn’t actually realize that due to its position. It is behind (towards cab) the filter so I simply assumed based on its position that it preceded (functionally) the filtration. But is see what you’re saying is very likely the case as I’ve never dealt with the component and barely knew it existed until I bought a new one. This problem has had one benefit-I’ve learned a ton more about the engine! Thank you for clarification JC!

one other thing, if the solenoid was upstream of the filter, during switched shut down it would block the flow but any fuel in the filter bowl would continue to flow some due to fuel pump suction (positive displacement gear type pump) so engine would not die right away and that is a safety issue too. On my for 1700 I have to keep lowering throttle so engine would die. On my Kubota, as soon as I turn the engine off by the switch then it would die right away. That also works with the seat safety switch , pto and etc.