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Cat 226 Fuel Problem

TRXRacer

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2019
Messages
8
Location
Oregon
Hop in, turn the key, it starts, and idles fine. Run it for awhile, and it dies.

Crank crank crank.........No start.

Get out, open hatch, unscrew fuel/water separator, tighten back up, starts and runs. Goes for awhile then dies again.

Thought it was a plugged vent hole in the gas cap, so cleaned, and it ran better for awhile. Thought I had problem solved, but it just did it again. Ran with gas cap off, same thing.

Any ideas?
 

03spfld

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2019
Messages
13
Location
Alabama
Have you checked screen under top of lift pump. You can remove it without taking lift pump off. Blow out screen and re-install. Make sure you don’t lose O-ring under metal top and install the screen just like it came out or it will leak. It has an indention that helps line it up, pretty
Straight forward once you see it.
 

TRXRacer

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2019
Messages
8
Location
Oregon
The lift pump is not like the one pictured above. Mine has 5 screws (slotted for flat-head screwdriver) to remove the top, and there is no screen inside. The only thing inside is the diaphragm.
 

thepumpguysc

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2010
Messages
7,445
Location
Sunny South Carolina
Occupation
Master Inj.Pump rebuilder
Now that u found it.. buy it.. {its cheap enough}
If u pull up on a corner of the diaphragm, u might see the valves & see if theres anything stuck in the valves keeping it from working properly..
 

TRXRacer

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2019
Messages
8
Location
Oregon
But would that solve the problem?

Correct me if I am wrong, but if the lift pump was going bad, unscrewing the fuel/water separator, then screwing it back on would not have any impact on the lift pump?
 

heymccall

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
5,349
Location
White Oak, Pa
#1) does water separator have glass bowl on bottom, or just drain plug?
#2) when were filters last changed?
#3) whose filters, and what numbers are on them?
#4) awaiting answers for above.
 

TRXRacer

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2019
Messages
8
Location
Oregon
1) Just the drain plug.
2) One month ago.
3) Fuel/Water separator is Carquest part #86638
3) Fuel Filter is Carquest part #86546
 

heymccall

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
5,349
Location
White Oak, Pa
Tag both fuel lines to water separator head, so as to not mix up where they connect.
Remove the separator filter.
Remove and cap off both lines.
Unthread top cap on filter head, taking care to not lose the square cut oring.
Extract plastic "funnel".
Unbolt filter head from machine (usually 16mm headed bolts).
Holding filter head upside down, inspect inlet port for debris by insert a piece of wire until you can see the tip in the concentric tube (as indicated by arrow below).

Any blockage?

If so, install a baldwin BF7863 screen element in the supply line from the tank.
20190926_184535.jpg Screenshot_20190926-185242_Chrome.jpg
 

TRXRacer

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2019
Messages
8
Location
Oregon
PROBLEM SOLVED!

Did as heymccall advised and there was no blockage in fuel/water separator. Decided to bypass the separator altogether and ran fuel line from tank directly into lift pump. Ran like a charm.

Cat filters from now. Carquest is junk.
 

heymccall

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
5,349
Location
White Oak, Pa
Funny thing is I've never had an issue with any Stanadyne type filter from any source. It's always either debris blocking the inlet, or someone else here omits the O-ring between the optional water bowl and the filter.
And I've got a lot of FM100 filters running around out there, many added by me.
 

TRXRacer

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2019
Messages
8
Location
Oregon
UPDATE...............heymccall hit the nail on the head.

Started having the same problem with the Cat filter so I removed the entire fuel/water separator housing and gave it a thorough cleaning. It was so dirty I am surprised it ran at all.
 

heymccall

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
5,349
Location
White Oak, Pa
PROBLEM SOLVED!

Did as heymccall advised and there was no blockage in fuel/water separator. Decided to bypass the separator altogether and ran fuel line from tank directly into lift pump. Ran like a charm.

Cat filters from now. Carquest is junk.

UPDATE...............heymccall hit the nail on the head.

Started having the same problem with the Cat filter so I removed the entire fuel/water separator housing and gave it a thorough cleaning. It was so dirty I am surprised it ran at all.
How could you have missed that the first time?
Did you add an inline strainer, like shown above, to prevent the cavities of the separator housing from plugging again?
 

TRXRacer

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2019
Messages
8
Location
Oregon
How did I miss that the first time?

I didn't know how the housing worked so just checked the bottom of it as you suggested. Now I know to remove and clean the entire housing thoroughly when I change filters too.
 

heymccall

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
5,349
Location
White Oak, Pa
No, you don't have to remove, clean, disassemble the separator head anymore. Just add an inline strainer and walk away.
Then, change filters on interval, just like before.
The inline strainer will only need serviced when visibly plugged/ dirty.
 

ThreeCW

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2019
Messages
227
Location
near Calgary, Alberta
Tag both fuel lines to water separator head, so as to not mix up where they connect.
Remove the separator filter.
Remove and cap off both lines.
Unthread top cap on filter head, taking care to not lose the square cut oring.
Extract plastic "funnel".
Unbolt filter head from machine (usually 16mm headed bolts).
Holding filter head upside down, inspect inlet port for debris by insert a piece of wire until you can see the tip in the concentric tube (as indicated by arrow below).

Any blockage?

If so, install a baldwin BF7863 screen element in the supply line from the tank.
View attachment 202321 View attachment 202322

heymccall,
I am having a very similar problem on my 2006 CAT 242B. Once it warms up later in the week, I will be tearing out my filter head assembly and perform the suggest cleaning. Adding the inline filter sounds like a great idea as well. Thanks for sharing. I'll let you know how this works out for me.
Regards, 3CW
 

ThreeCW

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2019
Messages
227
Location
near Calgary, Alberta
I was able to resolve the fuel problem on my 2006 CAT 242B. This skid steer was “new to me” in November 2019 and I have been doing lots of catch up maintenance on it. It has the 3024C engine – Arrangement Number 233-6648 – which is the 2.3 Litre Perkins Shibaura rated at 61 hp at 3000 rpm.

I replaced the fuel filter earlier as part of my scheduled maintenance, as I was not sure how recently it had been done. I put 6 hours on the skid steer after the fuel filter change, had just finished 3 hours of plowing snow, was down to about 1/8 of a tank and went to refuel. I got to within about 30 ft of my farm tank and the skid steer died on me. I thought … darn, I ran it out of fuel … even thought the gauge showed an 1/8 of a tank and I had previously run it down purposely without problem to zero on the gauge when running out the summer diesel before winter.

So I jerry canned 5 gallons of diesel into the skid steer, primed the fuel system with the prime pump on the top of the fuel filter / water separator housing and it started right up. Crisis averted, I filled the fuel tank completely and went back and did a few more hours of plowing snow.

When parking the skid steer, I left it to idle to cool down some. I got out of the cab and the engine stalled out. I have never had that problem before. I restarted the engine without problem and got out of the cab. It started to stall again so I pumped the prime pump and was able to keep the engine running but not smoothly. When I stopped priming, the engine died again. I left it over night, but it would not start in the morning.

I still had the old fuel filter, so I cut it open and found what I felt was a considerable amount of solids imbedded in the filter pleating and some additional solids in the filter can. I figure that I have a real dirty fuel tank or the fuel filter had not been changed in a considerable amount of time (see photos below).

1 Fuel Fiter + Debris.JPG 2 Fuel Filter + Debris.JPG 3 Fuel Filter Debris.JPG 4 Fuel Filter Pleats Front and Back Side.JPG
 
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