JCB 3CX fuel problems

[knighty]

bought a 1990 JCB X3C a while back, runs great but I've had problems with the filter on the inlet to the fuel lift pump blocking with black gunk

think it's fuel bug

the glass bowl filter right after the fuel tank didn't have a filter inside it

I drained the tank, took the access panel off the tank, cleaned it out the best I could, swapped the glass bowl filter for one with a strainer/filter inside it, re-filled with fresh diesel and a good helping of diesel bug killer


but it's still blocking the lift pump strainer, I assumed it might block a couple more times while it was worked out of the system... but it's 4 more times now and it's getting old fast


does anyone know if I can fit a proper fuel filter between the glass bowl filter and the lift pump? or will that create too much restriction for the lift pump?

I could set a pump up with a diesel filter as a polishing system, suck out of the tank through the filter and back to the tank... but I can;t imagine that removing much when it's a pretty clean tank and fresh diesel?

 

[GRW]

You can accumulate an awful lot of gack settled into the bottom of a fuel tank, along with separated water (which of course is what the Bug thrives on along with the bio content of modern crud fuel.
Short of dropping the tank & flushing.... you might be able to put a solid tube on a hose and try "hoovering" the floor of the tank to try & suck out any unwelcome deposits maybe?

 

[500e]

We have had deliveries of fuel in the last 12 months so dirty you would not believe, we now have a 10 micron followed by 5micron filter in the bulk tank line

 

[addjunkie]

Id agree, try and get-any crud out of the tank, or disconnect and circulate it through a filter, while agitating the tank

 

[jmp49]

If the early 3cx is like the 3c3, the fuel tank is a welded section of the frame, so taking the tank off to clean is a bit of a job. At least it seems you have a access hole to get your hand into it.
One day I'm going to saw a hole in and clean mine out, currently I'm running off a boat tank in the cab with a T piece to plumb the return back to.
Do you have the leyland 4/98 or a perkins engine in it? Not too well up on what year they changed engine on the 3cx, but the earlier ones ran the same engine/fuel system as the older 3c3.
The strainer in the lift pump full of grunge is the first thing I used to go to when I got rough running, its a early warning sign that the filters need swapping.

I think I now have a filter & water separator setup inline before the lift pump now, and filters after it of course. I'll look tomorrow, its been a while, the past few years with the boat tank I just put a battery on and use it..

 

[8ob]

Best tool for cleaning gunk out of a tank in situ is a wetndry workshop vac, you will need to throw away the filter afterwards but it will do a good job.

bob

 

[Dozzer]

Where was it used?
Lot of farmers were offered bio diesel on some scheme round our way in Black IBC's and its caused nothing but trouble ever since.
Left all the tanks with lots and i mean lots of black sludge.
Friend has changed the fuel tanks of 2 vehicles, even cleaned with steam washer they couldn't stop fuel filters blocking on the telehandler

 

[knighty]

I thought we'd done a decent job cleaning the tank out though the access hole.

As people said above the tank isn't really removable to do a better job cleaning it.

I've been using it everyday so don't really want to steam clean it and be without it while it drys out... maybe I will if it doesn't start getting better... I could always leave a hot air gun blowing in it for a few hours.

I think I'll try a proper fuel filter in before the lift pump, fingers crossed it's not too restrictive

 

[jmp49]

Yeah just steam it out and leave it upside down to drain for a day.
Think this is what this one had done to it (kidding, this is the parts donor I bought that was rolled into a lake when the bank gave way by the previous owner)

Good luck, the ultimate answer is the bug treatment and clean the tank, but most machines have been filled from dirty bowsers and cans in the field and jobsite for so many years, there's a huge amount of grunge in the tank, so it can take a few goes. On CMM there are people who posted about putting bowden cables in a drill and feeding it in through a hole to break it up.

 

[knighty]

Also... the 4in1 front bucket... it has a pin top middle to attach a rope to etc...

What's thst pin called? I've somehow lost mine and need a new one but no search term I'm trying finds it

 

[jmp49]

You mean the 3 ears that stick up at the top, left middle and right? Sometimes the middle is a double ear but sometimes a single.
Originally they take a long bar that slides through all of them that the folding pallet fork brackets attach to. I've never seen them for sale without the forks and brackets secondhand, and they always seem to be bent slightly. This pic has two pins, maybe its a different variant. But the plate section pivots on the pin and the fork flops round and the plate pushes against the front bucket face and grabs the edge to put the load in there into a strong point instead of the bar pivot.


For my machine that has the same 4-in-1 I got hold of some forks but no pin, so I welded on ears at the width spacings for standard pallet sizes and used 2 arm pins in them instead as it seemed more robust, if less flexible.
If its not these its probably something someone added, do you have a pic?

 

[jmp49]

I just checked, I just have the glass bowl water separator then the lift pump then the filters proper before the injection pump, but I went to the boat tank as a temporary fix for the same issue a year or three back and its been fine with that.
Prior I was blocking filters and the screen in the lift pump every few hours even after adding some biocide to try and clean it up. But on my version there's not even a access panel, only where the fuel sender bolts on and you have to remove the cab to take that off so reality has got in the way of good intentions.

 

[knighty]

I just had a google, looks like the thing on my bucked I'm talking about is either non-standard or it's been added after

I'll take a photo tonight

a bucket pin from a mini digger will probably fit, I'll measure it

 

[anto44]

I took the injector pump off a john deere that had suffered from diesel bug. The tank had been removed and cleaned, new fuel lines, filter housing and filters fitted but was still showing signs of diesel starvation.
When the pump was opened literally every bit of free space in the pump housing was filled with sludge. The pump was cleaned out and rebuilt solving the issue.

 

[jmp49]

Ah yes that jogs a memory too! if you have the 4/98 motor with the CAV dpa pump fitted there's a mesh filter as the line goes from the output fuel filters down into the diesel pump built right into the fitting on the pump. If you take it out to clean it, beware theres a spring loaded ball that also comes out that if you end up having to do it stood in a muddy hole, then instantly pings off and disappears never to be seen again.