robin craig Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 So, Yesterday we had guests on the property and management was giving them rides in the commanders position of the 436. After all the guests had been through, the boss decided that one of them, an ex Tankie should be allowed to drive the 436. So, he gets into the drivers seat and as he is sitting there the vehicle that was idling now dies and stops running. It sounded such a classic lack of fuel kind of death to the engine. Anyhow, I called up to the boss and the Tankie and asked if he had pressed the emergency engine shut down pedal, which as you know is painted red. "No I didnt" says the tankie, somewhat awkwardly. Anyhow a few attempts at re starting and it wouldn't run, so the guests were shuttled back to home base and other activities ensued. I then got my manuals out and a few tools and some fuel in jerry cans, as I never trust fuel gauges as they are only instruments of approximation. As I'm doing this the ex Tankie bimbles over and offers to help me go and sort it out, having removed himself from the other guests and their activities. By this time I had fired off an email to Chris McMillan ( Sirhc ) as i expected to recover the 436 to the shop on the A bars and go home for the night if a quick fix had not been found. Aamazingly Chris was still up, and replied very quickly with the common faults that could be the failure cause. So off go the Tankie and myself, and as we drive along he coughs that indeed he did press the red pedal but i'm guessing the boss man didnt see him do it. We opened up the front cover and fiddled with the shut off cable and linkage and rolled the engine over a few times but still no joy, it was moving very freely. For good measure we the dropped in 60 litres of fuel and then removed the engine covers inside and I got my hand onto the lever on the side of the injection pump and moved it fully through its travel a couple of times. I then fired it up again and she spluttered to life. So, the moral of the story, if you want to call it that, is that it takes a good number of cranks to get enogh fuel back into the injection lines to allow the engine to fire and run and stay running, ex Tankies dont know everything, especially if they have never driven the 430 series before, and that in a group setting people out of shame wont admit what they did wrong. What amazes me is that he played with the pedals without being told to do so, but then again he was an officer . . . . . Thanks go to Sirhc (Chris) for the advice, and thanks go to the ex Tankie for restoring my faith in officers! Regards Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 The fuel system is a closed loop with fuel coming from the tank and circulating back again, so provided the lift pump has been running for a minute or so there will always be fuel in the lines. If you'd switched on, left the engine for a minute and then hit the starter I bet she'd have fired up first time. I've had problems with the emergency stop cable sticking on occasions, but the engine will always fire immediately after it's been returned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferretfixer Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 In Service, this is Known as 'The Dead Mans Pedal'. IE: If you get a Runaway engine & dont have a facility like this to stop the engine. ........You may well en up, 'A Dead Man!' :shocked: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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