Bizarre fuel issue with a D-250... Never witnessed this before.

[BigMan-TinyTractor 6]

,Hi all...

 

I bought a D-250 a while back and I really like it but she's got a couple ghost problems that I can't seem to wrap my head around.

 

I believe that it's a '76. It has the Renault engine in it.

 

So three different times now... I've hit a small stump, stopping the mower dead in it's tracks. All three episodes were moderately violent. In two of the occasions, it stalled the mower after I disengaged the deck and backed off of the stump.

 

So here's where it gets weird.

 

After each incident, the mower would no longer start.  If I pulled the choke all the way on, it'd fire up and rev to the sky... Like sketchy high rpms which all three times was the only way I could limp it back to the barn.

 

After completing cooling down and tweaking the fuel mixture screw back and forth, I've been able to get it to run well again...

 

Sometimes I can ease the choke off and the governor goes crazy surging off and on... But in most cases, it simply won't run with the choke off.

 

So what in the heck does this have to do with the impacts?

 

The only theory I currently have is that it jolts the fuel tank and fuel filter badly enough to shake up some contamination... But that's just a wild guess. It's also definitely temperature related, because I can mess with carb settings enough to fix it so long as it isn't up to temperature yet.

 

So there it is... Any of you guys ever heard of a crash related fuel issue?

 

I feel like I'm going crazy. I know I'm missing something here in the troubleshooting.

 

Thanks a bunch!

 

Jacob

[Dakota8338 115]

Take your fuel filter "out" line off the filter nipple and see if the fuel passing through the filter is nice & clear, or dark, crudy cloudy etc.  If the filter is not passing nice clear fuel, it should be replaced.

[BigMan-TinyTractor 6]

I understand completely, thanks.

 

The fuel filter seems okay.

[rmaynard 15,436]

You are probably on the right track when you say "crash related fuel issue". A complete fuel system flush seems to be the first thing I would try. It also sounds like the sudden impact may have "tweaked" the governor a bit. Since I have zero knowledge of the Renault engine, I am only speculating. Good luck!

[ericj 1,578]

watch the stumps !!!!!!!!!!! mark them so as not to hit them. What would happen if when you hit the stump you lfet the tractor sit and cool down before attempting the restart

 

 

 

eric j