10 Questions You Should to Know about Tractor Sedimentation Cup

Howdy Jim,

Your sediment bowl probably has a simple "L" shaped rod or if you're lucky a "T" handle.

It is not a petcock like on a motorcycle tank that turns 90 degrees. This one screws in and out 6 full turns or so. Screw it clockwise all the way in to turn off the fuel flow, and turn it counterclockwise all the way out to turn the fuel supply on.

I turn mine all the way out, not just halfway, when I turn the fuel on as someone posted that this backs the valve all the way out and may prevent leaks at the valve when full open.

When turning off my tractor, I turn off the petcock first and then let the tractor run out of fuel - some folks do this and some folks don't.

You have to turn off the fuel valve and then take off the sediment bowl and pick out the screen to clean it. They're so cheap that I just bought a new screen and a gasket (there are two types, cork and rubber/synthetic - take your pick) and I'm just changing them out.

I know Tom's got the parts at TM Tractor, http://www.tmtractor.com.

When you get tired of hurting your fingers on the L-shaped rod, take BigDog's tip and notch the end of a broomstick to turn it with. Sorry, Jim, I didn't answer your last question. There is a nut and cup beneath the bowl. If you loosen this nut it relieves pressure on the bottom of the bowl. Pull the wire bail to the side and you can then, with a little pressure, separate the glass bowl from the metal top of the body. A screen may become visible when you remove the glass bowl. Check and clean the screen. Dan Nope.

I originally thought the screen was glued to the gasket, but that was only because a previous owner had put some kind of blue goo on the gasket that was not compatible with gasoline.

My screen is held in the bowl by resting on the downspout from the gas tank. The downspout comes dows into the center of the bowl and has a little ring on it and the screen has a center hole that stretches a little over that nipple and sits on top of it.

Not very sophisticated, but it seems to work. I have so much crud in my gas tank though that I think I'll add an inline filter shortly... I'm going to convert to 5/16 brake line with compression fittings and I may add an inline ball valve and an inline filter, both of which would be easier to reach down by the carb than up under the hood like the original sediment bowl.

Hello All, I obtained a Jinma 354 with a home purchase in . Machine had about 300hrs on it it now stands at 401hrs. It has run very well while I have owned it. Clearly it sits dormant for most of its life.

STORYTIME

Now for my issue: It started and ran excellent last weekend and used it for a few hours moving firewood. I hoped on Tuesday and crank no start, several attempts at cranking with the throttle lever in different positions would result in the engine coughing an stumbling but never running.
1st) The sediment bowl is amber colored or stained either way I couldn't tell if it had fuel in it or not so I removed it. It was full and had a very little bit of "crud" in the bottom of the bowl. It was emptied cleaned and reinstalled. When I turned the petcock back on i could see fuel filling but it seems to be slower than I would expect it to be. I have not tried to blow air back into the tank at this time. The cup will fill with fuel and remain full so I don't think this is a contributing factor at this time.
Next) I removed the line from the fuel shut-off to the IP. I cleaned and blew it out with air. I reinstalled the line to the fuel shut-off and turn it on and let it run into a bucket. Not knowing the ID of the hose and only looking at the orifice in the banjo it seems that fuel does not come out as fast as I was expecting at least when I compare to say a 4 wheeler with 1/4 fuel line and the tank drains very quickly. I let the line hang for awhile thinking to drain the tank and peak inside while I addressed a serious issue. After several minutes ~ 4 gallons had come out I turned of the fuel. Tank is not empty
Next) The banjo bolt at the IP has a screen filter I found it was plugged sold with "crud" and slimy snot substance after reading many post here I believe to be "bugs". I cleaned away as much of the physical material as I could and gently tried to blow it clean not terribly effective. I let the screen sit in mineral spirits over and and used a nylon brush and some gentle air and got it to a state seems clean enough to flow fuel but will be replacing with new (if available).

Next) I reinstalled the line at the IP side. I removed the fuel filter and it was full of fuel. I took a new filter and filled it with fresh diesel and reinstalled. Then began the sequence of air purging from various posts I read here. ( I have included pictures to indicated what I was opening.) I opened the fuel filter bleeder and used the hand prime and immediately have fuel there (duh the filter was just filled lol) I open the 2 "screws" on the face of the IP and hand pump until fuel runs from them. I have heard air hissing out on first opening. Then I move up top and open the 3 injector lines and crank the engine using the decomp level (just learned what that was this week) until fuel runs out. The 1st time I did this I don't believe i was patient enough as fuel was not coming out so I loosen the 3 hard lines at the IP (green arrows on pic) until fuel dribbled out. Then I caught a few posts saying that might be a no no so I have stopped doing that and had found it isn't necessary anyways.

Once I run through all of that the tractor will start and run but not for long, maybe a minute minute and a half. It may try to stall out but If I hold the fuel pedal to the floor it will stumble a few time and the RPM's will come back to and never beyond this may happen 2 or 3 times then it quits and cannot be restarted. When this happens I removed the fuel filter and it is drained maybe a 1/5th of the way. I can repeat this process indefinitely with the same results.

Items of concern:
1) There is no amount of hand priming that I have done yet that I can get fuel to come out of the fuel filter bleeder. (Unless the filter is manually filled to the top)
2) I checked the IP oil by draining it out. I found YT videos showing this procedure. When I removed the 1 drain bolt (orange arrow) very little oil came out( ~1- 2oz) nothing like the stream of oil pouring out on video. The second drain bolt( Purple arrow) is a massive design flow as it cannot be removed. Before it can be fully unthreaded it hits the lip of the block casting. I drained what I could and refilled until oil began to weep from this 鍍ube? Blue arrow)
3) The Diesel in the tank is 2 years old at least.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something but this is getting long winded.

This should be enough for now to prompt questions and suggestions for the helpful bunch and scare all the TL R痴 away

I have been on forum boards about as long as they have existed and will report back the conclusion of this saga whether the corrective action is determined here or not. That痴 just forum etiquette.

Thanx in advance to all who dive in.