After many years of questionable service and fuel problems with my D4H, I finally found the cure. Just wanted to share my experience. I use the dozer on my farm so it doesn’t get heavy use. It worked great for several years and then I started having intermittent fuel problems. I would bleed air out of my fuel lifter and that seemed to keep me going but not solve my problems. I every had Caterpillar field service come see me once to solve my fuel problem. They were no help at all. The tech was confounded because he could not plug into a computer diagnostic connection. He spent most of his time trying to read the manual on his computer. He did get it going and it would run for about 30 minutes then shut down (no fuel). His remedy was for me to keep bleeding air as needed. I didn’t care for that. I decided that I would just have to start tearing down the fuel lines and see if I could find why I didn’t have fuel. It didn’t take long for me to find a small screen filter in the fuel line near the lifter that was completely clogged. I cleaned that it was running great. I thought I had my dozer back but every so often it would die and I would clean the screen filter and I would be good for a while longer. These cleanings kept getting closer and closer together until the cleanings no longer fixed my problems. That’s when I realized that my gas tank was the source. It needed a cleaning and a lining. I changed the fuel filter and blew out the lines, fixed the tank and reinstalled it. I got a bonus of 3 extra bolts when I was finished. I could not find a hole for them and I tried. Now it is running perfect. In fact, if you check my other posts you will see that I was having trouble with my dash lights not making any sense. For some reason that is gone now and looking good. Hope this can help someone else.
Glad you were able to get yourself going. Sorta appears like we've reach the point having no electronics, therefore no electronic diagnostics is as bad as having them....we gonna miss the old school heavy machinery mechanics more as time goes on, unless we can still do the work ourselves which gets harder for each of us as time goes by.
That screen can be a nightmare if you don't know about it or where it is. If it is plugging frequently is a sign your fuel tank needs a good cleaning.
When diagnosing a fuel system it’s always recommended to start the process from the same point as the fuel starts its journey through the system, i.e. the tank. Have you found the drain on the bottom of the tank yet.? You know, the one that you are supposed to open on a regular basis to check for water and/or sediment.? Come to think of it do you even have an O&M Manual for the tractor.?
Nige is totally correct. Out of dozens of pieces of Diesel equipment over the years, Iv had three units that gave me tank issues. One with rust in the bottom of the tank, one with algae, and one with a broken pickup tub. Always start at the tank...
I agree, Nige is correct. Judging by the OP's original comment (an some others I've seen here in the past) apparently the new breed goes directly to the computer, if it doesn't tell them to start at the tank, which in this case that seems to be true, they're lost..that's why I said we'll miss these old school equipment mechanics when they're gone.
For me it's plain & simple logic. In any type of fluid system (and that includes electrics because in a sense the electrons "flow" down the wires) you start from where the fluid starts. No ifs, ands, or buts. Diagnostics is simply a logical method of checking boxes until it drives you to a conclusion of whats wrong. There is no point jumping in half-way down the system and assuming everything upstream is good "just because"............
Hey Simplefarmer, curious what you used for cleaner and more importantly the lining in your fuel tank?? I’ve had mixed results with the stuff I’ve used/done in the past, so wondering if you have any new tricks I can steal…I mean leverage!! Thanks for posting!
Dan, lots of ways to clean a tank, depending on how good of access you have to clean it in place (filler and sender holes) vs how much work to remove it. E85 is a great solvent for cleaning tanks if it's varnish like. Removing and strapping to a tractor wheel with a load of sharp gravel is a good way if it's a badly rusted tank, fill half full of water and drive the tractor around. Concrete mixer works for strapping it to also. Pressure washer with a turbo nozzle if you don't remove it.
I've had good success with vinegar.