Asking for HELP. I need it.

[D_Mac 8,853]

So some of you may know I picked up a 310-8 for free. Previous owner said it ran but ran at full throttle and would not idle down. He had it picked up and brought to a local repair where it was decided it wasn't going to be fixed. It was offered to me and I picked it up at the repair shop. The carb was damaged. Throttle plate had come loose from the shaft. Carb was worn badly where throttle shaft goes through the body of the carb. Pulled the head to look for damage and found none. Valves and piston working as they should. Replaced head gasket and ordered s cheap carb off Epay. Remember the previous owner said it was running and I have no reason to doubt him. Installed the new carb with new gaskets and fuel filter. Would not start. Ran on starting fluid but that's all. Figured I got a bad cheap carb and ordered another. When it arrived , installed it and it ran only with choked closed. Could it be 2 bad carbs? Talked on here on another thread and decided to order a carb from Isavetractors. Installed it as it was shipped, will not start or run. Only on starting fluid. Pulled the screen out of gas tank, cleaned it. Drained all gas out of tank and poured in fresh non ethanol gas. Pulled gas line at carb, turned engine over and it is pumping gas. Gas is flowing. Checked compression on engine , more then 100 pounds of pressure.  Put spark tester on and it's getting a very good spark. It will start with starting fluid but I think it should start easier even with that. I called previous owner again. He said again that it started and ran at a very high speed when it left his house. That was close to a month ago now. He had owned the tractor 15 yrs. Well maintained. It is a Kohler 10 hp Magnum engine. Engine was completly rebuilt 15 yrs ago. I can't think of anything else to try. I am no mechanic by no means. Only thing I can think of is timing. Could timing be off and if so how and why? What else can it be ? I'm lost and out of ideas. Please, any help greatly appreciated. Thanks 

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by D_Mac

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,130]

Have you tried a new spark plug?

[lynnmor 7,365]

Is the choke operating backwards on those cheap import carburetors?

[D_Mac 8,853]

Tried new plug. It isn't a cheap carb. It's from isavetractors, carb and throttle work as should.

[Pullstart 63,187]

Throw the starting fluid in the trash quick, or that good compression will be washed away before you know it 

 

If the air cleaner is still off, place your palm over the opening and crank it over a few times until your hand gets wet.  We need to verify the fuel is getting 100% through the carb.

[c-series don 9,023]

I agree with @Pullstart Don’t use ether. I only use a spray bottle filled with gas and a little two stroke oil. I am also scratching my head as to why it won’t run? Also agree about holding your hand over the carb until your hand is wet, that will tell you that you have gas in the carburetor. I’d put a new plug in it as mentioned above. Hopefully others will have a solution, I’ll be following this. 

[Ed Kennell 39,093]

8 hours ago, D_Mac said:

it ran but ran at full throttle and would not idle down

Is the governor / throttle linkage correct?

[Tractorhead 9,065]

after starting it up with starter fluid, the carburetor seems to be the prime suspect.

 

I can think of the following sources of error:

1. Leaky connection of the carburetor then it probably draws false air.
2. Incorrect jetting or incorrect jet needle setting - not enough fuel
3. Incorrect adjustment of the bowl needle, too little fuel
4. Fuel line clogged.
5. Dirt in the nozzles - carefully check with nozzle needles whether the nozzles are free.

6. Check linkage - as Ed suggests

 

if everything fits, then it runs fine without the help of additional fuel.

in Summer i just needed little choke for fireup. - not too much.

 

I conform with Pullstart and CSeries Don.
smack the ether-murks in the bin, that just forces extremely wear on your Piston and Cylindre.
Use instead some petrol with a sprut of 2-stroke oil in it.

 

edit

by the way, as far as i knew the Kohlers work with adjustable timing on points.

maybe the condenser is faulty, for a quick check, you can remove it for a testrun.

If the test runs positive, you should exchange the condenser, otherwise your points will wear dramatically.

 

If you have an dwell measure system you can verify the setup of the points very easily,

but i doubt this will be your main problem. 

For me it sounds most to an Air intake leak.

 

one advice on the side - i never run an Gasengine without any Airfilter.

also that forces a quick wear on piston and cylindre especial in the envoirement where we use our Engines.

 

end edit

Edited June 11, 2023 by Tractorhead

[Skwerl58 729]

In the picture of the carb there is some tape or something on the  fuel fitting, make certain that the tape or ?? is not blocking fuel from entering the carb. The test with hand over it should confirm it.

[clueless 3,012]

1 hour ago, Pullstart said:

Throw the starting fluid in the trash quick, or that good compression will be washed away before you know it 

 

If the air cleaner is still off, place your palm over the opening and crank it over a few times until your hand gets wet.  We need to verify the fuel is getting 100% through the carb.

Spray carb clean in the carb instead of starter fluid, it will do the same thing but a whole lot less violent on the engine. 

[D_Mac 8,853]

That's a small piece of Teflon tape at elbow. Only thing I can add is when reassembling the linkage we ran into trouble remembering how it went. With your help we got it back together.  Before taking it apart we did put scratches next to the holes as you can see in photos. Throttle and choke work as they should. Gov arm not sure as to how you can tell but it is in the hole we marked.

[wallfish 17,105]

Try removing the muffler. If the exhaust is clogged and making too much back pressure it will create havoc.

 

[c-series don 9,023]

3 hours ago, wallfish said:

Try removing the muffler. If the exhaust is clogged and making too much back pressure it will create havoc.

 

Ahh, see now there’s something I wouldn’t have thought of! 

[wallfish 17,105]

12 minutes ago, c-series don said:

Ahh, see now there’s something I wouldn’t have thought of! 

You do after it happens to ya! And of course that's always after all of the frustration checking and changing the common stuff and the last thing before getting the BFH

Mice got into one and I couldn't figure out what in the hec was going on with it. At least it was my own engine so knew 100% for sure it was a runner. It had to be something that changed.

The old gas thing got me pretty good too. Super frustrating trying to figure out why it would only idle and ran like krap when it did start. It was pump gas less than a week old.

 

[squonk 41,617]

28 minutes ago, wallfish said:

 

The old gas thing got me pretty good too. Super frustrating trying to figure out why it would only idle and ran like krap when it did start. It was pump gas less than a week old.

 

My B-I L had a Farmall Super H. He replaced plugs,  points , condenser, cap, rotor, wires and rebuilt the carb trying to get it to start. Then he calls me. I go over there and after about 10 minutes I ask him if he's got gas in it. He says the tank is full. And he was right. It was full of water! 

 

Whenever I get to my wits end I think of the stupidest thing it could be that is wrong. 9 times out of 10 I'm right. 

 

There are no points or condenser on this 310. I would check for a good spark. None of this laying the plug on the head and watching nonsense either. Get a spark tester and make sure it's a blue spark. I remember a kid at the steam show last year with the same tractor. He was driving it all over the place. He parked it for lunch and it wouldn't re-start. I had my ignition tools with me and it had no spark. Diagnosed it as a bad coil. Pulled it apart and the coil wire broke right off the coil. Kid found one at a vendor and was up and running .

[wallfish 17,105]

Mike brings up a good point

A bad plug wire can also create a bunch of frustration.

 

[Jon Paulsen 290]

Never trust a new spark plug. They don't make a bad spark plug. They make whole lots of bad spark plugs. 

 

Crank that rascal at night in the dark and make sure there isn't a pretty fireworks display going on around the iggy parts. 

 

Rebuilt, engine... I wonder if the valve timing is right. 

 

Nice lookin' tractor, well worth getting her to run well again. Hope you nail it's little footies to the cross. If it were mine, I'd go as far as to buy a running other tractor and swap engines. Good luck bro. 

 

 

 

 

[D_Mac 8,853]

We did use a spark plug tester and it is getting good spark. I am really lost as to what else to try. We might try taking the carb off the 310 and putting it on my 1075 just to eliminate that its a bad carb,but I really don't want to try that. Only thing left to try is dropping it off @squonk house !!!

[Wheel-N-It 2,969]

13 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

Is the governor / throttle linkage correct?

 

I'm just now getting to read this thread. On my way scrolling down though everyone's post i was thinking to myself there could be a problem with the governor, then I landed here on what were Ed's thoughts. 

Go ahead and set the governor and try to start it. Make sure the governor spring has not fallen off. 

 

EDIT:  I see I'm a little late to the party, but did you set the governor arm itself?

Edited June 12, 2023 by Wheel-N-It

[D_Mac 8,853]

Governor is put back to where it was. You can see in the photo we scratched the hole where the spring was on the linkage before we took it apart.

[Wheel-N-It 2,969]

8 minutes ago, D_Mac said:

Governor is put back to where it was. You can see in the photo we scratched the hole where the spring was on the linkage before we took it apart.

 

OK got it. So when you say high speed, do you mean wide open throttle (3,600 rpm) or do you mean way beyond 3600 rpm like it's not being governed down at all?

I remember years ago we had someone on here with a similar problem and he had to go back and reset the governor arm that comes off the engine. 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Wheel-N-It

[kpinnc 12,757]

Have you tried "new carb" settings? I see you have high and low speed jets.

 

Run the screws all the way in (just until they bottom, not torqued), and back them out 1 and 1/2 turns each. When the engine starts, let it run for a couple minutes before fine adjustments. 

 

Also check your valve gap under the reed valve cover. All you need are feeler guages. The measurements should be .008-.010 on intake and .017- .019 on the exhaust at TDC cold.

[Bill D 1,999]

Any chance the flywheel was improperly torqued at some point.  I know you said it runs on ether, but is there any possibility that you have a sheared flywheel key?  Another member here had that problem on an Onan.  Any chance you can post video of what it's doing?  Wish you were closer.  I love a good mystery.

[squonk 41,617]

Remember: 

 

The engine ran full speed because the throttle plate fell 😞 off the old carb. I don't think the governor has anything to do with it not starting.

[D_Mac 8,853]

I agree with @squonk. It was running wide open because of the plate falling off. Like I said we took head off to check for damage thinking maybe that little screw got sucked into the engine. When removing head all the linkage had to come off. Replaced head gasket. Put linkage and new carb on with fuel filter, changed oil, checked compression,  checked spark. No start. Replaced carb again no start. Replaced carb again with carb from isavetractors, drained gas, cleaned fuel tank screen. New gas. Pulled fuel line at carb verified it is pumping gas. Still no start.