9n overheat and no start

[bama9n]

Go easy on me. I'm new to this forum and my 9N. I have had my 9N for a couple of months and it has been working great...until 2 weeks ago. I was cutting grass for about 1 1/2 hours when the tractor stopped. I knew I was low on gas, so no problem. However, a few seconds after the tractor stopped, I had a radiator boil over. A few hours later (I had other things to do at the time) I filled up gas and finished cutting without any problem.

Yesterday, after cutting for about an hour (in tall grass), I had another boil over. This time, the tractor was still running until I shut it off to let it cool down. Now, I'm unable to get it to start.

One observation. I have an inline fuel filter between the sediment bowl and the carb and I noticed that the filter was not full. I could tell this because the filter housing is translucent. After sitting a few minutes, the filter filled back up.

I pulled a couple of plugs and nothing out of the ordinary. They were somewhat light gray in color. I checked for spark with an inline checker and it appeared good, but I don't know how good a spark I have.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

 

[Dell (WA)]

Bama.......you write......"One observation. I have an inline fuel filter between the sediment bowl and the carb and I noticed that the filter was not full. I could tell this because the filter housing is translucent. After sitting a few minutes, the filter filled back up".......that is good. empty filter means it ain't CLOGGED and is flowing right thru to yer carb. The filter re-fill after setting is a function of gravity and a full carb.

Others will tell you the 3-filters that your tractor already have makes this inline filter superfluous and suspect because some filters don't work well with gravity. Me? I'd leave it, its working correctly.

Bettcha yer tractor will start in the morning. How do I know? 'cuz your overheating radiator has melted the insulative tars in yer squarecan ignition coil. By morning time, the tars will have solidified and guess what? Starts up and will run for about 1-hour before the tar melts again and you loose yer sparkies again.

Only cure is NEW squarecan ignition coil........Dell, yer self-appointed sparkie-meister

 

[bama9n]

Well, it didn't start this morning, but I will try a new coil. When it boiled over, it all drained down in top of the coil and distributer cap, so those were suspect.

 

[Bob]

Remove the coil, cap, and rotor, and let them air-dry in the hot sun for a couple of hours.

If you had anti-feeze in the system, wash off the parts with clean water before setting them in the sun to dry to get rid of the slimy, conductive anti-freeze.

 

[Hobo,NC]

Make sure you keep the front of the radiator clean when mow'n tall weeds

 

[bama9n]

Put a new coil in and it fired right up. So did overheating ruin the coil or just cause a failing coil to finally quit working?

Anyway, next I need to figure out why it boiled over in the first place. The grass was tall, but not tall enough to clog up the fins (I'm using a finish mower). I can see circulation in the top of the radiator and I don't believe it is overfilled. As this is a new tractor (to me), I guess I need to flush and see what condition the cooling system is in. The cap looks like it could be replaced as well.

Thank you so much for the advice.