New to me MF 135 - need advice on getting it running

[308guru]

Ok, latest update.

I have not installed the ignition components yet. I replaced the sediment bowl and fuel line. No more leaks. After that, it fired right up and would run at various rpm's.

Current issue though is that to keep it running i have to choke it for a couple of seconds and then no choke. It will run for a while, start to stumble and die, but then a brief choke will bring it back to life and run for a bit again. It's not like it wants partial choke all the time either. If I try partial choke it just runs crappy the whole time and will still stumble and die if I don't go to pull choke.

I was initially thinking there may be a sticky needle/seat but I don't know how that would tie into the choke or how that would momentarily resolve the problem.

The carb was completely disassembled (aside from the throttle and choke shafts/plates, cleaned in an ultrasonic, and every passage blown out. It's perfectly clean in my mind. Idle and Power needle are both 1 turn out per the manual. Float is set a 1/4" of the gasket surface per the manual.

Any thoughts?

 

[Ericp351]

You are lean. 1. Read plugs to confirm. 2. Police manifold for air leaks. 3. With engine warm, chock as reqd, open main until ritch with choke, then good at no choke. 4. If no good confirm fat , blue spark, then spray out main jet if spark good. Fix spark if reqd.

 

[308guru]

Could someone let me know what the static and advance timing is? Just want to have that info ready as I'll hopefully get some of this other work complete and move on to the ignition soon.

Thanks.

 

[Powered By IH]

Could someone let me know what the static and advance timing is? Just want to have that info ready as I'll hopefully get some of this other work complete and move on to the ignition soon.

Thanks.

 

[308guru]

Thanks for the specs Powered By IH. Much appreciated.

 

[308guru]

Today's update:

When I cleaned the carb last time I had to put it back together with all of the same parts/gaskets because the rebuild kit hadn't been delivered yet. Now that I have the kit I pulled the carb off again and replace the needle/seat, throttle plate shaft seal/bushing, and bowl gasket. The throttle plate pushing had quite a bit of play and the seal wasn't much of a seal anymore. The bowl gasket was super hard and quite likely not sealing well. It's entirely possible one or both of these were leaking air.

Once the carb was back on the tractor it fired right up and stays running (fingers were crossed) so I'm quite happy about that.

Next up is to air up the tires and get it out of the shed. The loader operates although it does drift down very slowly. Still need to verify PTO and 3pt operation.

Headed straight for some (careful) pressure washing to see how much of the grease, grime, and oil off before working on replacing ignition components.

 

[Powered By IH]

When you pressure washer it, use a spray on degreaser of some sort. Makes a world of difference soap vs. no soap.

 

[308guru]

I used some purple Ecolab Industrial Degreaser from Home Depot. It worked ok, but not miracles by any means. I think a hot water pressure washer would be great for melting the grime away. The pressure wash job got the grime off in most of the areas I want to work and in general it's much cleaner. I can walk past and not get covered in dirt and grease now. Luckily it fired right up after pressure washing.

Got all of the mouse nest junk out of all the nooks and crannies too so that's good. Took it for a trip down the driveway and back, it's probably been a few years since it's been out.

I noticed that, after running for a while, the lower radiator hose is stone cold. The top hose going into the filler neck is quite warm. Seems strange like there's zero flow through the radiator; I would expect some warmth on both hoses. The belt is in tact and spinning the fan blade and I assume between it and the engine is the water pump.

 

[308guru]

Does anyone have an oil filter canister, bolt, spring, and washer they would part with? Someone was very heavy handed with mine at some point and crushed the end of the canister inward. The seal under the bolt head now leaks because it's trying to seal on a large angled surface rather than a flat surface.

The bolt head, and underside gasket surface are all hacked up as well and it's missing the spring and washer.

I need a fresh start. Please PM me if you've got parts. The alternative is to move to a spin on conversion but I'd prefer to keep it period correct.

Thanks.

 

[miangus]

There is often a small screen in the elbow at the carb which can generate the symptom you describe. It can be easily overlooked. Also, the main jet for that carb is in the bottom and I have found that it must be cleaned with a small wire brush.

 

[308guru]

It seems that a few of my latest posts have disappeared. I’ll repost info again.

Tractor is running quite nice at this point. Most recent update:

- Pressure washing complete. 80% improvement, not perfect, but much nicer to work on. Mouse apartment complexes removed.

- Points, condenser, cap, rotor, plug wires, and plugs replaced. Based on the condition of the old wires I’m surprised it even ran.

- Idle mixture adjusted, idle speed set.

- Oil and filter changed with Rotella 15W40. I realized afterwards that the filter housing is missing a spring and washer (I thought it was strange that the filter had room to “float” in the housing and didn’t understand how it would be filtering). See existing post above, I’m looking for replacement housing & bolt.

- 3 point seems to be operating, but I have some learning to do with proper use of the Position and Draft levers. PTO operates in both engine and ground positions.

- I need to borrow a timing light from a buddy and check/set the timing.

I was unable to replace the ignition coil. The mounting bracket clamps around the coil and has two mounting locations. The upper nut is easy to get off, the bottom is impossible to access. It’s directly behind the starter and I can’t get hands or tools in from any direction. I was going to remove the starter but that wasn’t looking easy to access one of the mounting bolts either. Any tips?

 

[mcardinal]

I used some purple Ecolab Industrial Degreaser from Home Depot. It worked ok, but not miracles by any means. I think a hot water pressure washer would be great for melting the grime away. The pressure wash job got the grime off in most of the areas I want to work and in general it's much cleaner. I can walk past and not get covered in dirt and grease now. Luckily it fired right up after pressure washing.

Got all of the mouse nest junk out of all the nooks and crannies too so that's good. Took it for a trip down the driveway and back, it's probably been a few years since it's been out.

I noticed that, after running for a while, the lower radiator hose is stone cold. The top hose going into the filler neck is quite warm. Seems strange like there's zero flow through the radiator; I would expect some warmth on both hoses. The belt is in tact and spinning the fan blade and I assume between it and the engine is the water pump.

Sounds like the thermostat might be stuck and not opening up? You could pull it out and put it in hot water on your stove to see if it is working correctly or not... This is assuming you have let it run long enough to reach whatever temperature is needed to cause the thermostat to open up.

 

[Jim.ME]

I used some purple Ecolab Industrial Degreaser from Home Depot. It worked ok, but not miracles by any means. I think a hot water pressure washer would be great for melting the grime away. The pressure wash job got the grime off in most of the areas I want to work and in general it's much cleaner. I can walk past and not get covered in dirt and grease now. Luckily it fired right up after pressure washing.

Got all of the mouse nest junk out of all the nooks and crannies too so that's good. Took it for a trip down the driveway and back, it's probably been a few years since it's been out.

I noticed that, after running for a while, the lower radiator hose is stone cold. The top hose going into the filler neck is quite warm. Seems strange like there's zero flow through the radiator; I would expect some warmth on both hoses. The belt is in tact and spinning the fan blade and I assume between it and the engine is the water pump.

How long is running a while? Was it just setting there running or driving around with no load?

Quite warm does not mean much. If the thermostat was stuck closed, I would expect the engine to overheat. What did the temp gauge read? If no gauge or you want to check real numbers use a non-contact thermometer (temp gun) and take readings on metal parts, Front of the head, back corner of the head, top tank inlet of the radiator, bottom outlet of the radiator, and you can take readings at several spots on the radiator core to see if the warm coolant is traveling down through the core.

 

[308guru]

When I’ve been running the tractor so far it has been under no/minimal load. Not working any implements, just idling or driving around. That may be the reason it’s not getting up to a high temp. It’s hard to convey what the temperature is since the gauge is just a needle with two endpoints and a dot (which I assume is the operating or thermostat opening temp?)

The thermostat can't be stuck closed if the upper radiator hose is getting hot (which means coolant has passed through the thermostat).

Checking temps is a good idea to verify coolant flow. I’ll use my thermal cam and see what it looks like.

I likely won’t be able to work with it for a week or so, no updates until then.

 

[Jim.ME]

Unless you are doing a true restoration and want a gauge with an original face, I suggest getting a gauge with numbers on it if you want to know the temperature.

Running at no/minimal load won't tell much.