yesterday i’m move’n dirt and the bobcat just quits…. (low hour machine so this is not a common thing with this one) i fool with it for a few minutes … it has a primer bulb like an outboard motor to bleed off the air if you run it out of fuel (diesel) so i open the air bleed and start pumping… zero pressure… just sucking air… knew pretty quick it was between the primer bulb and the fuel tank… i blew back in the line… no resistance… hmmm
so i happened to have a small can of diesel and some fuel line… i hook that up on the pickup side of the primer bulb and a few squeezes and i have fuel to the bleed valve…
the bobcat starts up and i run it off this small can to get it put away…
google the problem this morning… and yep… very common the plastic pickup tube that goes in the fuel tanks seem to break loose at the fitting…
took about 5 min to pull the fitting put on a new pickup hose and get back to running…
just my 2 cents for the day
p:)
Edited 5/25/2009 2:03 pm ET by ponytl
Replies
Good troubleshooting and temporary cure.
April 1979, leave Miami, FL running a new boat up the coast to DE. Our boat's sistership was running with us.
Twin engine boats, custom built by us, single large fuel tank and --- big mistake --- a common fuel pick-up pipe for both engines.
Got about 100 miles or so off of the coast of GA, one engine shuts down, followed very closely by the other. Troubleshoot quickly determines we have lost prime.
Reprime from the tank - difficult but got it done. Ran about a mile and the same thing happened again.
Brain light comes "on" -- it is the common feed pipe leaking air into the system.
Luckily we had a ton of stuff on the boats which were leftovers from construction.
Rigged two feeds - one for each engine - hose plus 4' of 3/8" copper - shoved the copper into the fuel fill fitting in the deck - straight shot into tank (required to allow "sticking" of the tank). Primed a lot easier on this jury rig.
Covered the whole mess with a tarp and ran the remaining 650 or so miles to DE.
We got very strange looks at fuel docks along the way!
Needless to say, we modified the fuel system once we arrived at our home port.
Jim
all goes back to.... when you have done so much with so little for so long.... you can do anything with nothing....
it's a rare fun day... when i don't have to fix anything on the boat.... can't remember one of those days...
P :)