Takeuchi TL140 Losing power going downhill

[Michael Kast]

FIXED! Intermittent lift pump.

it is a 12 volt pump, correct? I am seeing 12'S AND 24'S. The one in my machine, it a replacement. it doesn't mount correctly, has no filter and I just keep wondering that it is at least part of the problem.

 

[jimpad]

Mine's 12V, I'd guess they all are... how many batteries? What are symptoms of your problem?

 

[Michael Kast]

Losing power, hard to start, it runs good for a while then starts bogging down. The machine has no history. I have started from scratch as far as maintenance goes. I have changed all filters and fluids. I thought I had cleaned the fuel system from the tank to the injector pump pretty thoroughly but this morning I looked at this prefilter I added when I had the fuel tank and the lines and all the banjo's off and soaking and it was full of stuff after only running for an hour or so. All of my cleaning has probably unleashed 20 years of gunk. I am pretty sure there are a number of issues I am dealing with. I am trying to keep it clean so I can see any kind of problems such as, I was losing hydraulic fluid, I had a significant leak in the right pilot. repaired that but still losing fluid. I drained, changed the filters and it seemed like there may be a leak from the tank somewhere. The tank was buried in an oily clay/pinestraw mixture so I took it out. When I was removing the lines the bottom most line on the far left next to the door was not tight at all. The previous owner was topping it off every day. This is what I am trudging through.

 

[Delmer]

That's some pretty healthy brush in your trash grate. I'd expect the tank is plugging at the pickup tube or outlet. Some have a screen or you could retrofit a screen in the tank, or keep cleaning the tank until it's clean.

 

[Michael Kast]

I guess this is the most significant issue at the moment. I cleaned the filter and it looked as bad as that picture again in a few minutes of running it.

 

[jimpad]

Whoa! That fuel filter is certainly a smoking gun. Did it run good right after you cleaned the system?

 

[Michael Kast]

Nope. It has been running badly. There have been moments of daylight but mostly darkness.

 

[heymccall]

Maybe I'm a little slow here, but that tank is the hydraulic tank.

On my TL150 machines, the bottom tank outlet can trap debris, as can the inlet elbow to the water trap filter.

 

[Michael Kast]

Blew out the line from the pre filter to the tank and drained the tank. I thing Ill pour a 5 gallon bucket of the fuel back down the tank through the strainer a few hundred times to see if i can get some of the trash out of the tank I thought I had cleaned thoroughly. I had a little denial going on there. Then I'm getting rid of that old fuel. What do you do with questionable fuel? I just threw a few gallons into a brush fire but that seems like a waste. Once I get the fuel sorted I can go to the next problem...

 

[Michael Kast]

66666666

Maybe I'm a little slow here, but that tank is the hydraulic tank.

On my TL150 machines, the bottom tank outlet can trap debris, as can the inlet elbow to the water trap filter.View attachment 228009

yes, separate issue, forgive me for the confusion. I was just trying to show the extent of the grime I am dealing with.66666666666666666

 

[Michael Kast]

Maybe I'm a little slow here, but that tank is the hydraulic tank.

On my TL150 machines, the bottom tank outlet can trap debris, as can the inlet elbow to the water trap filter.View attachment 228009

I am not sure what that picture is. I mean, I see it is a log jamb of grit, Is that the water separator inlet? I had all of this apart a week ago. The 3 plugs on the bottom of the fuel tank, The fitting that sends to the separator. All the fittings soaked in thinner and cleaned with brushes and freakin' Q tips.
WHY ME!
I'm kidding. I needed a hobby to distract me from this dilapidated 1920 house I am restoring. Did I mention I have no kitchen? I mean, there is a walkboard across the crawl space where the kitchen used to be. Yea, I needed a hobby.

 

[heymccall]

Yup, that is the water separator inlet off of a 2k hour TL150.

 

[Michael Kast]

I drained the tank and arrived back under here. One thing I noticed after removing this fitting was a lot of fuel was pooled up the tank here. It was dry at the front plug. I'm thinking it was just the way the machine was sitting, anyway, I have a small hand transfer pump and I got all the fuel I could out of the tank. The fitting was still clean. I can't say if I got much of the trash out of the tank or not. I got some for sure but that filter made me think the tank had nothing but dirt in it.
I have a confession to make. Last week when I did this I put 10 gallons of fresh fuel in the tank and then put back 10 gallons of the fuel that came out after pouring it through a screen. That fuel was bad. I don't know how old it was, if it was full of water or what.
I filled the machine with 23 gallons of fresh fuel and it is running fine. Thank you guys for humoring me. I just got an oil pressure gauge I'll be installing tomorrow. Hopefully that will give me a clue about the health of this motor.

 

[heymccall]

That particular elbow/ tank fitting has a sharp 90° with a subtle ledge inside it. On MY TL150 machines (all 3 of them), it was not uncommon to find a tiny piece of gravel in there, which, in turn, collected grass blades and straw. I finally modified all of mine.

 

[Michael Kast]

That particular elbow/ tank fitting has a sharp 90° with a subtle ledge inside it. On MY TL150 machines (all 3 of them), it was not uncommon to find a tiny piece of gravel in there, which, in turn, collected grass blades and straw. I finally modified all of mine.

What was the modification?
It got down to 28 degrees here last night. It was hard to start this morning. Every light on the gauges lit up until it was running for a minute or two. I found a broken wire at the oil sending unit a few days ago and the "2.Engine Oil Pressure/Coolant Level Warning Lamp" has been blinking ever since.
It seems the usual culprit is the wire in the top hose of the coolant getting in an air pocket. My coolant level is good and I actually raised up the radiator high enough to clear the hoses running under it. Door hinges is something I understand. It had been rubbing those hoses when the radiator was swung open. Now the top of the radiator is around an inch higher than the sensor. I don't think there could be an air pocket. Perhaps the engine has no oil pressure. I hope that isn't the case. I don't have a lot of faith in the gauge or the warning lights and that scares me.

 

[Michael Kast]

I installed the oil pressure gauge. 60 pounds at cold start with low idle. After an hour it was 40 pounds at low idle and 60 at 3/4 idle.

 

[heymccall]

I knew that wasn't right. These are pics of the fuel return, not the suction elbow.

That is under the "X" in this pic. The one that needs cleaned is circled.

Here's a before and after modified suction elbow.

 

[Michael Kast]

Something either escaped me or someone changed something on that fitting. I don't remember that fitting being connected to anything. And if that feed was somehow eliminated there is probably not enough fuel getting from the tank to the motor unless the tank is completely full. By the time I get to a half tank it starts losing power and dying. Wait wait wait! My fuel lines are not run correctly according to that drawing. Of this I am sure. The fitting with the X is going to the water separator And I don't think that center fitting is hooked to anything. oH Man... This is probably a bigger issue than the trash in the tank. Thanks a million for remembering this. This is crazy. Something didn't seem right about the way it looked but I just assumed I didn't understand something. This is pretty awesome McCall

 

[Michael Kast]

This is embarrassing. My rememberer is broken. My lines are fine. There is an interesting issue though. This thing with the tank full or half empty. When it is full it runs great. Half empty gags and dies. That prefilter can be filled with trash when the tank is full and doesn't seem to care. As the fuel level drops it gets more sensitive and then dies no matter how clean it looks. Wouldn't that be a fuel pressure issue?

 

[jimpad]

Mine did same thing. Problem was the lift pump.