The Wrath of Donley's Radiator Shop

Hey guys...

So, i'll be spending spring break on the farm, and i really want to get my dang tractor going...

Theres just one problem...

The carb is all messed up now. Last summer, i payed some lowlife in dayton to clean and seal my gas tank for the thing...

He skipped the cleaning part and went straight to the sealing. Which diddnt work. So basicially i paid someone $100 to pour a $20 can of redkote in my tank and spread it around. I was furious. I still am.

Not only is my gas tank ruined, but the stuff (supprisingly... who saw this coming?) all came loose and clogged up my carb. The gas was orange.

I dont know what to do here, i dont know how to rebuild a carb, and i cant even find a rebuild kit for this brand new $200 model. I think im screwed. I have a couple old zeniths and marvel carb laying around, but i cant rebuild them.

Any ideas??


And, it was a really, really stupid thing to do, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I added a little of this orange gas to my ranger's fuel, thinking if i diluted it enough with good, regular, not orange gas it would be fine. I was wrong.

Now my truck doesnt work.

I replaced the relays, and fiddled with that crash-reset thing, and it still wont work. I cant hear the fuel pump kick on.

So i guess i need a new gas tank, a new fuel pump, and new sending unit? I dont know what that is, but i know it is before the filter, so its probablly shot.

How do i know none of this stuff made it through the filter and clogged my lines/ injectors/ whatever??

I dont think i can afford this stuff, do i call him up, tell him what happened and threaton him with a lawyer or what?? Id think this is definatially grounds to sue someone...

And, can i just blow out the fuel lines before the filter?? Id think so, but with my luck, thered be some reason not to.

Thanks for the advice...

lanse, as far as the carb, you can take the bowl off and sray all the passages thru with good carb cleaner, get all the passages open. there may be a screen at the inlet too for the carb. as far as the truck, not sure what model you have, but most have a fuel pump in the tank. the pump will cycle when you turn the key on to build pressure , then shut off until it needs fuel again. prolly gonna need to drop the tank and blow all the lines out.

Lanse.
Iam not too busy, I can come down and give you a hand.
Richard

lanse, those old ms and zenith carbs really dont have but just a couple of parts in them, there not hard to put a kit in , i can do mine sitting on a milk crate beside the tractor, might give it a try get you a couple cans of carb cleaner from the parts store, for a fuel tank look around and find something like a tank off a old riding mower, and use wire, duct tape ect to position it above the engine somewhere, then you can at least get the tractor running while you figure out what your going to do about the tractors tank,

I am very sorry to hear of your trouble; having your tractors running when you have time to do some work with them is very satisfying. It is hard to say what you"ll have to do to get your truck running properly, but your tractor tank can be cleaned. You"ll have to do everything you should have done from the start; take it off, put gravel or a log chain in it and shake it every-which-way you can think of for three or four times longer than you think it should take. Rinse. And then do it again. You CAN do your carburator! Just take it apart piece by piece so you can put it back the same way. Blow out all the passages with air and/or carburator cleaner, including the pre-filter. You really can do this. A good education is always expensive. And a lot of the advice from people on this forum got their education the same way as you. I wish you lots of elbow grease luck. Terry

Lanse, you may try saving that gas tank by plugging drain hole & adding some muric acid , some small stones or ball bearing ,put the cap on, then start shaking your booty . If your booty gets tired , have family members do their execise for the day . After a few hours of booty shaking , dump the mess onto an old sheet so you can see what you get out . Then add extremely hot water to dilute the Muric acid , add small stones again & start shaking your booty over & over again .It may take a few times of doing this exercise , but I'm sure you will be successful . Don't trust others to do a job you can do if you ask for help or advice .After you get the tank cleaned out ,use air pressure to help rid it of anything laying inside. Then make sure it's dried good (a couple days in the sun), dump another can of sealant into it but be sure to plug the outlet hole with a piece of dowel rod before you dump the sealant in . Now , guesss what - yep, shake your booty some more only with slow motions .HTH! You can do it my friend , I did .Post back your results & share the fun you had learning. God bless, Ken

Lanse, I forget what kind of tractor you have, but an I&T manual should have instructions for most of them. If you have a TSC near you, stop in and see if they have what you need in stock.

If you think the bad gas just clogged the passages and jets, you may not need a rebuild kit. Usually the rebuild kit have new seals and gaskets (sometimes even new throttle rods). As long as you don't tear the main gasket you shouldn't need a rebuild kit (for the new carb). A few things I have learned (some the hard way):

1. The jet are brass. make sure you use a good square screwdriver that fits perfectly (grind a screwdriver down if necessary). Use good even pressure and don't over do it IF you are going to attempt to remove them. The ones for the old zeinth models can be acquired still but they are about $20 a piece after shipping and take a bit of leg work to get them. Email me if you need to replace one.

2. Remove all external screws BEFORE splitting the carburetor. I bent the main jet screw on a Marvel for an 8N b/c I didn't realize that it went through both halves. I was still able to get the carb working long enough but that was another $25 part.

3. Make sure you look down ALL the passages for clogged jets. I had to take that same marvel mentioned in number #2 apart 3 different time until I found the main jet (that happened to be the one that was clogged).

4. Go buy some 17-25# nylon test line fishing line and some nylon weed trimmer line. They are stiff enough to pass through all the passages to check if they are clear, yet they won't damage the brass passages and orifices when trying to clear them. White line will turn dirty too if the passage still has junk in it.

5. In addition to cans of carburetor cleaner, use and air compressor to help blow the passages clear.

6. Check all the screens first. There should be one in the sediment bowl, and my B has one inside the carb attached to the fuel line elbow. Reading about Red-Kote, if it is not perfectly dry it forms strings or flecks in the gas. These are possibly what are clogging the fuel filter AND the carburetor passages (possibly your injectors, but I would still replace the filter first and see if you can get it going). If it does help for a bit, you may have to change the fuel filter a few times until you get all the particles flushed out. If it is just the case of tiny particles clogging filters your situation may be better than you think.

As for the gas tank, it appears, acetone, Methyl Ethyl Ketone, or paint thinner will all soften and possibly dissolve Red-Kote. Some people also sell strippers for old gas tank liners. There might be other chemicals that would remove any old coating. Finally you could try splitting the tank so you could clean it better.

If he gets the tank clean, why would he want to dump sealant in it? It wasn't leaking. Just dirty.
Lose the sealant, just clean the tank. If you don't get it clean and add sealant you have a mess. If you don't get it clean and don't add sealant you can clean it some more. You should know this. It's been covered once a week for five years on this forum.
As far as the truck, ever hear tyhe saying penny wise and pound foolish. Well that was you trying to save $5 worth of gas.
It's also called "experience". Learning from mistakes and successes.

Gordo

Lanse I would get all of my stuff gathered up and then take him to small claims court. It will make him learn that he can't take advantage of you in the future.
Walt

If I could suggest some 1/2" nuts vs. using rocks. Rocks tend to have little bits break off of them and are dusty anyways.

Oh, I never thought of using nuts instead of rocks . Even better would be stainless steel nuts so the nuts don't rust afterwards .Good idea . God bless

In my opinion, once a guy goes thru the cleaning , why not add more life to a tank , plus give some protection by adding a good sealant . It sure makes sense to me . I'd rather do it while in the process & be pleased , than think about it later & wish he had . But who am I ? Just someone trying to help Lance not criticise .Maybe this has been discussed before but maybe also he didn't need this help before because he put his confidence in that shop doing a job correctly . God bless

You may make out in court on the job they failed to do as long as you can prove that it wasn't done properly as agreed to, but I doubt the judge will do anything about your truck. He will most likely just say that the shop had nothing to do with you reusing gas you knew was bad in it.