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non-starting 7016H.


HerbP

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My son was mowing with the 7016H when I heard the tractor start to misfire and try to stall. He powered it down and came to get me. After doing some field-diagnosis, I slid the johnny-bucket under the rear tires and we pushed it back up the hill to the shop. My first thought was it's out of fuel... He checked and it was half a tank..

So I can't get the thing to start. It cranks over just fine, there's fuel spraying into the carb and I can see a small puddle in the bottom of the carb. Pulled the plug and grounded it while cranking and there's a healthy spark. Since neither my son nor I were asphyxiating, I can confirm that there is Air, Fuel, and Spark... While cranking it doesn't even catch...

I'm at a bit of a loss... Each time we tried it we pushed in the clutch pedal to take some of the load off the engine; and confirmed the PTO's were disengaged... I assume if there was some safety switch that was open, we wouldn't be getting spark...

I know the fuel is ok because I've been running the 720 out of the same Gerry Can. Oil is full as well.

We ran out of time and had to leave for another week... I assume there can be no electrical problem if I'm seeing spark ...

Other possibly useful information: The tractor doesn't usually turn over with the key.. We have to jumper across the solenoid to get it to start up at the best of times... Sometimes the key-start works, other times no... Now it's at the point where the key start is not working so all of this diagnosis is being done by jump-starting across the solenoid. Interestingly but probably unrelated: once the S/G is turning the engine, I can hold the key in the start position and remove the battery clamp that is jump-starting the solenoid and it continues turning. So probably bad keyswitch contacts...

Thoughts, anyone?

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I also second Ron's thoughts. My Squire 9 wouldn't start and I couldn't figure out why until the flywheel just started turning without turning the crank. They take 222698S Flywheel keys which is pretty generic. You could probably find them at a hardware store or at a box store.

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I would vote 3rd on a sheared flywheel key and assuming it still has good compression. The flywheel nut torque is also quite critical to prevent the shearing from happening since the key is aluminum.

Tom(PK)

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Have you tried spraying a squirt or two of ether via the air cleaner to see if it would pop? That would narrow down a flywheel key problem.

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Start simple, and replace the plug. Just try it...I've "fixed" my 7016 twice by that method. Sometimes, they break down and won't fire under compression, even if they fire in open air.

I don't think the key switch is related to the non-starting, as the safety switches will not allow the S/G to turn vs. killing the ignition (like modern CDI engines would) The Power to close the solenoid is routed through the safety switch system, so because it sometimes works, sometimes not...your diagnosis of a faulty terminal somewhere is probably valid...but separate from the problem of not starting.

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I haven't tried deploying the Ether Bunny.. That's a good one.

Sheered flywheel key is way outside of anything I'd have thought of so that's a good lead. I can hear compression and the motor spins much more freely when the plug is removed and slows down considerably if I engage the center PTO while cranking... So does any of that rule out the flywheel key?

I do have a spare motor so I'll try swapping plugs over. That's also a good idea. Or maybe I'll just buy a new one... can't hurt.

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Just a brief update. I'm back out in the country and had a few minutes to spend with the 7016H ... It's depressing how free time can get eaten up by things other than where you want to spend your time .... But anyhow ...

I couldn't find the ether-bunny but the battery was fully charged so I thought I'd give the starter another whirl and the tractor fired right up... It ran well enough to drive itself out of the garage and there seems to be nothing actually wrong with it. I needed to shuffle tractors and the gantry around in the garage in order to pull my son's truck in so the 7016H sat on the driveway for about 1/2 an hour at which point it proved difficult to start again...

That's when I discovered the starting solenoid (an after-market ford starter solenoid) that I'd installed a few years ago was loose. But it was the bakelite housing that had come loose off the steel base. It's lost one rivet and the other 3 are loose... So the key didn't do anything until I pushed down on the housing... So it would appear I have a good handle on the key-switch inconsistent starting issue as well...

After a bit of cranking and fiddling with the choke/fuel, the tractor started up again and blew black so obviously I'd simply flooded it.

Big sigh of relief that it doesn't seem to be a flywheel key...

Thanks everyone for the help. As usual, this forum does not disappoint.

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Sheared flywheel key is unlikely on these tractors, unless the flywheel is either not tightened properly, or becomes loose (rare). They are belt driven, and very little force, if any, is applied to the key when an object is struck with the blade. A backfire will sometimes shear a key, but usually if the flywheel is not tightened properly.

If the tractor was running, then died, my first look is the plug. Many folks pull the plug to check for fire across the contacts. Over the years, I have seen many plugs hat will fire this way, but not under compression. The best plug test is to replace, always have a new plug or two in the cabinet for this purpose. Even new plugs fail, and are not a guarantee.

""I couldn't find the ether-bunny but the battery was fully charged so I thought I'd give the starter another whirl and the tractor fired right up... It ran well enough to drive itself out of the garage and there seems to be nothing actually wrong with it.

I needed to shuffle tractors and the gantry around in the garage in order to pull my son's truck in so the 7016H sat on the driveway for about 1/2 an hour at which point it proved difficult to start again...""

The plug was cold, any cracks in the insulation were likely closed, so it fired again until it sat, and the heat from the engine warmed it. I would change the plug, reset whatever you did to the carburetor, it should be ok

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Good advice, thanks!

All of my manuals and the tractor are out in the country. Would you happen to know offhand which plug I need to buy? (ngk something?)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I figured I would confirm that after replacing the plug with a Champion J8C, the tractor fired right up and did a few more times after that as well... Learn something every day. Just because it sparks when you're holding it on a head bolt, doesn't mean it'll fire (properly) in the cylinder.

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That is so true! I was working on a buddys skid loader with a rebuilt kohler. Hardly would run..popped and sputtered then would die. I don't know how many times I checked for spark and even pulled the flywheel checking for bad key and plenty of other stuff (swapped out the carb). Finally I said lets just go and get a couple of new plugs and he says in disgust.. well might as well spend some more money on it. It fired right up and purred!!!! I think I threw those plugs as far as I could in to the weeds.

Harry

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