8N starting problem

esva 8N

Member
Late 1948 front mount 8N, original 6v ignition system.

was running fine, and when i went to restart it after lunch I got a small click the first time i tried to start it and then no sound at all on subsequent tries. Assumed it was probably the selonid or starter.

checked all the connections and they were fine. took a meter to the seloniod and got continuity when the starter button was pushed and none when it wasn't so assumed the solenoid was okay. took the battery lead from the selonid and put it directly on the starter lug and got nothing. tried to jump start directly to the starter and got nothing. so i assumed the starter was bad.

I had a new starter on hand, so put that one on and the tractor fired right up, so I figured i'd fixed the problem. turned it off, refilled the radiator (I took off the drain cock to get the starters on/off) and when i tried to restart got the one time click and then nothing. exactly the same situation.

when i changed them out, i made sure to clean off all the connections and cleaned off the mating surfaces of the new starter and tractor body so that shouldn't be the problem.

I'm completely stumped - i suppose it's possible that a brand new starter could naturally fail after one start, but that doesn't really seem likely, so does anyone have any ideas on what could be the issue?
 
" so does anyone have any ideas on what could be the issue? "

Yes.

You missed the most likely cause of the problem & the easiest to check.

Charge the battery. Then check it per tip # 49.

Or have it load tested.

" checked all the connections and they were fine."

Unless you've got x-ray vision, I wouldn't just assume those cables & connections are good. Did you remove the connections & clean them? How old are the cables? (see tip # 41)
75 Tips
 
thanks Bruce and Soundguy. I charged the battery two weeks ago since I hadn't run the tractor for awhile and noticed it was low on water in one of the cells. But now that you bring that up I guess I took it for granted that the battery was fine since it fired up so well the first time, so I will take it out for a test this afternoon if I can.

I did clean all the connections before concluding they were fine.
 
Just back from NAPA and the battery is fine under load. Since the starter wouldn't jump start either I didn't think that was it but now I'm sure. Unless someone has another idea I'm thinking I just got a lemon starter right out of the box. Irritating, but not the end of the world.
 
I don't know about your tractor, but the battery that came with mine has been leaking acid or I am assuming it has since there is a white power that has an acid smell below the battery.. Anyways, with that, my tractor has yet to have a low battery feeling when trying to start..... Not sure that these tractors require that many CCA to start...
 
" Unless someone has another idea I'm thinking I just got a lemon starter right out of the box. "

It happens......but I'd bench test it first.

How did you jump it when it was on the tractor? As described in tip # 43? It's easy to get a bad connection w/ jumper cables. Most of the time, I need to connect the cable to the clutch pedal which is usually bare metal.
75 Tips
 
Are you sure your starter is not locked. Put it in 4gear and rock it back and forth by pulling and pushing ona rear tire. see if the engine turns over.
 


negative to the lug on top of the starter, and the positive to the nut that the positive from the battery attaches to. I'll try it again to the clutch pedal.

what do you mean by "bench test"?
 

I'll try rocking it in the morning along with the jump start again and let you know what I get. thanks again for all the help.
 
" what do you mean by "bench test"? "

Clamp the starter very tightly in a vice.

Firmly attach one jumper cable to the starter post. (doesn't matter which one)

When you touch the other cable to the case of the starter, it should spin.

Or fall out of the vice if you missed the part about " Clamp the starter very tightly in a vice." ;)
75 Tips
 
(quoted from post at 18:23:46 10/13/14) Are you sure your starter is not locked. Put it in 4gear and rock it back and forth by pulling and pushing ona rear tire. see if the engine turns over.

put in a new gate and culvert today (thank god for having two tractors!) so it took me awhile to get back to the 8N. Don't think I have a big enough vise for a bench test, but I did try the 4th gear rock and it is locked up - about 4-5" of play back and forth and that's it.

So does that mean the bendix didn't retract when it started the last time? Hard to believe the same thing with two different starters, but they are both from the same sweat shop in india i think so perhaps?

I double checked and I do have continuity from the starter lug to the tractor body. Didn't do another jump start to the clutch pedal yet but that is looking less and less like the problem I think?
 
Sometimes you can loosen the starter bolts a little and shake
the starter to unlock it. Could be that he teeth on your flywheel
have gotten a bad spot on them.
 
When you put it in fourth gear and rock it to free it, you have
to rock it hard enough that you actually turn the engine over.
I do that in both directions, forward and back.
Almost every time this has happened to me it has been due to
a low battery or bad connections.
It is possible you got a bad starter, but two? Less likely.
 

Finally got back to the little bugger after picking up a new rebuilt in the USA starter from NAPA. When trying to take off the old one I only got the outside housing off because, as several of you said, the little puppy was locked up tight. I rocked it in 4th and it wouldn't budge, but it came loose when i rocked it in reverse so the old one is now out.

But my question for you that have far more knowledge than do I, is is there likely a non-starter related problem that is causing this, or is it just two bad starters in a row (seems unlikely). Someone said perhaps a bad spot on the flywheel - what should i look for before i put the new one in (and save the old one for future use)? Missing tooth?? What else might it be?
 

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