I believe I'm suffering from a fuel starvation issue (randomly cuts out, primer bulb is flat), I want to make sure my fuel pickup isn't clogged, but I literally can't find it. I can't even SEE it on the tank, much less actually reach for it and remove it. attached is a photo of the diagram, I've circled the pickup location on the tank please tell me you dont have to pull the motor to get to this thing? Any advice? Can't blow through the line to clear it as it "should" have the 1 way check valve in the pickup...
ok so update.. I'm leaning less toward a clogged pickup now. After letting the machine sit over night, I ran it again this morning, not moving the machine I idled it up/down several times, the primer bulb never deflated...and squeezing it i can feel fuel moving through it. so that tells me i'm NOT sucking air in anywhere, as that would be a consistent issue, it also confirms my pickup isnt plugged, or that would be consistently causing the deflated bulb as well. However I then hopped in and moved it 50 feet, and sure enough the bulb was deflated. so, IMO that tells me i got a floater in the tank and the suction draws it to the pickup and it gets stuck, agree? I shut the machine off, watch the bulb re-inflate to normal (can confirm I can squeeze it and feel it pulling fuel).. start it up and it sits there fine. this time i barley moved it at all, maybe 15 feet, slow and flat... checked it, it was fine.. then moved it again a little more aggressively (to stir up the tank more) and it deflated again. so i think i need to quit chasing down the pickup, and try to chase down how to clean out this tank. anyone agree/disagree or have a better plan of attack?
Might be worth trying to drain the tank. Using a pump, stick a tube down the filler neck and drain the tank. With luck, whatever is in the tank will get sucked out or stick to the tube. Then you could pull it out through the filler neck.
raise the cab and boom, remove the plastic air deflector. crawl in as far as you can, the pickup is between the engine and hydrostat. a couple times over the years ive seen item #59 ( cold weather bypass) plugged up with crap and do the same thing you are describing. before i went to the pickup tube, i'd replace the primer bulb 1st and retest