Recent content by Astro_Guy

Was the Cat necesserary? I've had only one experience with an aftermarket cat, probably going back to about 2015. It wasn't a good experience. Luckily the shop I was dealing with took the hit and replaced it with the OEM cat on their dime.

What's your application? HTHS > 3.5 seems like a must for air cooled OPE but it's been quite a while since any mainstream automobile needed anything like that.

I can only speak to the S140 as I have owned the nearly identical prior model D140 for eleven seasons. It has 322 hours on it now and has averaged 30 hours per season. The original battery went four seasons. The replacement $29 Wal*Mart battery went six seasons. The belts and blades are...

One certainly has to question the validity of those Facebook claims. It is hard to imagine any piece of air cooled OPE running 500 hours without an oil change, let alone 3000 hours. Perhaps they run it close to their fryer and a lot of cooking oil enters from the top end? All joking aside I...

Project Update 4 July We visited the MIL again today and started the tractor. The good news is that it now starts unassisted with its five year-old battery. That's pretty amazing. The bad news is that there is no improvement in terms of surging and hunting at high throttle. The Seafoam and...

Had I not retired recently I would probably want to rush out and buy an EV while that tax incentives are still there. It seems that the ideal solution for a retired couple would be a pure EV for most local driving and a PHEV for road trips. Both of our cars have low milage so this won't be in...

Project Update 3 July I went over to the MIL's again today and fired up the tractor. The good news is that it starts easier every time I visit. The bad news is that the B12 doesn't seem to have done anything. The engine still surges and hunts shortly after it goes to full throttle. The...

Sorry - I meant after the tank was empty and fully dry. There's a fair amount of grass and other stuff in there.

Thanks. I do believe that fuel delivery from the tank to the carb needs investigation. Is my plan to completely empty the tank and vacuum it out sound, or am I at risk of blowing up my shop vac? Luckily there is no urgency to this project. The battery appears to be toast so I may just get a...

Project Update 2 July Stopped by an auto parts store this morning for B12. Dumped a few ounces in and started the tractor. I noticed that it would go to full throttle without hunting or surging before that B12 had a chance to get to the carburetor. Encouraged by this I took it for a drive...

Project Update 1 July I revisited this and gave it a brief run and drive with the fuel heavily spiked with Seafoam. It starts easily and will now run smothely at the lowest throttle setting. That is definitely progress. Unfortunately the hunting / surging continues at higher throttle levels...

That makes perfect sense but then one of their two labels has to be misleading. I can see how you could blend E10 and E0 50:50 to achieve E5. Blending 87 and 90 octane at 50:50 isn't going to achieve 89 octane. Let's hope that all the folks buying their E5 / 89 are getting a really good deal...

Earlier today I stopped at Byrne Dairy and Deli in Horseheads, NY. From what I can tell this is a regional retailer selling Ethanol free gas. This is based upon seeing multiple locations on the Prure-Gas app. In any event, what I found interesting about this place is that they offered three...

Thank you all for your suggestions. I was planning to adress many of these this morning but then some popcorn sstorms popped up. According to my weather gauge we now have 0.36 inches of the rain that wasn't in the forecast It's supposed to stop within an hour according to the same forecast...

Thanks! I haven't checked the obvious things - probably because I was so shocked that it started!