Tractor ran out of diesel

Now that I finished the harrow work, on Sunday I decided to drive my John Deere 5420 tractor to the gas station to refuel.  I thought I had enough fuel left. (My fuel gauge quit working last year.)   I forgot all I did since I last fueled up the tractor.  The bad news is that I ran out of diesel.  The good news in that is that I ran out while in my pole shed, and not out on the road.  I had just warmed up my tractor for a minute and was raising the loader to get ready to drive when the tractor ran out of diesel.

What?!!!

I drove my pickup to the gas station and got 6 gallons of diesel.  When I tried to restart the tractor it ran briefly then stopped.  I followed all the manual's instructions on bleeding the air out of the fuel line.  http://manuals.deere.com/omview/OMRE199128_19/OUO1043_0000243_19_28FEB02_1.htm

The book also said to completely fill the fuel tank before trying to bleed the air and restart the tractor.  So two more trips to the gas station with the extra two gas cans I found. The extra cans enabled me to transport 16 gallons at a time.  I found my fuel tank holds about 26 to 27 gallons.  So I have extra diesel for another day.

I tried bleeding the air again and restarting the tractor.  No go.  The bleeding didn't seem to work.  Off to YouTube and Google to look for ideas.  While I was bleeding the air correctly, the priming pump didn't seem to be drawing diesel.  My arms got tired from pushing the primer.   The YouTube videos had fuel primed in 10 to 12 pumps.

This tractor model doesn't have a fuel pump.  A web site mentioned a check valve between the fuel tank and the fuel filter. This check valve is meant to provide a one way directional flow of fuel from the tank to the filter.  I couldn't find it.  I even checked with Wyatt who had replaced an old fuel hose for me last year.  He didn't remember seeing a check valve.

A web site mentioned possible debris blocking either the check valve or the priming pump.  I took the cover off the priming pump.  No debris.  With the top off I added diesel and filled the priming pump and the fuel filter.   No go.

This morning I had Curtis help me.  He used my air compressor to add pressure to my fuel tank and I went through the various bleeding steps again without using the priming pump.  This time I had fuel come out the filter base bleed screw and the injection pump bleed screw.   Then I was able to start my tractor after turning it over a few times.  15 minutes after shutting the tractor off I was able to easily restart it.

I don't know if the priming pump quit working, or if there was debris in the fuel line blocking the flow until I pressurized the fuel tank.

Lessons learned:

1. Fix the fuel gauge.
2. If I run out of fuel, don't try to restart the tractor until I completely refill the fuel tank.
3. Don't run out of diesel.