My house now has a new rule: "Yellow cans shall hold only diesel fuel!" (You can see where this is going, along with one of my older "Oops..." threads.)
Anyway, to make a long story short, and condense it to the important facts other newbies might have problems with-
I think gasoline will float on diesel; I added 4 gallons into a tank 1/8th full. That left me do about 2.5 mowing laps around the property before disaster struck. Symptoms: Tractor started sputtering and blue smoke. In like 3 seconds time it went from great to severely limited. Lightbulb went off and I shut it down. That left me on a side slope, in a turn, with the 52" mower deck attached and lowered. No, it's not rollover bad, just a non-flat corner. I was concerned about towing it out with my Cherokee if I had to.
So, the basic problem here is to get the gasoline out, and fresh diesel in. But how? The disposable filter under the floorboard is almost impossible to see with the mower deck attached, let alone get room to work on. The block filter is not a big deal. I was (and still am) under the impression that the filters are ruined, and needed to be replaced. Can anybody dispute this with real world experience?
Out of an abundance of caution, I just snipped the fuel line right forward of the tank nipple. I didn't want to wrestle with a clamp, and risk gasoline in my eyes and down my arm. That made me mad, as I was wasting gas, and polluting my yard. Not to mention gasoline dribbling all over my mower deck. So I hopped in my car and went into town to get... a bunch of stuff to fix my mess. Note#2: J 1025's have a 5/16th inch fuel line. Somewhat uncommon as you can find 1/4 inch and 3/8ths everywhere. They are not really interchangable. as one size will leak, and the other won't fit.
I came back with some 5/16 clear fuel line, 1/4 and 3/8 hose barbs, a small handfull of hose clamps and a little B&S disposable fuel filter as well as a Kohler filter, also disposable. I was kinda thinking about getting the floorboard filter from the top, or at least trying. So just as I carted out a big socket set, a couple of screwdrivers and whatnot, it started to rain. Bad. Cats and dogs kinda rain. I chucked everything in the shed (I crapped out in the corner that has the shed, a lucky break) and ran inside. Actually, the rain was good, as it washed a lot of the gas off the deck and let it soak into the ground. It also gave me a bit of time to think about how I was gonna fix this mess.
After the rain (almost 3 hours) I got a full tank of diesel in town and went to work. I drained the block filter and replaced the element. Then I took my new fuel tubing and stuck it on the intake side of the electric fuel pump. If you don't know about this gizmo, read up on it, as it's pretty important. It's aft of the engine, kinda on the forward vertical edge of the center console. Open the hood and look way behind the engine. It's a silver can about the size of a baby food jar. Sits sideways. You will see an electrical connection, and fuel hose in (driver's side, low pressure) and fuel out (pass. side, med. pressure). This is also the thingy that makes a clicky, rattling sound when you first turn the key and wait for glow plug cycle. You don't have to remove the engine panel, just reach right in from the side. Of course, the squeeze hose clamps were rotated almost exactly opposite of where i needed them to be, so I had to fart around a bit to get the clamp off. The clear tubing was quite stretchy and fit well over the inlet side with some wiggling. The other end went into the fuel jug, which I filled up only about half way at the station. I had a real problem with the tubing though, it was rolled up in a tight coil, and did not want to relax. Thus, I had to play with it a lot to get the open end down into the diesel.
One I kinda figured out where the suction level was, I turned the key to start the electrical fuel pump. It's very noisy when it sucks air, but quiets down when in liquid. You can also feel the pulses change if you're hanging onto the hose. I did 3 glow plug cycles, and checked the block filter bowl- all good. Turned the key and let it crank. It took 3, 10 sec. cycles, but finally took on the 4th. Who said it "shakes like a dog passing a peach pit"? Yep, it does. Also, the half-throttle thing is probably needed. I let it sit 'till the blue smoke was gone and the idle smoothed out. Maybe 10 sec. max.
Then we trundled off across the yard, 5 gallon jug between my feet. It died once when the hose came out of the fuel, so I had to fish around until it got submerged again. As before, listen and feel when priming, then hold the line steady at that point. I tried to stuff a rag in the filler neck of my fuel jug to hold the tubing steady but I couldn't get it quite right. I kept the rag in there anyway to keep debris out.
Also remember that the fuel return line IS returning fuel, and that's running back out from the cut fuel line, so I dribbled crap all down my driveway. Things held together good enough to drop the mower deck and park in a good spot. Then I let it sit over a catch can for a bit and then went to work on the floorboard fuel filter. I have a couple of 18" or so pieces of 5/16 fuel line from my earlier work, so I pulled out a new filter for comparison. A couple of test fits seemed to indicate a good connection, and the clamps made it even better. After that is was just a matter of removing the old one and installing the Kohler. I went with it as it had a bit bigger bowl. Unfortunately, it was a bit longer, so I had to wiggle slack from the underbody clamp back and forth a bit 'till it all lined up.
The deck seemed to be OK, but I was worried about the gasoline eating up the paint, washing out the spindle grease and weakening the belt, so I put it up on my Deck Dolly and pressure washed it with Simple Green, and regreased the spindles. I could find no damage to the belt. Tractor also got a good wash, with attention to the underbody. I hit both with my leaf blower and then went to work on the driveway dribbles. It was dark by then so I put everything away while I was still ahead.
So now I have to finish my raggedy yard, and order a couple extra filters for "just in case". I clamped the fuel tubing to the sunny side of my garage, hanging vertically. I had to put 2 big Vice-Grips on the bottom end to straighten it all out. Hopefully that length will relax in the summer sun, and I can coil it loosely.
Thanks for reading my tale; I hope it helps somebody else someday.
Anyway, to make a long story short, and condense it to the important facts other newbies might have problems with-
I think gasoline will float on diesel; I added 4 gallons into a tank 1/8th full. That left me do about 2.5 mowing laps around the property before disaster struck. Symptoms: Tractor started sputtering and blue smoke. In like 3 seconds time it went from great to severely limited. Lightbulb went off and I shut it down. That left me on a side slope, in a turn, with the 52" mower deck attached and lowered. No, it's not rollover bad, just a non-flat corner. I was concerned about towing it out with my Cherokee if I had to.
So, the basic problem here is to get the gasoline out, and fresh diesel in. But how? The disposable filter under the floorboard is almost impossible to see with the mower deck attached, let alone get room to work on. The block filter is not a big deal. I was (and still am) under the impression that the filters are ruined, and needed to be replaced. Can anybody dispute this with real world experience?
Out of an abundance of caution, I just snipped the fuel line right forward of the tank nipple. I didn't want to wrestle with a clamp, and risk gasoline in my eyes and down my arm. That made me mad, as I was wasting gas, and polluting my yard. Not to mention gasoline dribbling all over my mower deck. So I hopped in my car and went into town to get... a bunch of stuff to fix my mess. Note#2: J 1025's have a 5/16th inch fuel line. Somewhat uncommon as you can find 1/4 inch and 3/8ths everywhere. They are not really interchangable. as one size will leak, and the other won't fit.
I came back with some 5/16 clear fuel line, 1/4 and 3/8 hose barbs, a small handfull of hose clamps and a little B&S disposable fuel filter as well as a Kohler filter, also disposable. I was kinda thinking about getting the floorboard filter from the top, or at least trying. So just as I carted out a big socket set, a couple of screwdrivers and whatnot, it started to rain. Bad. Cats and dogs kinda rain. I chucked everything in the shed (I crapped out in the corner that has the shed, a lucky break) and ran inside. Actually, the rain was good, as it washed a lot of the gas off the deck and let it soak into the ground. It also gave me a bit of time to think about how I was gonna fix this mess.
After the rain (almost 3 hours) I got a full tank of diesel in town and went to work. I drained the block filter and replaced the element. Then I took my new fuel tubing and stuck it on the intake side of the electric fuel pump. If you don't know about this gizmo, read up on it, as it's pretty important. It's aft of the engine, kinda on the forward vertical edge of the center console. Open the hood and look way behind the engine. It's a silver can about the size of a baby food jar. Sits sideways. You will see an electrical connection, and fuel hose in (driver's side, low pressure) and fuel out (pass. side, med. pressure). This is also the thingy that makes a clicky, rattling sound when you first turn the key and wait for glow plug cycle. You don't have to remove the engine panel, just reach right in from the side. Of course, the squeeze hose clamps were rotated almost exactly opposite of where i needed them to be, so I had to fart around a bit to get the clamp off. The clear tubing was quite stretchy and fit well over the inlet side with some wiggling. The other end went into the fuel jug, which I filled up only about half way at the station. I had a real problem with the tubing though, it was rolled up in a tight coil, and did not want to relax. Thus, I had to play with it a lot to get the open end down into the diesel.
One I kinda figured out where the suction level was, I turned the key to start the electrical fuel pump. It's very noisy when it sucks air, but quiets down when in liquid. You can also feel the pulses change if you're hanging onto the hose. I did 3 glow plug cycles, and checked the block filter bowl- all good. Turned the key and let it crank. It took 3, 10 sec. cycles, but finally took on the 4th. Who said it "shakes like a dog passing a peach pit"? Yep, it does. Also, the half-throttle thing is probably needed. I let it sit 'till the blue smoke was gone and the idle smoothed out. Maybe 10 sec. max.
Then we trundled off across the yard, 5 gallon jug between my feet. It died once when the hose came out of the fuel, so I had to fish around until it got submerged again. As before, listen and feel when priming, then hold the line steady at that point. I tried to stuff a rag in the filler neck of my fuel jug to hold the tubing steady but I couldn't get it quite right. I kept the rag in there anyway to keep debris out.
Also remember that the fuel return line IS returning fuel, and that's running back out from the cut fuel line, so I dribbled crap all down my driveway. Things held together good enough to drop the mower deck and park in a good spot. Then I let it sit over a catch can for a bit and then went to work on the floorboard fuel filter. I have a couple of 18" or so pieces of 5/16 fuel line from my earlier work, so I pulled out a new filter for comparison. A couple of test fits seemed to indicate a good connection, and the clamps made it even better. After that is was just a matter of removing the old one and installing the Kohler. I went with it as it had a bit bigger bowl. Unfortunately, it was a bit longer, so I had to wiggle slack from the underbody clamp back and forth a bit 'till it all lined up.
The deck seemed to be OK, but I was worried about the gasoline eating up the paint, washing out the spindle grease and weakening the belt, so I put it up on my Deck Dolly and pressure washed it with Simple Green, and regreased the spindles. I could find no damage to the belt. Tractor also got a good wash, with attention to the underbody. I hit both with my leaf blower and then went to work on the driveway dribbles. It was dark by then so I put everything away while I was still ahead.
So now I have to finish my raggedy yard, and order a couple extra filters for "just in case". I clamped the fuel tubing to the sunny side of my garage, hanging vertically. I had to put 2 big Vice-Grips on the bottom end to straighten it all out. Hopefully that length will relax in the summer sun, and I can coil it loosely.
Thanks for reading my tale; I hope it helps somebody else someday.
