farmall super c refuses to start

Anonymous-0 · Feb 17, 2013

New coil, new rotor, new points, new gas, new plugs and wires, new needle and seat...I believe the engine is timed correctly...I line up the mark on the flywheel with the notch on the front dust cover and make sure that I install the dist. cap with #1 as close to the rotor tab as possible. It is at approximately 9 o'clock. When I turn the tractor over, it does not fire at all and it floods almost immediately, both from the bottom of the Zenith carb and also fuel squirts from the gasket where the carb meets the throat of the manifold. I am not sure what else I should try. Any new ideas or does anyone spot anything I may have missed or done incorrectly? Thanks in advance...

old · Feb 17, 2013

First off you trouble shoot then parts not parts then trouble shoot.
#1 make sure you have a good blue/white spark that jumps a 1/4 inch gap at All 4 plug wires.
#2 since you know you have gas try this. Turn the gas on count to 60 turn the gas back off and try to start it with no choke
#3 when was the last time you serviced the air cleaner it could be full of water and dirt which will cause one to flood.
#4 flooded plus do not fire so you need to clean them and then burn them off with a lighter etc.

Red Dave · Feb 17, 2013

If it " floods almost immediately, both from the bottom of the Zenith carb and also fuel squirts from the gasket where the carb meets the throat of the manifold" something is drastically wrong in the carburetor.

It would seem that, at the very least, the needle valve is not closing when the fuel bowl is full of gas. Whether it is a float that doesn't float, or a float that is not set correctly, or dirt in the needle & seat, or some other thing, there are major issues with the carburetor that must be sorted out and corrected before there is any use in looking further.

I can not say that I have ever seen gas "squirt" out of the gasket between the carburetor and the manifold.

rustred · Feb 17, 2013

all ihc tractors have the rotor pointing to 2 oclock position when #1 cyl. is at tdc. so when you say 9 oclock you have a problem unless it is "timed" that way? firing order is 1 3 4 2. going clockwise from 2 oclock. you are not saying if you have even checked to make sure it is sparking at #1 when at tdc. as close as possible is not good ... need right on the money. so you may need to pull dist and align it so rotor is in 2 oclock position and go from there. also the little point terminal sits at 3 oclock when timed correctly.

Farmallhal · Feb 17, 2013

You have several good leads on trying to find the source of your starting problem but you will need to do some trouble shooting to find the real issue. This most likely won't be your problem, but when I bought my Super C the hot wire from the push-pull switch to the coil was broken under the battery box. Didn't take any time at all to fix that issue and I bought the tractor as a non-runner from a very frustrated person. The prior owner (not a real tractor type) had everything dismantled trying to find a major problem while overlooking a very basic thing. Please post back to let us know what you discover once you get it started, Hal.

Dave H (MI) · Feb 17, 2013

I think if you take the hose off the air cleaner you are going to find that you have gas in there also if it is coming out the top of the carb. Shut the gas off and leave it off until you find out why the carb is overfilling. Check your float adjustment, needle and seat. I would also question gas squirting out from between the carb and manifold as there is a small gasket there to prevent leaks. You might want to make sure you put one there when you worked on the carb. When I look at the list of things you did the one that jumps out at me is "new needle and seat".

Rumplestiltskin · Feb 17, 2013

New needle and seat, but is the float good?

Was the engine running poorly before (leading to all the work and new parts), or was it running well (so the work was elective/preventive)?

If it was already running poorly, I'd have a look at the archives for ways to test the float. If it was running well to begin with, I'd suspect the problem lies with one of the new changes.

Mark W. in MI

Janicholson · Feb 17, 2013

I will ad this to the comments you make (after reading the post) It must be TDC on the compression Stroke. The thumb in the cylinder and slow cranking to get the piston on the way up is way important. Jim

rustred · Feb 17, 2013

oops, just forgot to mention, ya for sure.

Loren in MN · Feb 17, 2013

I haven't heard if your tractor was running good then NOT, but I was using my Super C (plowing snow) that always ran great and always started even in the coldest weather for more than 20 years. It just died. I thought that I'd broken a timing chain or something (knew it couldn't be with how it acted while checking). It had spark but only some of the time and seemed that the timing was off, but most of the time I could get spark at a sparkplug or coil wire but sometimes nothing. I found that the distributor gear had stripped so the rotor wasn't always turning. I changed the worn gears and reset the timing by setting the rotor correctly and bolted the distributor back on -it started in about a half a crank/turn and purred like a kitten. Took me about a week to find the trouble.

CNKS · Feb 17, 2013

To summarize the other answers, the rotor is way off, supposed to be 2 o-clock pointed to the #1 terminal, at a minimum your carb has a bad gasket, and make sure the float is at the right height, if you have not cleaned the carb with real carb cleaner, do so. All carburators used or made by IH will flood if you try cranking with the choke closed. Begin with it off and only open for a couple of seconds while cranking. Also when you time the engine with #1 at TDC, and have the rotor pointing to #1, remove the coil wire from the distributer and put the end about 1/4 inch from the nut on the distributer (switch on), turn the distributer to the left (from rear) then turn to the right until you get a spark.

gene bender · Feb 17, 2013

You have severe carb problems. When you get that fixed you need to remove all plugs. Then removing the valve cover get #1 piston on compression. Both valves will be closed. Looking in the #1 hole you can see the piston at the top. The rotor should be at 2 o"clock when dist is installed. Make sure the wire goes to #1 the next wire goes to #3 the next wire #4 next wire #2 hook the wire to #1 plug not installed. make sure the plug is grounded. By turning on the sw and turning engine over having thumb in #1 hole you can see spark at the plug when you feel compression. This will tell you timing is OK. If the carb is fixed the engine will start and run after all plugs are installed and the wires are in the correct order. You can time the engine by moving dist while its running by sound of the engine. You should never see gas at the gasket on the manifold.

David G · Feb 17, 2013

was it running before?

El Toro · Feb 18, 2013

Remove No1 sparkplug near the radiator. Hold your thumb over the plug hole while a helper hand cranks the engine. Once you feel pressure against your thumb drop a long plastic straw on top of the piston. Then you watch the straw rise
while the helper slowly cranks the engine. Once the straw quit rising your No1 piston should be a TDC on the compression stroke.

Remove the distributor cap and pull the distributor from the engine and rotate the rotor until it points to 2 o'clock and reinstall the distributor.

As been mentioned install the plug wires in this firing order:
2-1
4-3 As the rotor rotates CW.

Make sure you're getting battery voltage to your distributor. It should start now. Hal

El Toro · Feb 18, 2013

Did you pull the cam gear? Hal

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Anonymous-0

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old

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rustred

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Dave H (MI)

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