Hard Starting DC???

munson1086 · Jul 21, 2014

Hi everyone,

I have a 53 DC that seems to always have had a hard starting problem after the first start of the day. In the morning it will fire right up, but after that it's a battle with the starter, but if I were to pop start it or pull it it would start right up. Once running it runs like a top. Here is what has been done to it:
New 12 volt system
Rebuilt head within last year
Rebuilt case 41 mag with proper plugs and wires

It seems to flood very easy. I usually turn off the gas at the sediment bulb when starting. Could this be a carb issue? It had a rebuild kit a few years ago.

I'm at a loss here! Very frustrating!

Thanks for any ideas.

Matt

old · Jul 21, 2014

Check your spark when it is warmed up. It need to jump a 1/4 inch gap and be a blue/white in color for it to do the job well. If weak good chance the coil is going bad

Dodgeit · Jul 21, 2014

(quoted from post at 10:02:37 07/21/14) Check your spark when it is warmed up. It need to jump a 1/4 inch gap and be a blue/white in color for it to do the job well. If weak good chance the coil is going bad

I will also add that the spark timing may be advanced too much. Idle should probably be close to zero with the engine sounding like the timing is retarded a bit.

munson1086 · Jul 21, 2014

Mag is throwing a nice hot blue spark. I'll try messing with the timing some more.

Lazy WP · Jul 21, 2014

You aren't running it too lean are you? I have never
had a DC start hard on 12 volts. If you had a
distributor on it, I would say you aren't getting
full power to it.

munson1086 · Jul 21, 2014

So I retarded the timing a bit. This did seem to help some with warm starting. Still takes a good 4-5 tries to start. Much better than almost killing the battery to get it started as before.

I have adjusted the carb as per the manual, both idle mixture and load adjustment. I was thinking it might have been too rich since it was flooding so easily. I'll recheck though!

Again, once it's running, it runs great!

C. Amick · Jul 21, 2014

Where do you have the battery grounded? Is it a good clean ground? Try jumping a ground wire directly over to the starter mounting bolt and see if makes any difference.

munson1086 · Jul 22, 2014

The battery is grounded under the battery tray. The starter has plenty of power - almost seems as if it turns the tractor over too fast! It just has a hard time firing up. It will almost start and sputter when warm. It takes a few of these now before it starts. Again - better than before, but still not perfect. Maybe I need to recheck the valves?

Ron Sa · Jul 23, 2014

You may have a problem related to the mag's impulse. The impulse kicks out when the centrifugal force overpowers the impulse springs. The impulse makes the mag rotate briefly fast enough to make a spark.

The mag electronics needs to be strong enough to create a spark at the engine speed the impulse kicks out. Your impulse springs may be fatigued and the impulse kicks out before the engine speed is fast enough to fire the mag.

Pull starting provide the necessary mag speed to fire without the impulse. Also a good strong hit of the first cylinder to fire under impulse may rotate the engine fast enough to make the mag work without the impulse.

When warm, if for some reason the cylinder fires weak, such as if flooded, weak impulse springs may release the impulse and the mag is dead when the second cylinder needs to be fired. Clear as mud?

oldproudvet · Jul 23, 2014

I had this issue with my SC. It turned out that the
12 volt battery spins the mag fast enough to
overpower or bypass the impulse starter spring. So
rather then getting a nice snap of the mag, you're
getting the actual rpm, which isn't much and the
spark intensity depends on the speed of the armiture. Switching to a dist solved my problems.........

munson1086 · Jul 24, 2014

Thanks for all the replies everyone. The Case mag was professionally rebuilt about a year ago at a hefty price. I would be pretty upset if the impulse springs weren't checked - but always a possibility I suppose. The tractor was even worse when it had a Fairbanks on it. It NEVER would start with the starter. I swear it spent at least ten years always sitting on a hill!

When starting I try not to hold down the starter button - cause I really do think it's too fast for the mag. I usually try to "bump" it over as if I were hand cranking.

It's looking like the next ignition problem may have to be solved with a distributor. I always did like the mag though - no battery power needed!

Hard Starting DC???

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old

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