water seperator on Kubota M9000

[stevenf]

I have almost 50 hours on my tractor now and noticed the red float in the water seperator was almost even with the white line so I got out the book and studied up on removing the seperator and dumping the water out. I turned off the inline valve unscrewed the seperator and dumped out the supposed water. I then opened the bleeder valve and pumped the air out of the system and started the tractor up at full throttle as directed and then cut to 1500 rpm's everything was fine. Then I looked at the seperator again and the red float is back at the white line again, I don't believe the diesel fuel has water in it and since it moved the red float up to the line immediately it would continue to fill with water until water was being put into the injector pump which according to the book would do awful things to the engine. What do ya'll think do I have a problem or does the float always do this? The diesel fuel is from my 300 gallon storage tank that was delivered from the exon dealer mid November. I added Power Service the silver bottle half gallon to the diesel fuel after the tank was filled do you think this might be contributing to this problem?
Steve

 

[WhiteRock]

I just reviewed the manual on this procedure as well. Did you notice if the float fell back down when the bowl was replaced empty? I think it should start at the bottom.

I think it is worth repeating the procedure and pour the contents into a container and see if water exists. You may have a little run of water.

Do you have a water separator on your fuel pump?

I guess I don't understand what extensive damage water would do other than make it hard to reprime. There must be some condition where the water doesn't get blown clear of the cylinder on the exhaust stroke eventually causing hydrostatic lock.

 

[stevenf]

WhiteRock I went back and looked at the procedures again just to make sure I wasn't overlooking stuff and tryed again with the same thing happening again as you can tell by the time of my post its a sleepless night the dealer opens around 8 am so only 3-1/2 more hours until I can talk to them. When you start the procedure the ring is right at the white line then I unscrewed the retaining ring and the bottle with oring seal comes down and I took it off poured out the liquid contents what is left is the red disk at the bottom and a spring about a 1/2" around and 2" long or so centered on some sorta cap in the bottom everything moves freely and in pouring the liquid out all would be in the oil dump pan if you aren't careful. The seperator element stays attached to the housing on the seperator to take off seperately I carefully centered the spring inside the element and replaced the bottle with the ring at the absolute bottom of the bottle went back through the recompression of fuel routine and started the tractor again with the same outcome the red ring pops up to the line as soon as the engine is started.
Steve

 

[LeRoi]

Steve,
I would dump the fuel from the water separator into a glass jar and see if it has water on the bottom with fuel floating on top of it. If you don't see two seperate layers in the jar then add a little water to see what happens. If the fuel floats on the water then you know there is a problem with your seperator.
HTH
Leroy

 

[stevenf]

LeRoi thats a great idea i'll go try it before heading to Kubota on Monday.
Steve

 

[WhiteRock]

I am curious about where the red float is when the fuel system is primed and the engine is off. It could be that there is enough flow through the seperator to force the red float upward. However, with the engine running, primed, at idle, I would have thought the fuel flow would be so low that it would not affect the float level. Not know the specific gravity difference in fuel and water, I suspect the float is quite sensitive.

Does the float level change from idle to full throttle?

If you want to test the float, that should be simple. Remove the bowl, remove the red float, and put it in water, then fuel. It should float in water, sink in fuel. If true, it is working properly.

Hope this helps. Just some ideas....

 

[WhiteRock]

FYI: Today I did the following check on my M9000.

Prior to starting, I verified my red float was on the bottom.

I then started the tractor and checked the float. It was on the bottom.

I then ran the tractor at full throttle. The float remained on the bottom.

So, my claim is that fuel flow doesn't affect the float at all.

I think something is different about your fuel.

 

[stevenf]

Thanks Whiterock at least that is one less variable to worry about. I'm having a debate with the diesel distributor to get them to come out and swap out this diesel as its only the 2nd tank full I've used and the water has to be coming from the storage tank as the tractor was fine with the original diesel from kubota in it.
Steve