John Deere 4400 Compact tractor fuel leak

[DanG4400]

After months of sitting from some corrosion on the K2 starter relay, which I just removed and plugged back in a couple time, and she started right up. Then stalled from no diesel. Hmmm strange, I didn't put it away bone dry.
Anyway, I had quite a pack-rat's nest under the hood. I added 3 gallons and remember, properly prime the system. Don't go to the starting fluid!
I then noticed dripping. It was dripping from both the front and rear of the intake manifold. I turned the fuel off at the filter and it stopped.

It is a gravity fed system.
So, on my 4400 Compact with its 220 series motor you can't see squat in this area above the manifold.
After removing the air intake and simply rotating the coolant overflow (only held by the large bolt at the top I could see.
There is a series of thin rubber fuel lines running across the top of the manifold to each cylinder (1/8th inch I believe.)

So, if you have a mystery fuel leak from this black-hole area, its quite possibly a rat-chewed (like mine) or a leak at one of the hoses which are clamped with simple spring style clamps. Because its gravity feed it can leak continuously while the fuel in on.
Note,
The bracket holding the air intake has flanged/winged holes, not through. So if you loosen the 2 bolts by the prewarmer it can just slide out These bolts were tight and only a wrench will fit. One bolt up higher.

Down is the front of the tractor in both images. (radiator hose is visible)


Fuel flows in the direction of the arrows.


You can try to remove the air cleaner (bolts underneath) without removing the bracket, but it is tight in there.
Also, removal of the fuel tank is not necessary in this case, which looks like a nightmare.

Good luck

Yanmar Deere series 220
4300, 4400
90's
Diesel leak

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Be interested to hear how you end up repaired. I'm not sure what pressure those lines hold.

 

[Roadworthy]

If the lines are what I think they are they are under almost no pressure. They take the excess from the injector when it slams shut and route it back into the fuel tank. Of course if they are chewed through they will need replaced. There should be one line from each injector, probably feeding to the next through some kind of T. Routing new ones may be your biggest challenge. You should check things over carefully to be sure one end of this line does feed directly back to the fuel tank.