The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi all.
Broke down on my old major this morning . I was on my way to do some topping for a friend of mine, and as I started ascending a hill, the poor old girl lost all power and stalled. Odd, I thought as it has never had any problems with hills before, but then again, I haven't been up hills as steep as this before. A bit of investigation has revealed the lift pump glass bowl was half empty , and giving it a pump didn't feel like there was any resistance to it and any fuel that went into the bowl seemed to drain back towards the tank. I thought it might be going into the sump to start with, but it appears to be ok. So I am assuming the lift pump is not working as it should, so have ordered a new one, and see if that cures the fault. Got it going eventualy, backed down the hill, turned round and drove home without incident, so my mate never got his topping done!
Funnily enough, it displays the exact same symptoms when I use the rotovator or sub soiler. It never seems to pick up properly under load and has stalled a few times, but never on a hill, so it always started up again so I am assuming the fuel didn't have chance to drain back . Hopefully, with a new lift pump it might improve the lack of power.
Just thought I would share in case anyone else has experienced problems similar.
Huzey

Could be a perished diaphram or the seal around the glass sediment bowl which has hardened. Either can let air in, if the engine is demanding a lot of fuel (ie heavy work) then it may pull in air rather than fuel. I have had a few problems with a poor seal with the rubber to glass bowl, although the rubber looked good it was too hard to allow the glass to seal against it.
The pump runs off a lobe on the camshaft, depending on where the engine stops the pump can be on full stroke and thus when trying to prime gives the impression of not working. Crank the engine slightly to shift the camshaft round and allow the priming lever to give full stroke.
Just my thoughts
Regards
Ed

I am 99,5% sure that the problem is that the filter in the tank is clogged and it will not let enough fuel through on heavy load.

I would go with Grani only I am 100% sure Take the tap out before you spend money!

Thank you all for the replies. Will check out the filter as suggested, once I find enough empty cans to put the diesel into as I had only just filled it up the day before!
Huzey

I have removed the tap from the tank, and the filter, which was a piece af gauze held on with binding wire was clear! However, the tap itself appears to have been broken in the past and a piece of brass tube that is of the same size outside diameter as the internal diameter of the original tap has been pushed in, thus restricting the amount of fuel when under load.





Have ordered a new tap and lift pump, and arranged to borrow a big red tractor to do the topping!
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, much appreciated.
Huzey