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Ol Red

312-8 No Crank No Start

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Ol Red

Hey guys,

 

seems like the hits keep coming these past few months.  I went to mow the lawn today and get my property ready for Memorial Day weekend. I went to start the mower and it would act like it was trying to fire up and then putter out. 
 

I mowed last weekend with it and at one point ran out of gas. Refilled and finished mowing but noticed it was running a little rougher. I took the air filter off, sprayed some starter fluid in the carb, went to start it, heard a click and then nothing. Tried starting again but got nothing turning the key...no click, no crank. The battery is only 6 months old. I hooked it up to jump box but still nothing at all. I have a local tractor mechanic a call who quoted me at $250 with minor carb or electrical work and $350 for any in depth carb or electrical work plus cost of any parts that need replacing. I’d rather try and do myself if possible to save some money given the times. Any idea what the issue might be or what I should try ? 
 

thanks as always guys.

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953 nut

For openers I would like to know if you are using gas with ethanol in it? If so that is probably the cause of the loss of power while mowing and the no-start. That junk has killed many a :wh:.  Is there any gas coming from the fuel pump to the carburetor? With any luck your carburetor hasn't been harmed. 

Your first step should be to drain the fuel tank and replace the fuel line and add a fuel filter. Use ethanol free gas https://www.pure-gas.org/ and add some Seafoam fuel treatment to the gas at a rate of 4 oz. per gallon for the first tank full.

Let us know how you come out.

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gwest_ca

The no-click part is likely an electrical problem. Looked back but don't see what model of 312-8 you have. Do you know the model number of the tractor?

Does it have battery ingintion with a pop can sized coil bolted next to the carb?

Pto OFF?

Clutch pedal down?

Both required to get the starter to work.

 

Garry

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Ol Red

Ok thanks guys. I will try the sea foam in the fuel. I always use higher quality gas either plus or super in all my equipment since gas today is junk. The fuel lines are fairly new but I’ll take another look. 
 

im not one hundred percent what model. I’ll go try and find the model # in the garage. It does have the coil next to the carb. It doesn’t have the magnum it has the k301. 
 

I tried with clutch down and pto was off. Not getting anything at all....hmm

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lynnmor

If the engine won't crank, why the fuel remedies?   What year tractor?  Does it have an oil level switch?  Did you check the oil level?  Here is the demystification guide to help you sort out the electrical problem.

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Ol Red

It doesn’t have an oil level switch. I checked the oil before starting. Oil level looked good. I just added some last weekend. Ok thank you I’ll check it out. 

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gwest_ca

These diagrams should work for you starter issue.

Your tractor is likely a 1985 model 21-12K801. The 1986 and later models have the low oil switch.

Garry

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JCM

Not having the Magnum engine I would think you have either an 85, 86 or 87.

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Ol Red

Ok great thanks guys I’ll take a look and see if I can figure it out 

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953 nut

In the first post Ol Red said it is turning over but not starting and he has had a fuel related problem a few days ago. Lets not go off on an electrical problem until we see if there is gas getting to the carburetor. Probably just has trash in the fuel system.

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Ol Red

Well it started that way but now I’m not getting any sort of clicking or anything whatsoever. I turn the key and it’s dead silent. Right before that happened i went to start it made one click and stopped. 

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953 nut
22 minutes ago, Ol Red said:

went to start it made one click and stopped.

Have you put the battery on a charger?

 

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wallfish

Personally I would fix the no crank no start problem first.

Now it won't click when you try to start it, dead battery or bad connections. I'm guessing some bad connections and it may not be charging the battery or a bad ground since it won't go with a jump box either.

A bad ground or bad positive connection can:

Cause stalling and or run rough

Stop the battery from being charged

Stop the solenoid and starter from cranking the engine.

Once it's even possible to start or it does start, you'll probably need to clean the carb. Not just spray some stuff in there.

Ran it out of gas and it started running rough is a carb clean to me. Sucked something through

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Lee1977

I have a gallon of Berryman setting in the garage ,but I had too much luck with the Wonderjuce ( Star-Tron, Sea-Foam, Sta-Bil and Marvel Mystery Oil ) to not try them first. They have save me a lot of carburetor cleaning. There are times when you have to take it apart. I don't do it unless I have to. 

Edited by Lee1977
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Ol Red

Alright boys, so I finally got it all sorted out. As said above, it was a bad positive connection. Fixed the connection and was cranking no problem but wasn’t firing up. Swapped the spark plug and now it’s back to running like a charm. Thanks for all the help! 
 

Red

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