I have a Kershaw 10-10 with a ~6.5 ' Fecon mulching head and non turbo 3208 Cat which I've been having fuel problems with so I mounted a calculated 50 gallon tank on top and plumbed it in. I ran through nearly 2 tanks of fuel in 3 hours today grinding down small thick ash and hackberry sapplings around larger trackhoe clear timber. Is my math right that I'm burning somewhere above 25 gallons per hour?? Not knowing what the original tank holds or what it was burning, I've been charging $150 per hour and I'm now thinking that won't pencil out.
Does a 3208 injection pump have a return line and if so did you plump it back into the new tank? Edit: IP has a return fuel line and looks like this.
My problem is its all going out the exhaust. I know its loaded but <25 gallons an hour, wow! As I have understood these pump having worked on my D6, they aren't a return to tank system. A pressure regulator dumps excess back into the inlet side of the case (mine had failed). Its the same pump but in a V8 configuration as on a 3306. The fuel problem is the original tank is full of crap and needs to be cleaned out but I don't have time for it to be down.
25 gallons an hour would feed a 400-600hp engine in that application, something is wrong. Your Kershaw has 250hp, right?
25+ gal/hr making 250 hp would be somewhere south of 10 hp hr/gal which is hilariously bad. Even a 3208 should be able to do ~15 hp hr/gal.
Yes, 250 HP and it won't keep the head turning in heavy work. No fuel leaks anywhere or excess smoke. I measured the tank (33x22x16) which in an online volume formula gave right at 50 gallons. I don't see how it could even put that much through it without slobbering most out the pipes. I filled it and ran a little over an hour and a half and have maybe 3 inches left in it now! Even if it were filling the crankcase, I'd have a spun rod bearing and oil/fuel everywhere.
HVY is CORRECT.. check return..
I may be wrong but didn't the 3208 NA come standard at 210hp? The turbo version was 250hp. My guess is somebody has opened the fuel pump up, hence the fuel economy. My old jigger at 140hp driving a 5ft mulcher on a hard slog uses 6.868 gallons per hour(26 litres)just as a comparison.
Will be back onsite tomorrow and check system over including return. It may be dumping it all into the original tank.
I'm hardly an expert, but you should have hugely black smoke/high EGT/cooling issues if that much fuel is getting into the engine... I'm betting it's going somewhere.
I've spec'd them out at 165, 185, 210 & 250 hp. 165 & 185 hp were on gen sets.. 210 were standard over the road & 250's were Marine applications.. If you didn't plumb the return to the aux. tank.. that's where I would start.. ALL injection systems RETURN more fuel than they use.. its used for cooling the fuel..
Cooling the fuel or cooling the injector?
The V8 version pump must have a return to tank unlike the same but 6 cylinder inline version on my D6 which does NOT have ANY return. Had mine off and went through it. One line in, 6 lines out and an air bleed valve. That's why I just plumbed it in straight. I concur that burning that much fuel the cooling system couldn't discharge that much heat and it would roll the black smoke. It has to be filling the original tank. Will find out in the morning. Will be a quick fix if so.
Again, not an expert but the return line would be on/around the injectors, not the pump eh?
lumberjack, the picture i posted is the return line on a 3208 IP. Everything I've messed with the return line goes from the IP to the tank, but i live a sheltered life.
Im drawing a blank, but on a Deutz 1011, there is a fabric covered rubber line that goes from each injector to a common line and back to the tank. You can see it here.
Like i said, sheltered life. I have a couple air cooled Deutz gensets, but haven't done anything but fluids and filters to either yet.
either or..
Thanks for all the help! This pump does have a return line from it. I replumbed it and will try it today. Regarding returns, they can come from the pump or T in and come from the injector return rail. The lower tank is as I suspected, about to overflow!
Not being dense/trying to learn. If the pump has a return, won't it also be catching the return from the injectors as well? If you notice in the picture I posted, the return from the injectors combines with the excess from the injector pump supply for the return trip to the fuel tank.
3208 injectors shouldn't have a return line just the injection pump does and it is important for cooling the injection pump.
Some years back I was restoring a grader with a 6-71 in it. It had the same problem with the filthy fuel tank, (the top of the behind-the-seat tank was full of rust holes) so I put a homemade 2 gallon tank on it. It had sat for about 10 years so I was making all new hydraulic hoses and repairing many parts of it. I kept using the little tank to move it in and out of the shop and was astonished how much fuel it was burning. One day I drove it out and blew a steering hose and having no brakes the front axle rolled into a 4' deep ditch. When it hit bottom, I found out where all my fuel had gone! All that fuel poured over my back!
a bit crude but I'm making production again!
Looks fine to me.. at least you had the smarts to strap it down.. some of the "rigs" I'v seen while out on service calls, would make your head spin.. lol
Lets see some more pics of the machine in action! Be neat to see the machines that the monster trucks tires were actually made for.
Someone help me rotate it please...
Here you go wrw
The head looks small for the size of the machine but they use a lot of power. That's a nice looking D6C too.
It originally had a shreddere style head on it but some time in its life it was converted to a drum style which seems to likely take way more power to run as it won't keep it turning in really heavy stuff. Thanks on the D6. That's my Catillac .