Need help ASAP! 400 won't start at state fair

My dang 400 has sat at the Iowa fairgrounds since Tuesday, and today it wouldn't start! It had been rained on Wednesday and Thursday, so maybe that's why it won't start. I had the exhaust covered too. I believe it is getting fuel because it drips from the carb after I try to start it. As the motor is cranking a fine white mist seems to come from the muffler (unburnt fuel?).I've checked the firing order, checked for moisture in the distributor cap and plug wires, and I ran a dollar bill through the points. My battery is one crank away from dead....

Could it just be moisture somewhere in the electrical system? Condenser? It has a 12 volt conversion kit. Would water on the resistor be causing a problem? I have to have it running by around 9 AM for FFA judging

You probably have it flooded now. Make sure you have a good spark on all the cylinders when cranking, then put in a fresh set of plugs.

Moisture should not affect the resistor.

It ran when you parked it so why dont you just get someone to give you a pull cause you have it flooded. How can you enter a contest when you have a tractor thats not factory original.

Yes, it's probably flooded with fuel. May start right up this morning but if your cranking speed has slowed down your spark will be weak too. Have somebody give you a pull early this morning and get it going.

It no doubt got wet and now the battery is too low to have a hot enough spark. If you have dried it out this morning, you will probably need a jump or pull it to start.
As for being original, geez Gene, who cares? An FFA member has evidently fixed it up in his shop class and learned something along the way... that's the object of being a member.

I just love you old bumps on a log give us young timers a hard time. Won't help us when we ask on here and then when we get something done we get nothing but grief about it.

And you sit on these forums and debate why there is no young blood coming into tractor collecting, I wonder why?

Sorry for the rant, but good luck getting the tractor going and I hope you win Grand Champion with it.

P.S. - I know there are a lot of you out there that are more than willing to help and I can see it in this post, but considering this young man is a bit on edge, the negative comments don't help.

Maybe someone messed with it while you were away. Like remove the rotor etc it has happened before

Unless its sat in storage since new I doubt there is a "factory original" 400 left on earth.

I didn't see any negative comments. You have to be a little forgiving to use these forums. And learn to look at all the advice as a whole and sort out the poor advice. As far as Gene's comment about the contest... Well it's not Gene's contest and he didn't get to write the rules. Yeah, I hope EM did well too. I know he does nice work. I've seen some of it. You young guys just keep asking questions and don't give up.

Yes, moisture does affect those resistors. When power washing in shop for repairs , had many that would not start without jumping across the resistor.

The first thing you need to do is charge your battery or bring a fresh battery in and swap it out. Then you can determine if you have any spark and how strong it is. In the meantime, shut off the gas at the tank and take the plug out of the bottom of the carb. If it was feasible I would even pull your spark plugs and let them dry out or change them. While you have them out turn the engine over. This can help dry the engine out if it is really flooded bad. After you get a fresh battery installed or your other one charged, and you have the spark plugs in and the plug in the carb you can start diagnosing.

Leave the gas shut off and pull the dist cap and rotor so you can watch the points open and close when cranking. If you see a nice blue arc between the points you are good there. If you have spark at the points pull a spark plug off and leave the wire attached while grounding it to the tractor. Turn the motor over and see if you have spark at the plug. If you are good to go there move onto fuel. Turn the fuel on for a few seconds to get some gas into the carb. Crank the engine and see if it fires. If it starts turn the gas back on about one turn and see how it runs. You could have a float that is hanging up or has a hole in it. One other thing to check since it has been sitting exposed to the public. Make sure some moron didn"t move the plug wires around. Check the firing order and go thru it to make sure the wire are where they should be. If you have spark and you have fuel it has to run! If the float is hanging up causing it to flood just when it sits make sure you turn the fuel off. If you don"t have spark at one place or the other you are going to have to start looking at points, condensor, or coil. Good luck!

The main comment I was referring to was has disappeared.

Kudos to the forum mods for removing the offending post. For those who didn't see it, it suggested the OP should get rid of the tractor and play video games since he/she didn't know the answer.

Also kudos to the more knowledgeable folks here willing to share what they know with the younger crowd.

Good luck to the OP in judging - looking forward to hearing how it went.

Not sure if you got it started yet but if you didn't, I'd go with having someone pull it. It's probably flooded with a weak spark by now.

Hi That doesn"t surprise me from someone here, I hope the tractor owner wins a prize/ gets a highly commended or some recognition, and comes back here to tell us, and the guy that made this comment, can come make a public apology to the kid and congratulate him! .
we don"t have this competition in Canada with 4H that I am aware of.
I have watched these kids do tractors on tube video"s. To be honest I"m fussy with stuff I do, but If i had to show mine in a row of these, mine would look bad compared to them, and I"d leave it at home in the shed. The effort that goes in and what comes out is unreal, these tractors look better than new, if these kids continue in later life there will be some real sharp collections around for the next generation, some of the Girls work is unreal as well to be fair.
Regards Robert

Thanks for all the replies. I couldn't get it running this morning, but neither could other kids. I'll check for spark at the points tonight in the dark.

The point is this you are going to "fix" a tractor for a contest so you should keep it original and know how to make it run not just pretty new paint and change things from original. So is it a contest for those with the most money.

(quoted from post at 05:20:20 08/09/14) The point is this you are going to "fix" a tractor for a contest so you should keep it original and know how to make it run not just pretty new paint and change things from original. So is it a contest for those with the most money.

Click to expand...

What do you mean by "most money"? Changing to a 12v system is being practical, not spending the most money. Probably costs more to re-work a 6V system than to change to 12V. Everything 6v costs more. I don't know about the Iowa State Fair, but I'd bet it's not a "concours" type of contest where everything has to be like it came from the factory. It probably has to do more with what had to be done to get it back to a good usable condition and look pretty good in the process.

OK so you dont know how to make a 6v system work and if im in a contest doesent originality enter into final grade. And a big part of it would be knowing how to make it when it was built.

Did you ever get it running?

You asked the other kids, but what about your dad, or their dads, or a grandfather, or uncle, etc? Someone's mentor had to have been at the fair, and they could show you how to troubleshoot and fix the issue.

Hopefully you've found out that there are a LOT of nice folks at events like this, willing to help get you out of a jam. Someone will give you a jump start for sure. Just ask.

Worst case they will help you get the tractor back on the trailer so you can get it home and work on it there, or even haul it home for you if you don't have a trailer.

BTW, Check for Spark 101: Pull the coil wire off the center post of the distributor cap and hold it close to the oil filter housing while someone cranks the engine. You don't need to wait for dark to see if you have spark. It will either be bright blue and snap-snap-snap, or you will have nothing.

So one comment and you go off?

Relax.

I've done everything mentioned and I don't have a spark now. So my plan is to replace my condenser and the old 6v coil with a new 12v coil to eliminate the resistor. This problem would have to be moisture related because it never bothered until it was rained on.

(quoted from post at 14:45:38 08/12/14) I've done everything mentioned and I don't have a spark now. So my plan is to replace my condenser and the old 6v coil with a new 12v coil to eliminate the resistor. This problem would have to be moisture related because it never bothered until it was rained on.

Click to expand...

Or sabatoge...