Oliver won't start now.

I just inherited an Oliver crawler. Ran great when I started it 4 months ago, won�t start now. Not even a cough. Tractor is stored in a dry barn, 30-45 degrees.

What I know.

It is an OC-46 loader. (looks like one and the nameplate says it is one)
It has gas in the tank (took me a while to find tank, didn�t know I was sitting on it)
It turns over fine (charged the battery and it spins fine)
This is a working tractor, not a restoration. These 4 months without being started is probably the longest it has sat in years.

Tests I have run

Now bear with me here. I am wishing I took auto-shop in high school. I�m reasonably handy, just don�t know much about gasoline engines tractor or otherwise. I�m an electrical engineer, if you want to know about high-speed digital circuits I�m your guy, tractor parts I�m just learning...

1. I removed the middle spark plug, cranked the engine and saw spark.

2. There is liquid which I assume is gas in the fuel bowl.

3. I disconnected the hose to what I assume is the air-cleaner. An aprox 1.5� dia rubber lined hosed running from the rear of the carb toward the rear of the tractor. There was gas in the bottom of the carb.

4. With the choke in (lean mixture) I squirted some starter fluid into the carb. No effect. Pulled choke out, still no effect.

5 I removed the exhaust stack and as I crank the engine puffs of mist come out of exhaust manifold pipe. Smells like gas, but by this point there is gas in carb, starter fluid etc. so smell is 50-50.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Find the fuel shutoff valve and cut off the the fuel to the carb. I'm not familiar with the OC, but assume it has a cutoff. Always cut the fuel off when you stop the tractor.

Remove the carb and drain it - don't take anything apart, just shake it around until no more gas comes out and then put it someplace warm.

Remove the spark plugs and see if they look clean or oily. If they look oily, you can replace or just wipe them off.

Once you carb looks dry, put her back on and reconnect the fuel. Before you do anything, hit it with a bit of starter fluid and see if she fires. If she does, then open the fuel shutoff and crank her up.

Take it easy on the choke - these old machines are easy to flood and every engine will start a little different. If you do flood it, open the thottle all the way up, turn off the fuel and crank a few times. If it doesn't kick off, let her sit and then try again. Once she pops, put the throttle in a more normal starting position and see if you can't get her running.

Tip

Watch taking cap off. Some have ultra small clips, bushings, spacers, or whatever?

Fernan
Foxfire Farms Shorthorns

Again my ignorance but if it was points and condensor would I get any spark, in time or not.

The plug I pulled out looked wet with gas and maybe a little oil. Wiped it off and looked fine.

What is HEET?

Again thanks to everyone!!

Not to sound totaly ignorant but where do you turn off the gas?

Thanks again