[mhcrra1]

Hi All,
Great forum....tons of good stuff on here. My son has taken on the challenge of restoring an old Bolens 1050 that he bought recently. We got it not running and have since rebuilt the carb, installed a new starter and changed all the ignition parts, wiring etc. We had got it to start the other day without any ether and it would run for about a minute or two fairly well, then just die. No matter how I messed with the settings, I could get it to fire back up (took a while) and it would run for about a minute, then die. We left it on the battery charger to charge overnight and yesterday went to mess with it again....this time we couldn't even get it to fire unless we shot it with starting fluid. Once it fired, it would only run for a few seconds and shut down. I have tried resetting all of the carb adjustments as everyone has said to do, tried pretty much everything....cannot figure out what is wrong with this thing. I admit, I know very little about carbs on these things...wish it was fuel injected.
Looking for any ideas on where to go from here.
Thanks!!

 

[BOLENSBOY60]

i am assuming it`s a wisconsin TRA-10D engine with a zenith carb on it- remove the carb bowl and make sure it`s full -if it is- you need to remove the main jet- it`s likely plugged- i take a small wire also and poke it thru the tiny holes in the carb body- how far did you guys go when you say- you rebuilt the carb?-

 

[BOLENSBOY60]

forgot to mention- you could check your valve clearance-too tight against the tappets and you won`t get enough commpresion to start it

 

[mhcrra1]

Thanks for the tips....I should have mentioned, yes it is a TRA-10D with a Zenith carb.
I did a full tear down and rebuild of the carb including all gaskets, needles and seats etc.
Thanks again....
Rob

 

[BOLENSBOY60]

i would say if the fuel is getting to the carb- your main jet is plugged- you got the main jet removed? these are a bear sometimes- i assume you cannot make the spark plug wet them no matter how much you choke it- but if you are getting some fuel into the cylinder- make sure your pionts are set to .020-if they are off too far-it will throw off the timing-you have real good spark also?- and double check the wires going to the coil- i believe the wire coming from the pionts box-goes to the neg side of the coil

 

[BOSMECH]

Picture will help but it for sure sounds like a fuel problem, make sure there are no other leaks like in the manifolds and by the block etc. etc. etc.

 

[bolens_kid]

Can you keep the tractor running if you choke it?

 

[mhcrra1]

No, it dies even if I choke it.....I even tried "choking" it manually with my hand over the intake so I could control the amount of air....but it still dies almost immediately after it fires up.....

 

[BOLENSBOY60]

are you sure the govenor linkage is hooked up properly- it should hold the throttle wide open when the machine is off

 

[mhcrra1]

I will definitely check the governor installation when I put things back together.....I don't think it was setup correctly to begin with.

 

[BOLENSBOY60]

the maual has real good clear instructions- it should hold the throttle wide open until it starts- then the flyweights on the cam gear take over and control engine speed-

 

[krsword]

Hi All,
Great forum....tons of good stuff on here. My son has taken on the challenge of restoring an old Bolens 1050 that he bought recently. We got it not running and have since rebuilt the carb, installed a new starter and changed all the ignition parts, wiring etc. We had got it to start the other day without any ether and it would run for about a minute or two fairly well, then just die. No matter how I messed with the settings, I could get it to fire back up (took a while) and it would run for about a minute, then die. We left it on the battery charger to charge overnight and yesterday went to mess with it again....this time we couldn't even get it to fire unless we shot it with starting fluid. Once it fired, it would only run for a few seconds and shut down. I have tried resetting all of the carb adjustments as everyone has said to do, tried pretty much everything....cannot figure out what is wrong with this thing. I admit, I know very little about carbs on these things...wish it was fuel injected.
Looking for any ideas on where to go from here.
Thanks!!

Reading over all of the suggestions the one thing I didn't see is if you checked the gas line from the tank for flow. Other than that and the screen in the gas tank, also part of the shutoff valve, Everybody has covered just about everything possible.

:dunno:

:hide:

 

[bstrucker]

If your engine will only run on either or will only run for a minute or so and then shut off, you have a fuel flow problem. Either the screen in the tank, the shut off valve, the line or the inlet valve on the carb is blocked.

Sent from the MTF Free App

 

[bolens_kid]

Ventcap could be bad and will trap fuel in gas tank. I would try next to not put the gas cap on and try running it. Some of those metal like my 1886 has a vacuum cap that is pressurized and it could be worn out.

 

[mhcrra1]

Hey everyone....IT'S ALIVE!!!
Just wanted to give you all an quick update and thank you again for all of your great help and suggestions. So, we took the whole engine apart expecting to see a bad head gasket....but the gasket was great. DID however find a bent exhaust valve! It wasn't too bad, but bad enough that it wouldn't seat, not good for compression. So, got a new one, lapped the valves and put everything back together with all new gaskets AND set the governor from scratch according to the manual and VOILA she roared to life.
With a little tweaking on the carb adjustments, it runs and idles almost like a new one!
You should have seen the look on my son's face....he thought it would never run again.
Thanks again everyone....
Rob

 

[krsword]

Hey everyone....IT'S ALIVE!!!
Just wanted to give you all an quick update and thank you again for all of your great help and suggestions. So, we took the whole engine apart expecting to see a bad head gasket....but the gasket was great. DID however find a bent exhaust valve! It wasn't too bad, but bad enough that it wouldn't seat, not good for compression. So, got a new one, lapped the valves and put everything back together with all new gaskets AND set the governor from scratch according to the manual and VOILA she roared to life.
With a little tweaking on the carb adjustments, it runs and idles almost like a new one!
You should have seen the look on my son's face....he thought it would never run again.
Thanks again everyone....
Rob

Congrats on getting it to run. :congrats:

So, with little to no vacuum from the intake, caused by the non-seating exhaust valve, you had no fuel flow. Makes sense.

Now what caused the bending of the exhaust valve stem? Hmmmmmm.

:dunno:

:hide:

 

[BOSMECH]

All right that's sounds great, so now we need some pictures with you and your son driving it.