Some time ago, I discovered through pig headedness the problems an inline fuel filter can cause on a tractor with a gravity fed fuel supply. Luckily, my wife rescued me from my folly by telling me to yank the fuel filter out and see if the tractor ran better. BG then put it to music. Danged if I didn't run into it again, but this time with a boat. My wifes boat, of course. Blasted thing was acting like my 8N would, starting fine and running fine...for a while. Then it'd get all weak in the knees and surge and other interesting things. Being only mildly dense, I finally saw the same type of inline fuel filter mounted in the powerhead of her outboard. The light began to glow dimly, and I mumbled "ah-ha?" Removed the fuel filter (did I mention I'm the one who put in on in the first place?), and the boat's been running fine all weekend. Only took me the better part of two years, and an 8N tractor, to find the problem. The filter was fine and clear. It's just enough flow restriction though that it screws up marginal fuel supplies like a gravity fed tractor or a manifold vacuum fuel pump. The engine usage can get ahead of the fuels ability to dribble through the perfectly good inline fuel filter. Now why replacing the fuel filter fixed the slipping throttle lever, that's a mystery for another day.
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