what have I done to my tractor???

Anonymous-0 · Nov 27, 2008

I was clearing some fence rows with a grader box and my tractor died. I found out that a spark plug wire had been pulled off and was laying by the back wheel. I checked the ends to make sure it went back on tight. However the tractor will not start. Any ideas? The distributor doesn't seem to have turned. Can running on 3 out of four cylinders cause major engine damage?

TomH in PA · Nov 27, 2008

Running on three cylinders won't hurt anything. Sounds like another wire is loose.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 27, 2008

Alright, what a relief. I was afraid of the worst. Thanks for the quick reply.

RAB · Nov 27, 2008

Running on 3 cylinders for a short period will not be more than an operating pain. However if continued, the unburned fuel in that cooling cylinder will wash the lubricant from the cylinder and increased wear will take place. More important on a kero burner but temperature is also a factor. Starting from cold with only three out of 4 is bad news for that cold cylinder.

Regards, RAB

Anonymous-0 · Nov 27, 2008

Check to see if the coil wire to the distributor has been pulled off. Happened to me once.

Janicholson · Nov 27, 2008

As the others indicate, no damage.
The no start is a mystery if it ran for some time on three. If another issue is happening, it needs seperate diagnosis.
See if there is spark by pulling out the coil wire, and hold it near the block with insulated pliers. If no spark. the issue may be inside the dist.
Use a test light to check voltage in the system at various points to find a fault. Jim

oliver power · Nov 27, 2008

I was in the woods one time , when all of a sudden the tractor quit. Really had me puzzled. Ended up being one of the two snap clips which hold the distributor cap on. And of course , it was on the back side of the cap , so everything looked normal. Snapped it back on the cap , and tractor started right up. To this day , I don't know what caused it to un-snap.

John B. · Nov 27, 2008

If one cylinder isn't firing you'll be pumping a lot of raw gas around inside the cylinder and it washes all the oil off the wall. I wouldn't do any work with it running like that!

Jim H SW-PA · Nov 27, 2008

I'd check the oil for Gas also before running it

I had a car engine blow all the gaskets top and bottom, because the top of piston was burned bad enough to have a hole in it and fired both ways.

MarkB_MI · Nov 28, 2008

Whatever pulled off your spark plug wire could have done something else, such as broken a primary ignition wire or tripped the fuel shutoff. Go back to basics: Fuel and spark. Most likely you're not getting one or the other.

what have I done to my tractor???

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

TomH in PA

Well-known Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

RAB

Well-known Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

Janicholson

Well-known Member

oliver power

Member

John B.

Well-known Member

Jim H SW-PA

Member

MarkB_MI

Well-known Member

Similar threads