lastcowboy32
Well-known Member
OK,
So. I was able to get the flexible hose with the combination 18mm/14mm head threaded into the block. No elbow required.
I'm not a fan of the quick connect between my compression tester's hose and its gauge, however. It was sloppy. I had to push the gauge onto the hose hard while cranking the tractor to get the gauge "catch" its seal. Once it caught, it held pressure and didn't leak between strokes.
Assuming cylinder 1 is the radiator and 4 is the furthest back, my dry readings were:
100
0
95
62
Yes. 0 for number two. The starter turned the engine with no labor whatsoever.
My wet readings were:
110
60
110
65
Notice that I had a wet reading for cylinder number 2. I wasn't even going to try it, but I poured in the teaspoon of oil and gave it a few cranks. The first couple of cranks were zero, just like before. Then it caught and gave some compression.
So, I concentrated on cylinders 2 and 4.
I poured a little bit of ATF into cylinder two and let it set. After about 10 seconds, it was pouring right out of my carburetor's air inlet; which I had removed the breather pipe from as per compression test instructions.
I figured that the cylinder was either on the intake stroke, or the intake valve was stuck. So, I cycled the engine a little and put a little more ATF in the cylinder. Some more leaked out of the carb.
What are the chances that I hit two intake strokes?
I figured that the intake valve was sticky. Hence the zero dry reading and the 60PSI wet reading. The oil must have been loosening the valve a little.
So, I poured in a little more ATF, put my finger over the hole and cycled the starter.
That yielded intermittent compression, but it seemed to get stronger.
I repeated that cycle of adding about a teaspoon of ATF and cycling the starter a few times with my finger over the hole. It got so that it was blowing my finger off of the hole and blowing ATF vapor around on the compression strokes every time, not intermittently.
I did another compression test on number 2:
110PSI (obviously wet)
I did the same thing to cylinder 4; as in, I poured in a teaspoon of ATF, put my finger over the hole, cycled the starter a few rotations...repeat about four times.
At this point, I cleaned up my spark plugs and ran the ends over a MAPP gas torch to ensure no fouling and put them back in. Reconnected my coil 12V wire, my spark plug wires and my air breather pipe and fired up the tractor.
SMOKE!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course, all of that ATF in the cylinders and intake.
But it ran better than before.
I ran it up and down the road in high gear at full throttle to work it over. It still had a little skip to it, yet better than before.
I adjusted my carburetor.
I can now get it to run perfectly smooth, no skips at about 1/3 to 1/2 throttle.
Above that, it has a little skip, and there's no carb adjustment that can get of that at this point.
So my thinking is that I now have one or combination of issues:
-A valve or two that now works well enough to pass a compression test, but they're still sticky enough to be "slow" so they can't keep up when the engine is revved.
-Perhaps now the valves are running OK and I'm finally down to a carb issue. For instance, I can thread the high speed needle valve (the diagonal one on the front) all of the way out (I mean completely...removed from the carb), and the engine runs with the same little skip at high speed and slight hesitation when the throttle is goosed. Shouldn't that flood the engine?
So. I was able to get the flexible hose with the combination 18mm/14mm head threaded into the block. No elbow required.
I'm not a fan of the quick connect between my compression tester's hose and its gauge, however. It was sloppy. I had to push the gauge onto the hose hard while cranking the tractor to get the gauge "catch" its seal. Once it caught, it held pressure and didn't leak between strokes.
Assuming cylinder 1 is the radiator and 4 is the furthest back, my dry readings were:
100
0
95
62
Yes. 0 for number two. The starter turned the engine with no labor whatsoever.
My wet readings were:
110
60
110
65
Notice that I had a wet reading for cylinder number 2. I wasn't even going to try it, but I poured in the teaspoon of oil and gave it a few cranks. The first couple of cranks were zero, just like before. Then it caught and gave some compression.
So, I concentrated on cylinders 2 and 4.
I poured a little bit of ATF into cylinder two and let it set. After about 10 seconds, it was pouring right out of my carburetor's air inlet; which I had removed the breather pipe from as per compression test instructions.
I figured that the cylinder was either on the intake stroke, or the intake valve was stuck. So, I cycled the engine a little and put a little more ATF in the cylinder. Some more leaked out of the carb.
What are the chances that I hit two intake strokes?
I figured that the intake valve was sticky. Hence the zero dry reading and the 60PSI wet reading. The oil must have been loosening the valve a little.
So, I poured in a little more ATF, put my finger over the hole and cycled the starter.
That yielded intermittent compression, but it seemed to get stronger.
I repeated that cycle of adding about a teaspoon of ATF and cycling the starter a few times with my finger over the hole. It got so that it was blowing my finger off of the hole and blowing ATF vapor around on the compression strokes every time, not intermittently.
I did another compression test on number 2:
110PSI (obviously wet)
I did the same thing to cylinder 4; as in, I poured in a teaspoon of ATF, put my finger over the hole, cycled the starter a few rotations...repeat about four times.
At this point, I cleaned up my spark plugs and ran the ends over a MAPP gas torch to ensure no fouling and put them back in. Reconnected my coil 12V wire, my spark plug wires and my air breather pipe and fired up the tractor.
SMOKE!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course, all of that ATF in the cylinders and intake.
But it ran better than before.
I ran it up and down the road in high gear at full throttle to work it over. It still had a little skip to it, yet better than before.
I adjusted my carburetor.
I can now get it to run perfectly smooth, no skips at about 1/3 to 1/2 throttle.
Above that, it has a little skip, and there's no carb adjustment that can get of that at this point.
So my thinking is that I now have one or combination of issues:
-A valve or two that now works well enough to pass a compression test, but they're still sticky enough to be "slow" so they can't keep up when the engine is revved.
-Perhaps now the valves are running OK and I'm finally down to a carb issue. For instance, I can thread the high speed needle valve (the diagonal one on the front) all of the way out (I mean completely...removed from the carb), and the engine runs with the same little skip at high speed and slight hesitation when the throttle is goosed. Shouldn't that flood the engine?