I woke up EJ the 8N today

[8ntruck 9,111]

Finally made time for a few days of work on our Ky property this week.  1st order of business was to wake EJ the 8N up from his extended hibernation.  Suprise, suprise all 4 tires held air over the winter.  He needed some antifreeze to top up the radiator.  Poured the remaining couple gallons of last year's gas in the tank, reinstalled the battery, flipped the switch to on, bumped the starter button, and he started right up.  Scary, really.  That electronic ignition I installed last year sure is wonderful.  Brakes still work, too.  Good sign that it got the axle leak fixed last year.

 

Bush hogged the roadside and the 'driveway' before things got weird.  Sputter, sputter, stall.  Got gas in the tank, seems to be spark.  What the heck?  Tools a couple hundred yards up hill - 90+ degrees.  Get back with proper wrench, loosen the fuel line as carb, fuel comes out.  Switch on, bump the starter button, starts right up.  Drive him back up the hill and trade the bush hog for a box blade.  He runs the box blade for a while, but does the sputter, sputter, stall routine a couple more times.  Same fix.

 

I've come up with 3 possibilities:

Vapor lock.  The fuel line does pass right over the engine.  It was a hot day.  Loosening the fuel line at the carb 'burped' the vapor out?

 

Faulty shutoff valve at the tank?  The fuel level was approaching the 'reserve' level.  Completely opening the valve does not open the 'reserve'?

 

Overheated coil?  Again, a hot day.  The coil feels about like a cup of coffee.  Wasn't much cooler when the tractor restarted.  I'm pretty sure thus isn't the issue.

 

Short term fix - 5 more gallons of gas in the tank tomorrow.

Long term fix - electric fuel pump?

 

 

 

Edited 20 hours ago by 8ntruck

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,905]

If all things are working, gravity feed fuel system are nice, nothing added in the system to possibly go wrong.  It sounds like you have an idea on what to trouble shoot.

[nyquil junkie 332]

I have a 51 8n...

When it sputters out and dies then wont start, immediately check for spark. it might spark a little but it needs to throw a good spark to run. 1/4" in the open air. You might se less of a spark say on the pulled out plug or on a spark tester, but under compression it might not have enough juice to spark enough.  The 8n is a low compression engine.... it takes a hot spark to get it to fire. 

 

Stick a good coil on there and see if the problem goes away.  As you observe, something is happening when its hot, and that narrows it down a lot.

 

Air bubbles in the fuel line shouldn't hurt, its keeping the bowl full thats all that matters. With low fuel in the tank, it doesnt take much tilt to stop the fuel, but if it dies on that tilt, you wont have any fuel flowing out.

 

If it did it even w a half tank, I suspect the coil is overheating.

[8ntruck 9,111]

the property I'm operating on has plenty of contour, so low fuel and tilt can be an issue.  

I installed an electronic ignition on it last fall.  No points. Has great spark.  Replaced the coil at that time with the one Steiner Tractor recommended.  Lack of spark is on the list, but near the bottom.

 

Twice when I checked for fuel flow, there was none, so that goes to the top of the list.  Also installed a new fuel line, carb elbow, and shut off valve at the tank last fall.  Haven't been into the carb in several years, though - maybe it's time.

Edited 9 hours ago by 8ntruck

[peter lena 9,979]

@8ntruck  have these in use for years, low pressure  3.5 psi , absolutely bombproof , also did , my  first related  fuel hose , swap out , at the the time ? fuel check valve , short clear fuel rated  hose up to carb , so you can always see the standing fuel , regularly add an experiment  into a service area . make it better ?  easier ? worse ? low pressure  is perfect for these carbs , pete  ,  k=carbole+electric+fuel+pump&hvadid=816691941064&hvdev=c&hvexpln=67&hvlocphy=9003257&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=10299470043

[ebinmaine 79,829]

5 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

Haven't been into the carb in several years, though - maybe it's time.

 

My experience shows me that rebuilding a carb is no longer a trouble shooting exercise. 

It is a scheduled maintenance item. 

 

[8ntruck 9,111]

Well, I started the morning by buying 5 gallons ot ethanol free gas at $3.99.9 a gallon.  

 

Poured that into EJ and he hummed along happily all day, doing box blade and grader blade work.

 

Late in the afternoon, I noticed an oil leak on the right rear hub.  Then I pushed on the tire and discovered that the hub was loose!  Got out my breaker bar and hugemoungous six point socket and proceeded to torque the hub nut.  Just as it was feeling like it was pulling up tight, the torque required to turn the nut stopped increasing.  Not good, but I have a new nut in stock.  On closer look, the threads on the axle look buggered.  The new nut did not thread on easily, so I put a second washer on to use a different section of threads and patched it back together for now.  Probably will end up with a new axle and hub.