A couple of weeks ago, I tried to fire up the 1712 to move it out of the shed, and the battery was dead, so we (my son and I) pulled it out of the way, and hooked it up to the charger. When we had gotten the stuff we needed, I unhooked the charger, and tried to fire it up again.....it fired and was smoking like a chimney!!!
It wouldn't run much above idle, and was running rough as h#ll, so I shut her down. Pulled the air filter off, and it was wet with gas. I figured I must have 'over choked' it, so I left the filter off, and tried again....same result, with gas shooting up out of the crancase breather tube in the base of the air filter housing
So I shut her down again, and pulled the dipstick...you guessed it, gas in the oil.....so we pushed it into the shed.
I waited until I got every manual there is for the entire tractor, and talked to Roland about the problem...then secured parts....and this afternoon, I finally got to tear into the beast. Either the fuel pump diaphram went bad, or the needle in the carb got stuck open, or both.....
I had planned to 'go through' the entire tractor to make sure there wouldn't be any breakdowns this year, so I went ahead and bought quite a few parts.
Once we got the engine pretty much stripped down (man those KT17 sheet metal bolts are a PITA to get to!) and dug the mouse nest out from the frame by the hoses going to the front ports, I pulled the right side head...gas came pouring out
The exposed portion of the cylinder looked OK, so I turned the driveshaft so I could see the rest of the cylinder wall, and gas shot out of the left side exhaust port (
again) ....I then decided to pull the drain plug to see how much gas was in the crankcase....WOW!!! It must have been about full of gas!!
I left the drain plug out...and decorboned the piston and the valves, cleaned up the head, made sure it was within spec, and installed a new head gasket. Then torqued the bolts to spec. I also took the right side exhaust elbow off, and installed a new gasket, then re-installed it.
While I was fiddling with all of that, my son was working on installing a new seat, and starting on 'cleaning' the paint with Meguires Medium Cut Cleaner. While the seat and springs were off, he also removed the seat plate, and mounting brackets, and cleaned them up, then put everything back together. Those parts look sharp now!
I need to pick up some engine cleaner tomorrow and get the block cleaned up some (the PO seemed to miss the fill tube quite a bit!) Then get the left side head taken off, and look at that cylinder....hopefully all is well there. Then I'll start on the top of the engine.....new points, and fuel pump, plus tear the crankcase breather apart, for a new element and gaskets.
There just isn't enough hours in the day......
I took some pics...hopefully post them tomorrow.
(Message edited by Bcook on March 26, 2006)
It wouldn't run much above idle, and was running rough as h#ll, so I shut her down. Pulled the air filter off, and it was wet with gas. I figured I must have 'over choked' it, so I left the filter off, and tried again....same result, with gas shooting up out of the crancase breather tube in the base of the air filter housing
So I shut her down again, and pulled the dipstick...you guessed it, gas in the oil.....so we pushed it into the shed.
I waited until I got every manual there is for the entire tractor, and talked to Roland about the problem...then secured parts....and this afternoon, I finally got to tear into the beast. Either the fuel pump diaphram went bad, or the needle in the carb got stuck open, or both.....
I had planned to 'go through' the entire tractor to make sure there wouldn't be any breakdowns this year, so I went ahead and bought quite a few parts.
Once we got the engine pretty much stripped down (man those KT17 sheet metal bolts are a PITA to get to!) and dug the mouse nest out from the frame by the hoses going to the front ports, I pulled the right side head...gas came pouring out
I left the drain plug out...and decorboned the piston and the valves, cleaned up the head, made sure it was within spec, and installed a new head gasket. Then torqued the bolts to spec. I also took the right side exhaust elbow off, and installed a new gasket, then re-installed it.
While I was fiddling with all of that, my son was working on installing a new seat, and starting on 'cleaning' the paint with Meguires Medium Cut Cleaner. While the seat and springs were off, he also removed the seat plate, and mounting brackets, and cleaned them up, then put everything back together. Those parts look sharp now!
I need to pick up some engine cleaner tomorrow and get the block cleaned up some (the PO seemed to miss the fill tube quite a bit!) Then get the left side head taken off, and look at that cylinder....hopefully all is well there. Then I'll start on the top of the engine.....new points, and fuel pump, plus tear the crankcase breather apart, for a new element and gaskets.
There just isn't enough hours in the day......
I took some pics...hopefully post them tomorrow.
(Message edited by Bcook on March 26, 2006)
