# AC 185 dies, runs out of fuel



## MichaelSuch (May 9, 2012)

Hey everyone,

Earlier this week my dad was baling hay with his AC 185, and it died as if it ran out of fuel. There's plenty of diesel in the tank and would start and run for awhile if he re-primed the fuel system. We pulled it back up to the shop to work on it. So far we have checked pretty much every fuel line to make sure there were no holes and it wasn't sucking air through the system and it appears not to be. The settlement bowl is clean and is definitely flowing there fine. He's replaced the fuel filter, and once he primes the fuel filter and it is full it will run for about 2-3 minutes until the filter is practically dry again. The injection pump was rebuilt about 2 years ago by a fairly reputable shop. But it will run if he keeps priming it while the engine is running. I don't know much about tractors or diesel engines in general, but it seems like there is no vacuum from the injection pump. Is this plausible? Is there anything else we should check/do before we pull off the injection pump? Thanks guys!


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## boxco49 (Jan 13, 2012)

Do you have rusr in the tank?


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## boxco49 (Jan 13, 2012)

I ment to say rust.


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## MichaelSuch (May 9, 2012)

When we first bought the tractor there had been rust that kept coming through but we've pulled the tank off and cleaned it out really good. But that was roughly 2 years ago. The settlement screen and the filter should've caught any that went through right? When we pulled off the bowl a few days ago when the issue started happening there was a little amount of rust particles on the screen (we just recently filled the tank up completely with diesel, it may have knocked some loose). I would think if that was the issue we would've had problems long ago. I never asked how bad the filter was when he changed it. I do know that when we pulled the settlement bowl assembly off today diesel was flowing from the tank to the end of the line without any issues. The settlement bowl was always full with no air.


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## rocket (Apr 10, 2012)

MichaelSuch said:


> but it seems like there is no vacuum from the injection pump. Is this plausible?


Certainly is. And going by everything else you've said, especially that it keeps running if you keep priming, then the injector pump is the most likely culprit.

Cheers


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## ErnieS (Jun 1, 2011)

It doesn't have a lift pump, does it? My FarmTrac has a small electric pump that supplies the injector pump. I'd check for that first.


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## MichaelSuch (May 9, 2012)

Nope, no lift pump on it. Hooked a clear hose up to it today from the filter to the injection pump, it had plenty of fuel in the line and even then it would start for a second then die. Seems like it got worse after the engine warmed up. We pulled the injection pump today and we're going to change it out with a known working one. We'll see how that goes, thanks for the help so far guys!


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## JeffB (Mar 20, 2012)

If you can keep the tractor running with the primer pump you need to replace the primer pump. If the tractor dies and will start after a few minuts with out primming the check valve on top of the pump that hooks to the return line is pluged.


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## maustin101us (Aug 7, 2012)

mine is doing the same thing this year. What fuel filter is on your tractor? the one I bought for mine 2 years ago was 3?51. the question mark is unknown because I regret not writing it down and changing the filter last year. This year NAPA has sold me 2 filters #3354 and that is when the problems started...anyone know the correct filter for the Allis-Chalmers 185? thanks


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