John Deere 1020 Tractor Stalls after two minutes

lanceb36 · Jun 29, 2015

Still struggling.
I have rebuilt the carburetor, pulled the gas tank and cleaned it, put in an inline fuel filter, pulled the radiator and flushed it (ordered a new one).
The tractor started yesterday and I ran it up and down a hill for about half an hour, thought it was good. The temp gauge sat at about the middle so it did not appear to be overheating.
Eventually died sounding like it was out of gas. Added gas now it will start strongly run for a few moments and die, will start if I pull the choke but dies within a few minutes.
Gas, Spark and Air - I am at a loss.

George2615 · Jun 29, 2015

Is the carburetor float set correctly? Sounds like the needle seat isn't opening enough or the float could have a pinhole in it. That would cause the float to drop and cause it to flood (too much gas). To check that, pull the carb apart again and shake the float. If it has a hole the float will be full of gas and you'll feel it when you shake it.

RalphVa · Jun 29, 2015

Another thing that happened on my old JD 14SB (don't know whether it'll apply in your case) was an overhead valve pushrod had gotten out of its position. It had basically jumped out of a ball at the base of it, making it a tight fit against the valve lifter. So, when it got slightly hot (a couple minutes or so), it made the valve leak, and the engine quit.

Could have the same thing happening if the valves are just too tight, e.g. have no clearances.

Ralph