My 2N shuts down when leaning left

[Dave Harnish]

I've put up with this extremely frustrating issue for many years now with my otherwise faithful old 'workhorse' 2N, and it's getting worse again.

Whenever running with the tractor leaning to the left, especially facing downhill, she floods out and stalls after about 10 seconds, and is nearly impossible to restart without letting her sit for an hour. When I do finally get her to restart, she sputters and blows black smoke for a little while before getting up to speed.

I've thoroughly cleaned out the tank, bowl and fuel line screens, *replaced* the carb with a new one, checked the float level countless times, re-routed the copper fuel line, all with no change.

My neighbor has a 9N with the same carb and fuel system, and his will run up, down, left or right, on any hill, with no problem.

I've about had it with this. Have never heard of anyone else having this issue, but suspect it's something simple I'm missing. Thought the new carb would solve it, but it didn't.

Any ideas are welcome. I've owned this old girl for some 35 years now, but have begun thinking it's time for a new one. Wish I could afford it.

PS - Have run Mobil One synthetic oil in this 2N for many years, and it's made a HUGE difference when using her in winter.

Thanks!
Dave Harnish, New Albany, PA
drs@sosbbs.com
www.DavesRepair.com

John 14:6
 

[souNdguy]

i'm not a fan of the copper line.. but that's another issue.

assuming good fuel flow to the carb.. i still think you have a floatt / needle / valve seat issue.
 

[Dave Harnish]

Thanks! I'm planning on taking the carb apart again to clean it out and replace the needle valve again, bc this has been getting worse the last few months.

BTW, what don't you like about copper fuel line? Too soft? Maybe that's contributing to this somehow, too. My neighbor's 9N line is steel, and he's never had this problem.

He's left his tractor sit outside for months at a time, too, while this one's always been barn-kept.

Thanks again,
Dave H.

Acts 4:12
 

[souNdguy]

copper can crack and work harden.

I have used copper on diesel lines or in short piece of patch.. but I'd be wary of using it for a full line. gas can explode and burn fast.. diesel is merely flamable.. :)

check the float.. may be hanging up or have apinhole.. or a bit of debris in the seat.. or the seat may be loose..
 

[36 Coupe]

Make sure the tank screen has not been replaced with a stand pipe and make sure you are not running on the reserve.
 

[glennster]

dave, im not a ford expert by any means, but, it sounds like the fuel system is building pressure and blowing fuel thru the needle and seat. check your fuel cap and see if the vent hole is plugged. when it starts to sputter, loosen the fuel cap and see if there is any pressure in the tank, and if that helps. my minnie moline when it got hot would do that, took a while to track that down.
 

[John B.]

Sounds like you have a wire rubbing and shorting out when it leans to the left. That's characteristic of electrical problems. They get worse with time and go long periods of time without giving trouble. Besides if you've taken the carb apart more than 3 times that's not the problem. Just an old rule of thumb mechanics have. More than three times then you're looking in the wrong place.
 

[wascator]

I ponder out loud here: is there any source of heat around the tank: leakin g exhaust manifold, et al? Perhaps a hot spot on the tank gest dunked with fuel, pressurizing the tank and leading to flooding.
Vapor lock: is the fuel line in the way of heat?
Tractor should run fine on a slope (lean), up to a point, of course. Look at the gas tank, vent, cap, fuel line, all very carefully. Compare your tractor with a known good tractor of the same model and see what is different. You gotta be a detective here, consider everything; forget preconceived ideas, etc. and prove every part good.
Root-cause analysis training: I am giving you the free version...
 

[jammison]

[Stephen Newell]

It sounds like either it is an electrical short or the float in the carb is out of adjustment. It may be letting too much fuel in the bowl.
 

[ericlb]

the fact that it only happens when the tractor leans left and downhill is almost certainly a fuel issue, the needle and seat or a internal crack ect [ your new carb isnt one of those "black colored ones is it] those arnt worth a hoot new, i have one and it caused a whole new set of problems right out of the box, i pulled it back off after 2 weeks and now run the original one] black colored smoke is unburned fuel, so somehow when the tractor is downhill and leaning, its getting additional fuel, so much that its flooding out
 

[John B.]

I still lean toward an electrical issue. When running above an idle and if the ignition is shut down manually or by a problem the engine will continue to suck in raw fuel and it'll stay there until it is started back up causing the black smoke. The faster the engine was running when it died the more unburnt fuel you're going to have in there to clean out next time it starts. Do you have an electric/mechanical fuel pump installed on this or is it still gravity feed?
 

[John B.]

Is your battery secured in place or is it allowed to slip around maybe grounding out the system when leaning left???
 

[8N'r--WI]

Dave--I have seen this mentioned in 2 of the posts below, and as simple as it sounds, could it simply be you are running with low fuel in the tank...?

It happened twice to me, with an 8N, mowing where the tractor was leaning slightly to the left. Tractor just sputtered and stopped..

I had to go on reserve tank to get it started both times.

Just a thought.

Tim
 

[Dave Harnish]

Hi Tim, and all,

Thanks for all the suggestions, I appreciate the help immensely! You guys are a tremendous encouragement to me on this, and I'm more determined than ever to find and fix the problem now.

I've run into that low fuel issue before Tim, yes, and try to make sure it's nearly full now. None of the land up here on our old mountain farm is flat, so running side-hill is the norm.

(Re: those leaning left shutting down - AMEN! I've given up on this country, I'm sorry to say. Unless God intervenes (and we've ejected Him from our society, so why would He?), the USA as we've always known it is done.)

Anyway, enough of that. I tried moving the wiring around with it running today, pushing, pulling tilting the harness tube to the left, etc, and it never skipped a beat. The battery has a homemade strap on it and does move around just a little, but not enough to let the neg. terminal make any contact to ground.

I'm planning on draining the tank again (it's been a few years), making sure the standpipe screen and tank interior are clean. Will also try replacing the gas line, making sure there are no high spots that could collect vapor.

It currently has a slight loop up over the harness tube. Not sure it's causing any trouble, but I'll run the new line under the pipe to eliminate that and see what happens. Thinking I tried that before years ago, but with the 10 minute memory I have now, I'm not so sure.

I'll be sure to let all of you know what caused this when we eventually figure it out.

Again, thanks so much for all the help, you guys are amazing!

God bless,

Dave Harnish
New Albany, PA
drs@sosbbs.com

John 14:6