Will Herring
Well-known Member
So as you know from my posts here, my WD had been developing a slight miss when warmed up, and even then only rarely. Well then I was out plowing the garden and it started to miss and then it just started to run crazy rough. Had it back in the shop trying to retune the carb, and the starter bendix broke. So over the course of several weeks I got the parts and replaced that. So in the meantime I also took out the gas valve and flushed the tank, cleaned the sediment bowl and took the carb off and cleaned it out (it had some sand looking junk in the bottom of it).
So anyway, I go to crank it back over, and she only ever seems to start after you let off the starter and it starts to wind down (it seems to "catch" after you let go of the starter -- been doing this for many moons now). So I played with it for awhile, and it just kept getting worse. Sometimes it would start and idle for 2 minutes, sometimes for just 30 seconds, sometimes it wouldn't start at all, and opening the throttle up it seemed like it was going to die until the last second when it surged back. Seemed weak of power when pulling hills and wanted to die whenever put in gear and attempted to drive it anywhere.
Basically it's a 12V converted system. I have cleaned the carb, but didn't "adjust" anything or rebuild it internally. Playing with the idle adjust screw didn't seem to change anything about how the tractor was running, but cranking down on the main jet screw will kill her. Finally this last time I was working on it, it would just crank over but never start. I even pulled the air hose off the carb wondering if my air filter was plugged, but she still would just crank and not start.
Makes me think I need to check my coil, the resistor, the condensor, and the distributor. The only problem is... I don't know how to know if they're good or bad. Anybody have advice for easy ways to tell if these parts are bad? Corrosion build up? Worn points? Bad point gap? Where or how to measure the coil, resistor, and/or condensor with a Fluke meter? How to test the plugs when the tractor won't start -- or I guess if it will crank I should at least get spark -- right? I know when I was putting the starter back together I had to take a wire brush on a drill to clean up some of the corroded and rusty contacts -- perhaps I have a bad ground to my chassis? But the starter spins okay... I realize this is a long list, but any help you can give me is appreciated.
So anyway, I go to crank it back over, and she only ever seems to start after you let off the starter and it starts to wind down (it seems to "catch" after you let go of the starter -- been doing this for many moons now). So I played with it for awhile, and it just kept getting worse. Sometimes it would start and idle for 2 minutes, sometimes for just 30 seconds, sometimes it wouldn't start at all, and opening the throttle up it seemed like it was going to die until the last second when it surged back. Seemed weak of power when pulling hills and wanted to die whenever put in gear and attempted to drive it anywhere.
Basically it's a 12V converted system. I have cleaned the carb, but didn't "adjust" anything or rebuild it internally. Playing with the idle adjust screw didn't seem to change anything about how the tractor was running, but cranking down on the main jet screw will kill her. Finally this last time I was working on it, it would just crank over but never start. I even pulled the air hose off the carb wondering if my air filter was plugged, but she still would just crank and not start.
Makes me think I need to check my coil, the resistor, the condensor, and the distributor. The only problem is... I don't know how to know if they're good or bad. Anybody have advice for easy ways to tell if these parts are bad? Corrosion build up? Worn points? Bad point gap? Where or how to measure the coil, resistor, and/or condensor with a Fluke meter? How to test the plugs when the tractor won't start -- or I guess if it will crank I should at least get spark -- right? I know when I was putting the starter back together I had to take a wire brush on a drill to clean up some of the corroded and rusty contacts -- perhaps I have a bad ground to my chassis? But the starter spins okay... I realize this is a long list, but any help you can give me is appreciated.