Super A - Problems...not starting.

Hello all,

I"m feeling dead ended and I"m looking for thoughts and feedback.

Our 48 Super A ran well all season. Towards fall it wouldn"t start and the carb kept flooding. We ran into issues with the carb rebuild and ended up purchasing a new Zenith 14007. That is now on the tractor along with new fuel line. The old battery was bad and today I purchased a new battery. I was excited to fire the thing back up but ended up getting no where.

Upon start the battery is juiced the starting motor is turning, the fan is turning. The tractor has brand new plugs and they appear to have good spark. However the carb just floods and the tractor doesn"t even cough or sputter. It appears I"m getting no firing. I took off the air cleaner and sprayed starting fluid in the carb and tried again. Nothing not even sputter. I"ve greased the distributer and drive housing and serviced the distributer and repeatedly tried to start it. Nothing. No change.

Any thoughts and insight would be very appreciated!!

Thanks.

Is it cold where you are? On a couple here I have to turn off the gas to get them to start in cold weather then turn it on, of course, when they start. If that fails start looking for maybe something blocking your air flow, ice maybe. Now go ahead and tell me you are in Hawaii and make my day.

Dave's idea about the ice in the cup at the bottom of your air cleaner is a valid concern this time of year in cold areas. They do accumulate water and, if it freezes teh vacuum of tyhe intake stroke will draw little if any air and make up for it by drawing fuel. he result is flooding.

The 14007, going back to our last exchange, will work fine on your tractor. Make sure the idle mixture screw is about 1-1/2 turns or do out from being bottomed out. The other common issue with these motors is that they don't need or tolerate a lot of achoke. Not much at all in fact. If everything else is in good order (cranking and a good spark, properly timed, choke plate operation -check with hose to air cleaner removed) you don't want to give her more than a couple of turns at full choke, cut it back to half or less and crank again, but not much more than another three or four turns, before opening the choke completely.

The other thing to check out . . . have you synchronized the carb to the governor? That's the exercise where you pull the clevis pin at the front of the rod between the governor arm and the carb. With motor stopped, but the speed control at the seat set for full speed, push the rod as far back as it will go on the carb while pulling the governor arm back just until you meet the tension on it, and thread the clevis in or out on the rod to the point that it will mate up again so that you can get the pin back in.

Start with those, if you haven't already, and let us know how you make out.

Have you checked the coyle? Erik..

Have you got the right plug wire on the right plug?

If you have a distrubutor you need to check for battery voltage to your coil. With the points open and the ignition switch on you should have battery voltage on both small terminals. Use a test lite or a volt meter. If you have voltage rub those points with some 320 wet or dry until shiny. If they're pitted replace them. Make sure you have your plug wires in this firing order on the cap.
2-1
4-3

Hal

Thanks Hal...

I inspected the wire to the coil and all would appear to be in good order. That doesn't necessarily mean anything though. I have to work off farm tomorrow but will give this a try tomorrow night or Sunday morning and report back. One question for clarity on my end. What do you mean by "with the points open." ? Thanks!

Should be all set. I didn't change any wires from the way it ran for a few years. But you never know what wackiness may have ensued so I'll check it out anyway.

I'm gonna check this out tomorrow night as per the method El Toro suggested. Thanks...

It is indeed cold cold cold right now. That said I've tried starting the tractor with the air cleaner off altogether. With and without ether. And at various choke positions. The 14007 seems like it will work just fine and I appreciate you advice the last go round. The choke plate is operating fine as far as I can tell(smooth hinge and good seal). I'll double check my syncing but I'm pretty certain that I did that correctly on the reinstall.

I've got to work off farm tomorrow but I'm going to check the coil as per some other suggestions tomorrow night or Sunday morning and will report back. Any other thoughts or suggestions in the meantime let me know. Thanks.

Sorry Dave but I can't make your day. We're in the Central NYS freezer at the moment. Coldest day of the season thus far. Around zero last night. Miraculously no ice in the air intake though. It warmed a bit through the day and the weekends looking better. Not quite Hawaii but hey!?

My luck is improving! I thought for sure if I went out on a limb and guessed cold weather you would tell me you were in the tropics!

Your points rubbing block needs to have one of the cam lobes directly under the rubbing block of your points. That's where and when you set the .020" point gap if you have a distributor.

You need to see if battery voltage is getting to the coil with the ignition switch on. Should have voltage on both small terminals with the points open. You need to use a volt meter set on DC volts or a test lite. If you have voltage on both terminals clean the points with some 320 wet or dry. Then pull one of your plug wires and have someone make an attempt to start the engine with the ignition swtich on and see if there's fire to your plug. Hal

Air, Fuel, Compression, Spark. It should run.
Here's some things I would try:
Make sure no moisture or crack in Dist Cap.
Disconnect air intake hose from carb.
See if points are dirty or stuck.
Turn rotor to see if good arc/snap when points open.
Hold plug wire about 1/4" from plug and see it you get arc.
Warm up plugs over night and see if it will start.
Pull it in High gear and see what happens.
It sounds like it is cold, bring the whole tractor into the kitchen overnight to warm up.

Dell

Okay here goes. I put a light tester to the terminals on the coil. The terminal receiving juice from the battery shows light on with the switch open. The terminal from coil to distributer pulses light when the ignition is pulled. Otherwise this terminal has no light.

I've cleaned up the distributer cap and distributer rotor arm. I've checked each plug and they spark upon ignition. If I open the distributer and look at the point gap while pulling the ignition there is a spark at each click of the cam. I unfortunately don't have a gauge on hand but it appears to be .020" I would assume I'm synced because nothing has been changed since this tractor last ran. But that may not mean anything? Should I go through the syncing process?

I have on hand a new coil, wires, distributer cap, and condenser / breaker arm and points.(in the event I found any of them to be bad - it was cheaper to have them on hand than make another trip out) It doesn't necessarily appear any of them are bad but I don't know for sure. I suppose I could install some or all and see if anything changes. Although the adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." does hold water.(and I can always return them on another trip)

I guess this is all I've got for now?! Anythoughts?!

Thanks again for your help.

Here's the update. I've gone back and re-synched the governor. I wasn't quite right with it before after all but unfortunately that hasn't changed anything with the tractor.

I just updated my progress on the "other side" of the tractor.(distributor/coil/etc.) In my last post to El Toro "Hal".

Anythoughts? Next steps?

I really appreciate your help trouble shooting this. Thanks.