8N Hard Starting

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
My brother has an 8N which is hard to get started. We know the carb must be leaking or running over because over time the gas runs out. Today when he tried to start it, it would pop and sputter a little but would not go. After doing this several times it had black oily looking stuff leaking out around where the exhaust pipe connects to the manifold. My brother was sure that it was flooded, but I am not so sure. My experience has been when something is flooded you give it full throttle. This would not fire or do anything at full throttle. He had to keep working the choke to get it to fire. We did finally get it running and it ran fine driving from his place to mine. As we were trying to start it I thought it sounded like it was blowing back out through air intake. This makes me wonder if it is a timing issue. Just wondering what you guys think and how you adjust timing on this? Any help would be appreciated.

I did a complete ignition tune up on this tractor a year and a half ago. It ran beautifully after that until this problem started last fall. My brother only uses it for hauling firewood and occasionally raking hay.
 
8N with a front mount distributor or side mount distributor?
Timing is all together different, although I'm not sure that's the problem.
The fuel should be turned off on these tractors when they set.
If you do not, they will flood the carb and worse.
 
My experience has been that a flooded N will, more often than not, not start by giving it full throttle.

I've never had to do this (I walk away and try a few hours later), but many suggest putting new plugs in when it floods. Autolite 437 gapped at 0.025" are recommended.

Overall, it sounds to me to be an electrical issue. I would re-set the points and make sure all of your electrical connections are clean and tight for the season.

As Stephen and Royse have said, be sure to shut the fuel off when the tractor is not running. Make sure that you change the oil before running this season too! - you guessed right - that leaky gas had to go somewhere.

Colin, MN
 
If and when you flood one the first thing you need to do is clean or replace the plugs. Auto lite 437s have been found to work the best in these tractors. If flooded to the point you have stuff coming out of the exhaust pipe you have other problems and maybe have gas in the oil and if so you got bigger problems. Check the spark at all 4 plugs and make sure it is a blue/white in color and will jump a 1/4 inch gap. Next pull the carb drain plug and let gas flow a few minutes. Catch it to look for dirt etc which can cause the float needle from closing as it should which causes it to flood.
 
compression thru the intake and carb may mean sticking valves.

I'd check floats and pull valve covers.. or do a thumb test.

sticking valves will sure make it hard to start.. they may not be stuck solid.. but rather stictiony and finally get moving..e tc..
 
(quoted from post at 19:42:03 03/30/13) It is a front mount distributor. When you say flood the carb or worse? What does the or worse mean?
That gas has to go somewhere, it can end up in the crankcase diluting your oil.
You may want to check or change it if you haven't already.
With the front mount distributor you take it off the tractor, set the point gap
and timing all on the bench and put it back on. There's nothing you have to
set while running with a timing light as with other ignitions.
The procedure is in the I&T FO-4 manual or can be found in the archives here.
If it has set for a while the valves may be sticky. Just working it may help.
 

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