I didn't hear from the auto-electricians as to how my tractor was going.. I called in after a couple of days to see what was happening. "Come and I'll show you", he said and took me out the back.

They had replaced the starter motor. Sounded great. My old one had some sort of death rattle thing going and every time it sounded like the very last one. This new one sounded strong and healthy.

But they still struggled to get it to start. The starter churned, the exhaust puffed a bit of smoke, it almost caught and started….but just didn't.

We were scratching our heads. Looks like I was going to have to take it home as it was, and tee up the mechanic workshop after all.

While we were there, an old bloke who I didn't know had wandered in and stood in the background watching the proceedings. We agreed to put a new battery in it, the old one was stuffed, and gave it one more go.

"Fuel blockage", the old guy said, then walked out.

With that Easter egg in my pocket I worked all my personal magic and experience with the tractor and actually got it started, I drove it out into the street and then onto my trailer, tied it down and took it home. I got it started again, drove it off and parked it…and that was it.

New battery, sunny day, not a hope in hell of getting it going. Eventually I flattened the new battery so while it was charging thought about "What's next?"

Yes, I could get a mechanic onto it, but there was still the mysterious words of Nostradamus at the electricians to ponder.

The last time I had a fuel issue it took me ages to resolve it. I had two blokes who are good home mechanics look at it and couldn't work it out. Eventually with the help of many YouTube videos I worked out it was a diesel air pocket that needed to be bled out. I did it, I found it stressful and messy, and preferably not something I would repeat.

But if there was a fuel blockage I would need to clean out the rubber fuel lines and then do the whole bleeding out the air again. And if that didn't work, mechanic.

So I started disconnecting pipes. There was a couple of black flakes in the purged fuel, but they were out of the fuel tank when I flushed it out repeatedly with clean fuel, not in the hoses which appeared to run freely and clear.

But as I disconnected the line from the tank to the fuel pump….wow! The positive cable to the fuel pump was frayed, badly. It only had one hairsbreadth wisp of copper connecting, and it looked like some of the frayed lines might be earthing against the negative line.

A few skinned knuckles later I held it in my hand and looked at it closely. Maybe….

On ebay a replacement module was nothing…$20. It comes with multiple options for line in and out and a brass fuel filter that is fitted on before the pump. I detached the old filter from the old pump and held it up to the light. Blocked!

A few days later the replacement pump arrived. Excitedly I put it together, modified the wiring to match my tractors connectors, screwed the new fuel filter in…..Nup. The fuel filter was poorly made, no thread on the end and wouldn't screw in. I checked it also wouldn't screw into the old pump, and then confirmed the old filter screwed correctly into the old pump and the new pump. Definitely faulty.

Weeks later I have no progress with the ebay seller. He tried to get me to take the conversation off ebay. He wanted me to supply a video of the malformed part. "You want me to send you a video of a non-moving solid brass fitting. Is that correct? I'm pretty sure it will look a lot like the photo I have already sent you. What aspect of it would you like me to video?" I can't be bothered sending it back, as I have already modified the positive cable.

Instead, from someone else I ordered the same fuel filter. It arrived, wasn't deformed, and I reassembled it all, reconnected all the fuel lines, re-bled the air out, re-charged the battery, waited for the engine block to warm in the sun….and magically it started. We are back in business!