Ford tractor will crank but wont run part 2

perryjosh64 · Dec 12, 2020

Folks this is round 2 on ongoing issue. 1964 Ford 2000 4 cyl gas tractor. Tractor died awhile back while mowing like out of gas. Ive cleaned the tank/fuel lines, replaced the carburetor and spark plugs. New gas in tank, good flow from tank to carb. Engine will turn over but will not start. Sometimes it will crank and run for a few seconds then dies. After it dies or while trying to crank gas will leak out bottom of carb or air intake port. Ive posted about this before and some folks said could be bad switch, resistor, coil or something to do with electrical? Issue is tractor wont run long enough to do some of the tests they recommended.
Sssooo ANY recommendations of why tractor wont crank/run and how to test the electrical (switch/resistor/coil/etc) if tractor wont run long enough for normal tests?
FYI, dont know if this is important or not but when changing spark plugs I looked into plug holes and there is black grease/oil on backside?

casecollectorsc · Dec 12, 2020

Hot wire it to eliminate switch or resistor problems. Clip a wire on the positive post on the battery and the other end to the positive
side of the coil. Engage starter and see if it runs.

perryjosh64 · Dec 12, 2020

Dont know if this is important but prior to replacing carburetor I rebuilt the old one and cleaned tank/fuel lines. I was able to get tractor started and running. When I went to set the carb I was able to set the idle needle. However when I went to set the main adjustment needle per the Ford Tractor FO-20 service manual instructions stated to get tractor running at operating temperature, pull any 3 spark plug wires off, open throttle to full throttle and adjust main adjustment needle to highest operating RPM is reached. Tried that but before I could finish tractor died. Since then have not been able to get tractor to start/run for more than a few seconds even with new carb and spark plugs.

Janicholson · Dec 12, 2020

Have someone start it while you hold this to the coil wire. No light no spark. JIm
tester

Janicholson · Dec 12, 2020

Believe it, unburned fuel of today can create shorted spark plugs. Take them out, heat them till the ground electrode is glowing (use a propane
torch only) put them in hot with pliers. Start it. Jim

fixerupper · Dec 12, 2020

Im surprised no one has mentioned the condenser unless I missed it. If the condenser is brand new replace it with another condenser. The little devils arent what they used to be.

paul · Dec 12, 2020

Did you put the plug wires back on?

Did you put them on the right plugs?

Paul

used red MN · Dec 13, 2020

One of the simplest test you could do is hot wire your
coil as Casecollector has suggested. The test
Steve@advance suggested to see if parts of the
ignition system are working properly by connecting a
test light to the lead of the coil that comes from the
distributor will tell you a lot. The engine does not have
to run to determine if the points are working by this
method. Just cranking the engine with the starter
should cause the test light to blink every time the points
open and close. This sort of sounds like one problem
created another. Even if the gas flow to the carb is
possibly restricted it should if let set 5 minutes or so
fill the carb bowl and the when started should run a
minute or two on the fuel in the carb. First get it
started and running for at least a couple minutes then
go with diagnosing if the continued problem is loss of ignition
spark or lack of fuel. Linking your first post.
1st post on issue

john in la · Dec 13, 2020

[b:654c4848f0]After it dies or while trying to crank gas will leak out bottom of carb or air intake port[/b:654c4848f0]

I can not see why anyone would suggest you look at anything electrical just yet.
The engine is flooding.
You should never see gasoline anywhere.
Its a closed system and by the time the gasoline comes out the system it should be a vapor you never could see.
If you got gasoline leaking you need to address this first.
Then and only then can we address the electrical system.

grandpa Love · Dec 13, 2020

Somewhere on the great forum is a post
made by me about the same issue with a
Massey 204. We thought carb issue and
took it off and cleaned it and put it on
and took it off...... It would run for a
couple seconds and die. Someone said
condensor...... 2 minutes to swap.....
Runs like a champ now. Odd part was had
power to coil, points, and spark at
plugs. Gas would run out carb because we
kept flooding it trying to get it to run.
Stupid brand new condenser..... Old one
worked. Swap the CONDENSER!!

MarkB_MI · Dec 13, 2020

Ignition components aren't what they used to be. After spending months trying to get my 4000 to run right with brand-new points and condensor, I threw in the towel and installed the Pertronix electronic ignition conversion. It now starts instantly, every time. I was a skeptic, but no longer.

showcrop · Dec 13, 2020

josh, I have gone back through your previous posts and all the answers that you got. You had determined that you had intermittent gas flow but I can't find what you did to correct it. Did you?

Texasmark1 · Dec 13, 2020

Back when I ran gassers of different types of usage engines, I installed several Petronix. No way would I have a points and condenser engine without the conversion. Great return on the investment.

perryjosh64 · Dec 13, 2020

Yyeeaahh that was the jackassery part of my trouble (or might had nothing to do with issue). After cleaning tank,
replacing sediment bowl shut off valve, cleaning fuel line my son with better eyes noticed the gas level was just below the shut off nipple. Sssooo basically didnt have enough gas in tank.

showcrop · Dec 14, 2020

(quoted from post at 16:17:36 12/13/20) Yyeeaahh that was the jackassery part of my trouble (or might had nothing to do with issue). After cleaning tank,
replacing sediment bowl shut off valve, cleaning fuel line my son with better eyes noticed the gas level was just below the shut off nipple. Sssooo basically didnt have enough gas in tank.

These tanks will normally drain dry stopping at the furthest end of the field no problem. The Question is: Did you get a continuous good flow for two minutes with any amount of gas??

perryjosh64 · Dec 16, 2020

OK folks got back after it today. tried the hotwire thing (wire from pos bat post to coil pos post then cable from pos bat post to starter post). Did same thing, got it to start but only run for 20-30 seconds then died. Tried to restart and after a few tries did the same thing but only ran for 10-20 sec. I attached test light to pos terminal of coil with key on and light came on constant. I put it to other post (distributer cap to coil post) and light came on constant. when I hit started button with test light on coil-to-distributer post light dimmed as engine turned but did not go off/on/off/on as seemed the post had constant power?
So, should the condenser to distro post light up/have constant power when not running? how do I test coil? condenser? points?

Ford tractor will crank but wont run part 2

perryjosh64

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casecollectorsc

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perryjosh64

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Janicholson

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Janicholson

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fixerupper

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paul

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used red MN

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john in la

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grandpa Love

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MarkB_MI

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showcrop

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