I had some fuel-related issues that took me a bit to get to. Part of the problem ended up being the rubber gas lines had degraded. I just got the carb cleaned out, installed a fresh in-line fuel filter, poured some gas in to the tank and watched it wash a bunch of black crud into the filter. Nuts. Had to re-clean everything again and put new line in. I got it to run ok, but it was way down on power. Also, I could not stop the carb from draining the contents of the fuel tank onto the ground, no matter how many time I cleaned the needle & seat and even after I removed the corrosion & assorted goop that had the float locked up between the ethanol in the gas and a bit of moisture that sat in there.
I think I have my answer, though, after thinking about this.
I looked at this needle long and hard. I did not remember that the point looked like this, but it has been working like a champ for a couple of years so it’s been a long time since I had this carb open. The hole in the tip looked too round, too perfect not to have been factory. And besides, I never found any bits of rubber or Viton or whatever that is anywhere. So I must be remembering it wrong?
The more I think about it though, the more sense it makes. The fact that I can’t stop the needle from leaking tells me there’s an issue with the needle or float. The float has been set right and working for years. Sure it may have sprung a leak, but there’s no fluid in it, so I doubt it. So I’m pretty positive the missing bit of the tip is critical for sealing nor matter how intentional it looks. I guess this is more ethanol damage?
So, question: are the needles and seats matched pairs? I have a couple spare carbs, If I swap out a new needle, to I need to swap the seat, too? FWIW, being a 1977, these are Zeniths.
Another question: Could this probably over-rich condition also be why it is down on power? I normally mow 3 acres weekly from March through October with this tractor. Right now, it can’t handle more than a few individual blades of grass without stalling. Once running, it seems pretty smooth and normal. Just under-powered. It smokes pretty good, but then it always did, no not sure if anything has changed there.
I’m hoping I can blame some of this on the needle as well.
It’s been mostly sitting for the last few months since it went off, so I will go over and lube the whole throttle and governor linkage to make sure that is free. Also check the linkage adjustment, since I have had the carb off. Though when the carb has been off before, I have never had to alter the linkage before. And also, it started losing power during a period when the carb wasn’t touched.
The other issue I am dealing with is…. I’m not sure. I suspect the alternator.
As I said, the tractor has been mostly sitting for a few months. The battery was pretty dead. When I went to jump start it recently, everything went as expected at first. Cleaned a few connections, ran a bit rough for at first & had to finesse the choke a bit, then everything started to smooth out, choke fully opened, and everything pretty smooth after a couple minutes. I figured I would let it run for a bit to charge the battery. I flicked the switch to trigger the alternator, and got what I thought was a belt squeal. That makes some sense. The belts are old, stretched, and I am running out of adjustment room. No big deal. It had started that a bit the last time it had been in use. Now, however, it kept squealing. I ran it maybe 5-10 minutes, then shut it down to see which belt was loose and so tighten it up. Except both belts were actually still pretty nicely tight from the last time I adjusted them. Not a lot of deflection in either one. I didn’t measure, but I’d guess 1/4”-3/8” deflection. And stranger still, neither one was at all hot.
I checked the oil in the fan hub. It accepted a little, but not much. It has not been that long since the last time I oiled it.
So I am thinking the belt squeal wasn’t a belt squeal, but a bearing in the alternator instead. I am pretty sure it *is* charging. The battery was quite dead at first, and later whine it was running, my meter jumped up into the normal area. I didn’t look closely enough at it to see if it was reading 12V or 14 V, but since the battery was so dead a few minutes before, the fact that the meter was in the right vicinity I took to mean it was charging just fine.
So anyway, the obvious next steps are going to be to take the hood off, take the belts off and see how everything spins. I’ll take the alternator in to get tested which should either confirm or rule out the bearing idea if it is not obvious spinning by hand. If a bearing is starting to drag, that could suck some power, too.
Obviously, I’ll rule out the easier things first, but is there any way the governor could have been the source of the noise?
Where is the best source for belts? They need replacing regardless. When I looked, no one locally had them in stock, and they were pretty pricey for the little belts that they are. I know people on here have talked about turning over the engine by turning the fan by hand. I have never been able to do that with this tractor, even after freshly tightening the belts, so maybe they are the only issue after all. But no heat after slipping for several minutes???
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts and ideas as always. Happy prepping for Spring, and I hope you are all done with snow for the year!
