So I completed the install of the 26-horse Kohler EFI engine in the Chief this year. It performs great. I'm dealing with a serious deal-breaker of an issue on the machine, and I need ideas.
The EFI system operates on about 45psi of fuel pressure on the pressure side of the regulator to the fuel rail. I'm getting air in the system from the pickup inside the tank. Air in an EFI system equals bad. When the air gets in the system, the air "bubble" gets caught in the top part of the fuel rail (it's an arch b/t the two injectors), so one cylinder gets appropriate pressure, but the air in the system gets caught here, and forces the front cylinder to run lean. Effing lean. The muffler will turn red. A bad thing. There is a bleeder at the top of the rail, but it never gets all the air out, and eventually more air will work its way into the system. There is a recirculation line on the opposite side of the pressure regulator that moves unused gas back to the tank. Now, this puppy isn't a little spit-spit pulse pump. You could water the friggen' lawn with this baby. If air gets anywhere close to the pickup, it'll get sucked into the vortex that is my 0.5 gpm pump. A bubble stands no chance of getting back into the tank once it's in the pickup, unless it goes through the whole system. That's not good.
Everything else is sealed (i.e., it's not sucking air from a loose fitting) as the pickup line is getting sloshed around in the tank, it eventually picks up itty bitty bubbles, which eventually congregate in the rail. To make a long story short, I need a way to set up a fuel tank and pickup where there is (key point here) NO POSSIBILITY of getting air in the system. I've thought about it for months. Round tank with central pickup? No good, it'll still pickup air if it gets sloshed around.
I need good ideas. The machine is useless unless I can use it for what it's intended for.
Thanks in advance...
~m
The EFI system operates on about 45psi of fuel pressure on the pressure side of the regulator to the fuel rail. I'm getting air in the system from the pickup inside the tank. Air in an EFI system equals bad. When the air gets in the system, the air "bubble" gets caught in the top part of the fuel rail (it's an arch b/t the two injectors), so one cylinder gets appropriate pressure, but the air in the system gets caught here, and forces the front cylinder to run lean. Effing lean. The muffler will turn red. A bad thing. There is a bleeder at the top of the rail, but it never gets all the air out, and eventually more air will work its way into the system. There is a recirculation line on the opposite side of the pressure regulator that moves unused gas back to the tank. Now, this puppy isn't a little spit-spit pulse pump. You could water the friggen' lawn with this baby. If air gets anywhere close to the pickup, it'll get sucked into the vortex that is my 0.5 gpm pump. A bubble stands no chance of getting back into the tank once it's in the pickup, unless it goes through the whole system. That's not good.
Everything else is sealed (i.e., it's not sucking air from a loose fitting) as the pickup line is getting sloshed around in the tank, it eventually picks up itty bitty bubbles, which eventually congregate in the rail. To make a long story short, I need a way to set up a fuel tank and pickup where there is (key point here) NO POSSIBILITY of getting air in the system. I've thought about it for months. Round tank with central pickup? No good, it'll still pickup air if it gets sloshed around.
I need good ideas. The machine is useless unless I can use it for what it's intended for.
Thanks in advance...
~m
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