Rumplestiltskin
Member
Hi, All.
I thought I’d post this to get it into the archives in case someone else experiences the same problem.
After half a week of snow, a slight warm-up, and a couple of days of rain at temps just above freezing, conditions were perfect for condensation. I went out to the barn to fire up the 350 Utility. I noticed that the tractor was sopping wet in general; both sides of the engine looked like someone had used a spray bottle on them.
I’ve had this tractor for something like six years, and never had a bit of trouble starting it. In fact, if I let go of the starter switch as soon as I heard the crank start to rotate, the engine would always be running before I could get my thumb off the switch. But not this day!
The engine cranked just fine, but the ignition seemed completely dead -- no attempt to fire at all. The distributor input terminal and coil were getting good voltage, so I pulled the distributor cap for the first time ever. There was no moisture inside, but the rotor button was pretty badly pitted. I added a new rotor and distributor cap to my shopping list, then cleaned the old ones and reinstalled them. Still no ignition.
Rather than tear into the points just yet, I set up my daughter’s hair dryer about a foot from the distributor housing and let it run for about 45 minutes. When I came back out the housing was slightly warm to the touch and areas around it (coil, resistor, etc.) were dry.
So, another try…and she started right up and ran like a top!
Moral of the story: Enough water condensation can completely kill an ignition even if the inside of the distributor cap is dry.
Mark W. in MI
I thought I’d post this to get it into the archives in case someone else experiences the same problem.
After half a week of snow, a slight warm-up, and a couple of days of rain at temps just above freezing, conditions were perfect for condensation. I went out to the barn to fire up the 350 Utility. I noticed that the tractor was sopping wet in general; both sides of the engine looked like someone had used a spray bottle on them.
I’ve had this tractor for something like six years, and never had a bit of trouble starting it. In fact, if I let go of the starter switch as soon as I heard the crank start to rotate, the engine would always be running before I could get my thumb off the switch. But not this day!
The engine cranked just fine, but the ignition seemed completely dead -- no attempt to fire at all. The distributor input terminal and coil were getting good voltage, so I pulled the distributor cap for the first time ever. There was no moisture inside, but the rotor button was pretty badly pitted. I added a new rotor and distributor cap to my shopping list, then cleaned the old ones and reinstalled them. Still no ignition.
Rather than tear into the points just yet, I set up my daughter’s hair dryer about a foot from the distributor housing and let it run for about 45 minutes. When I came back out the housing was slightly warm to the touch and areas around it (coil, resistor, etc.) were dry.
So, another try…and she started right up and ran like a top!
Moral of the story: Enough water condensation can completely kill an ignition even if the inside of the distributor cap is dry.
Mark W. in MI
