[AT] Ford 4000 Quitting Afer Running a While

[charlie hill]

If playing with the choke helps it run it is 90% sure a fuel problem. 
Likely trash or water in the jets of the carb.
If it was an ignition problem I can't see how the choke would help.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Alan Nadeau
Sent: Saturday, July 13, 2013 3:39 PM
To: ATIS
Subject: [AT] Ford 4000 Quitting Afer Running a While

The shooting club I belong to has a Ford 4000 which is having "issues".  I'm 
not sure where to start trying to narrow it down.  This is the newer version 
with the 3 cyl. gas engine, not the early one which looks like a beefed up N 
Series.  We use it, with a 6 foot bushhog, to keep the weed/brush growth 
down on several acres of old pasture land around the club grounds.  I get 
along with it as it is the right age, even if it is an off brand(Ford was 
never real popular around here).  Nobody else really cares to operate it as 
it is a bit of a clubfoot and is not a shiny compact tractor.

I starts fine and runs good for the first 1-2 hours.  Then it starts to 
stumble and over a few minutes gets worse until it dies completely. 
Sometimes it will restart immediately and run (barely) for a few seconds, at 
other times it won't restart without sitting 30-45 minutes.  After that rest 
period it will again run normally but for a shorter time, continuing that 
sequence until It won't run at all until completely cooled down.

When it starts stumbling I can usually notice the difference in engine note. 
If I catch it in time I find I can take the load off it, close the throttle 
to barely above idle and, by playing with the choke, manage to limp it back 
to the barn.

It doesn't backfire when it acts up, if it was going lean I would expect it 
to belch and bellow.  If the ignition was cutting out completely, then 
kicking back in I would also expect a horrendous backfire from unburned fuel 
filling the exhaust and then getting lit off.

Since I am always alone when I'm working it I don't have anyone around to 
help in trying to troubleshoot the thing.  Unless I am constantly playing 
with the choke it dies, there is no pulling the choke partway and having it 
continue to run.

One thing that may be relevant or not is that this thing has the absolutely 
harsh exhaust fumes I have ever been exposed to.  Terrible eye irritating 
stuff.  I added some to the stack so it is quite a bit higher than my head 
and I'm still coming home with my eyes so irritated that I often have to 
pull my eyelids part manually when awakening the morning after a hogging 
session.

Anyone have any ideas?  If you want more information ask any questions and 
I'll answer them as fully as I can.

As for taking it to a shop, it is really hard now to find anyone who knows 
diddly about carburetors and spark ignition.  Because it only acts up after 
being worked for a while I'm not sure how viable it would be to get it into 
a shop.  Now that I think about it I may well let it run at high idle and 
see if it craps out without a load.  If it does that would make getting it 
to a shop a bit more practical.

Al Nadeau



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