John Deere 2020 Runs great for about half hour

Cayuga

New User
So I'm not real sure where to start on this whole topic so I probably try to lay it out the best I can.

I let the tractor sit for a about year and half without messing with it. When I parked it had a fuel problem, Wouldn't hardly run at all. I recently had the carburetor rebuilt. Still had trouble getting it started but ended up being the fuel load screw being way out of adjustment. However in the process of trying to figure that out I either changed or replaced the following: Plugs, cap, rotor, coil, battery, fuel filter, drained/flushed tank and fuel lines.

The tractor now runs fabulous for about 20-40 minutes, until its up to a warm temp and then it falls on its face. Loses power and sits there and surges if I give it any throttle at all. However, It'll purr like normal at an idle.

I have since changed the fuel pump, cause why not everything is else new on the fuel side.

Things I have checked that seem to be common questions when I speak to people local, engine oil doesn't have water in it, it's not losing coolant. It may be worth noting that I think the voltage regulator may not be any good. Alternator tested 15 volts at the small positive terminal and 12.25 volts at the 10 gauge terminal. I checked that today, although when it started running weird I hooked it to my truck with jumper cables thinking if it was a voltage issue that might clear it up. It didn't affect it much.

I'm at a complete loss here on what to pursue next. I feel like I'm just throwing parts at it and starting to run out of things to throw at it. HA I have a parts manual, service manual, and the operators manual for this tractor I have scoured it but haven't came up with much.
 
I want to add a couple other little things I've tried in the course of this. I have removed the gas cap to ensure its venting correctly. It didn't seem to help at all. I also ran a jumper cable from the battery positive to the positive side of the coil and it also didn't seem to help.

Also left out, somewhere along the way I believe its been changed from a points and condenser to an electronic type ignition. When I opened up below the dist. cap it wasn't points and condenser.
 

When you drained the fuel tank, did you remove the shutoff valve fitting from the bottom of the tank, and cleaned its passages out?
 
(quoted from post at 20:28:09 04/15/23) So I'm not real sure where to start on this whole topic so I probably try to lay it out the best I can.

I let the tractor sit for a about year and half without messing with it. When I parked it had a fuel problem, Wouldn't hardly run at all. I recently had the carburetor rebuilt. Still had trouble getting it started but ended up being the fuel load screw being way out of adjustment. However in the process of trying to figure that out I either changed or replaced the following: Plugs, cap, rotor, coil, battery, fuel filter, drained/flushed tank and fuel lines.

The tractor now runs fabulous for about 20-40 minutes, until its up to a warm temp and then it falls on its face. Loses power and sits there and surges if I give it any throttle at all. However, It'll purr like normal at an idle.

I have since changed the fuel pump, cause why not everything is else new on the fuel side.

Things I have checked that seem to be common questions when I speak to people local, engine oil doesn't have water in it, it's not losing coolant. It may be worth noting that I think the voltage regulator may not be any good. Alternator tested 15 volts at the small positive terminal and 12.25 volts at the 10 gauge terminal. I checked that today, although when it started running weird I hooked it to my truck with jumper cables thinking if it was a voltage issue that might clear it up. It didn't affect it much.

I'm at a complete loss here on what to pursue next. I feel like I'm just throwing parts at it and starting to run out of things to throw at it. HA I have a parts manual, service manual, and the operators manual for this tractor I have scoured it but haven't came up with much.


There is a fuel filter that is well hidden in the 90 degree fitting just prior to the cab . Has it been cleaned ?
 
Hello Cayuga welcome to YT! Just to be clear the filter
Buick and Deere is suggesting you check is actually a
screen. It is number 18 in the attached. Additionally,
you talk about flushing the tank. Although it is helpful
to pour something through the tank and flush it out
there can still be stuff on the sides of the tank that
really did not get touched with a simple through flush. I
do not know if you were driving the tractor around
while it was running if so you could have very well
stirred up some untouched crud in the tank which has
now made it into your gas filter. Maybe looking down in
the tank with a good light might give you some insight
as to what may still be in the tank and possibly causing
blockage. This may be overkill for a tractor that only
sat a year and a half. Always pays to be thorough in
mechanical repairs.
JD 2020 online parts catalog
 
Find someone with a borescope or go to hf and buy one and look down in the fuel tank when its empty. Make really good and sure its spotless.

Something else Ive had cause this would be a priming pump issue one question would be does it run better if the gas tank is completely full?

Incorrect spark plug gap will also do this I had a chainsaw of all things would run great till hot then die. Plug was too narrow as it got hot gap got smaller.

3rd is condenser as already suggested. I had a 2510 that was incredibly irratic even with shined up and new points. Put the ignitor kit in and it ran like a top. Ive been doing this one a lot lately and actually did one in a 6v Ford 2000 yesterday. Seems like a lot of problems go away between this and using the timing light to check timing. Hope some of this helps!
 

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