John Deere 318 no Start - no Spark

This sweet John Deere 318 tractor won't start. Let's fix the ignition and get it back to work!

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Watch Wes Work
P.O. Box 106
Fulton, IL 61252

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[danbartolini]

This is the legend that allows John deere to turn out expensive crap now. Living on there resume

[SouthMainAuto]

Nice LAWN MOWER!! Haha sound like a bunch of Corvette owners there 😂

[neilshep]

Problem: Refuse to spark
Solution: Re-fuse to spark

[zachmartin]

Wes: Sweetheart of a tractor.

Sad Oliver noises.

[greggb]

“torch bearing mob of JD 318 purists”...
Love it...!
Thank you sir...

[michaelharris]

Built back in the day when JD actually made a quality product.

[Watchyn_Yarwood]

I learned to check across a glass fuse with a meter in the most embarrassing way! I was fleet maintenance manager for a trucking firm. Bought an old Toyota wagon to run errands with and it stopped dead one day. I could not figure out what was wrong. Called a Toyota mechanic friend because I thought it was in the electronic ignition. He came to my house and replace a fuse! It failed at the end inside the metal cap end where you couldn't see it. He never let me forget it whenever he had the chance and I most certainly will never forget!!

[MarkPalmer]

The 318 was a legend because it had to be to save face. It was a fully new design from the ground up. Many purchasers of the 317 it replaced were burned by failures with the Kohler KT17 opposed twin engine that damaged Deere and Kohler's reputations. Onan was making retrofit kits for 317's as it took a while for Kohler to fix the KT's oiling issues, and Deere was impressed enough with the Onan engine that they used it for the new 318 and scored a huge win.

[aaronhansen]

My parents took care of a small cemetery in the town I grew up in. I clearly remember them buying a brand new 316 in 1985. It replaced a tired 140. I remember it costing $5k. It was a ton of money back then for a garden tractor I thought. I spent a lot of hours on this tractor. Fell in love with them. When I bought my first house, I bought an older 316 from a friend of mine . This was around the year 2000. It was a low hour 1987 model. It only 300 hours. It’s former life was with the city, and didn’t see much use. I used it for years until I moved, which the new yard only required a push mower. The 316 was basically a stripped down 318. The guy I sold it to still uses it to this day. It had a snow thrower as well. Damn cool tractors. Wish I still had it!

[spencertoolandgrind]

I’m still driving mine. My dad got it back in the 80’s. An I’m still mowing lawn with it.

[mikep]

Glass fuses fail open at the caps when they age. Taught me to always check them with a meter. The owner had to go nuts with how well you repaired his machine !!

[PineHollowAutoDiagnostics]

My neighbor the farmer has one. He swears by it! 😉

[ronaldclark]

Can't believe you filed the points with a points file and then pulled something thru them to remove the filings, just like they taught us in automotive school back in 70's. Your range of knowledge never ceases to amaze me. Small engines to army trucks. Great videos!!!

[dale]

I have 2 of those. One I put a Kohler CH20 in for mowing. The other I was lucky enough to find a NOS shortblock for. Good to see this one will keep its original engine. There's something special about the sound of the Onan. They are legendary tractors for sure. From a time when engineering was simple and the quality was high.

[davesnotheretv]

I helped my stepdad put a Honda in his 318 a couple of months ago. It's fuel injected get twice the gas mileage and 30 to 40 percent more power. He loves it.

[walterkucharski]

Wes I split the brake pedals to 1 on each side then added a rocking pedal for forward and reverse and kept the hand control . Much easier to drive. Then I made a front loader and a backhoe with stabilizers. I put hyd pump in the front for direct drive from the crank, A great mini yard earth moving machine.

[chrisbolton]

If I had a nickel for every time a glass fuse lied to me…… This has happened with brand new ones, have to always check them under load.
My father had a 317 at one point. The options you could get for them was crazy.

[Trains-With-Shane]

That's a pretty sweet little unit. Looks like it has been looked after really well over the years all things considered. I wonder if the owner checked that fuse, saw that it looked good, like you did, and figured that couldn't be the issue. I probably would have made the same mistake.

[dcal]

Love to see the variation of different things you work on. From small cars to trucks, trackers, heavy equipment. Keeps things fresh. Great videos!

[shimjocky]

Actually Wes, re powers are quite common in the 318 community. That is part of the beauty of this machine. It is so overbuilt, and lasts so long, that it is actually worth re powering VS the pieces of crap they sell now days.