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Ford 900 won't stay running

4K views 12 replies 6 participants last post by  JohnW 
#1 ·
Hello everyone. My father in law has a Ford 900 that we are beating our heads against anything we can find with an issue. He was brush hogging the other night and he said all of a sudden out of the blue it started spitting and sputtering and wouldn't stay running, eventually killing itself. He was able to get it started and run long enough half assed to get it to the garage. His initial thought was low on fuel, but it was well over half full. He said at that time he pulled the air cleaner tube off, checked things out. Pulled the fuel sediment bowl off and put back on. At that point, he tried starting it back up and it ran like normal, and was able to finish mowing.

Fast forward a week. I go to get on the tractor to do a little mowing myself and it wouldn't hardly start. Spit and sputtered like he described. It acted almost like the choke was stuck. I checked that, and it wasn't. I then pulled the fuel sediment bowl and turned the gas shut off valve on to make sure it was getting fuel to the carb, which it was. I put it all back together, it fired right up and ran fine. I didn't end up mowing, but let it idle a bit, revel it a few times and all acted normal. I did this for about 5 minutes. Went to back the tractor back in place and it wouldn't even get out of its own way slitting and sputtering, eventually killing itself again.

I'm at a complete loss at what to do. Could anyone provide some insight on what I could try next? I have a lot of mowing that needs done, and right now it's our only operable tractor.

Thanks!
 
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#2 ·
Does pulling the chock make a difference when it is sputtering?

A couple of to check regarding fuel.
Pull plug from bottom of carb, make sure get good flow out. Should be almost full flow out the drain with valve open. If not, check filter in carb at the elbow where line attaches.
Also, open gas cap, the vent in cap could be plugged. Creating a vacuum in tank will starve for fuel.

When its sputtering, check for a good BLUE spark.


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#7 ·
Thank you to everyone who has responded. I put new points, and coil on the tractor at the end of last season. I have checked inside the gas tank and it looks absolutely as clean as could be. The last time I pulled the fuel sediment bowl it didn't seem to affect it any. I have since pulled the carb and disassembled it for a good cleaning. After its back together, and I see how it acts, I will try removing the gas cap while its running to see if that makes a difference.

Also, pulling the choke while its running doesn't affect anything. Just causes it to die even sooner.
 
#8 ·
So, just thought I'd post another update. I pulled the carb and put a rebuild kit in it. Still no luck. Put all new plugs, wires, cap, rotor, points/condenser, and still no luck. The tractor won't even begin to fire. Every once in a great while it will spit and sputter as it wants to fire, but no go. I'm honestly at a loss at this point as to what the problem could be. It seems to be getting spark everywhere I've tested, and it's definitely getting fuel as you can smell it when cranking.
 
#13 ·
I pulled the carb and put a rebuild kit in it. Still no luck. Put all new plugs, wires, cap, rotor, points/condenser, and still no luck.
The one thing you did not do is replace the coil and your showing classic bad coil symptoms. Do like Sean said, pull a plug wire and check for a blue and snappy spark anything else is no good. It would also be a good idea to run a hot wire from the battery to the coil and see what happens, you could have bad wiring or bad ignition switch.
 
#10 ·
First, pull one of the plug wires and hold it near a good ground spot and crank the starter. You need a strong blue/white spark that will jump at least a 1/4" gap to ground. Once you know you have a good spark, after trying to start it for at least 10 seconds, pull the plugs to see if they are wet, or at least smell like gasoline.
 
#12 ·
I have pulled plug wires and it is getting spark.
Is it a good strong blue/white spark that will jump at leas a 1/4" gap to ground? If not then it is not good enough.

My father in law said that it was definitely getting fuel.
Getting fuel to the carb doesn't necessarily mean that the fuel is getting from the carb to the cylinders.
 
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