TO20 will not start - any suggestions?

cheroke2

New User
I recently purchased a 1949 Ferguson TO20. Drove it home, all 2 miles and seemed to run fine. Each time I used it it seemed to start harder and harder, more cranking, would die, then crank again and start. Hard to keep running lately, have to chock it to keep it from dieing. Now just cranks and won't start. Replaced points, plugs, wires, condenser, distributor cap and carb. When I test for spark it is intermittent, will fire for a second, then no fire for couple seconds. Any suggestions. Thanks.
 
Choking it adds gas molecules to the cylinder making it easier for spark to jump across.
Weak coil.
Ignition key gives the juice to the coil.
 

You need to determine if it is fuel or spark you are missing. Have you removed the plug on the bottom of the carb bowl and gotten good flow? Could be crud in the tank plugging up the carb inlet screen in the elbow.

You should also have a nice blue spark from the coil.

My bet is fuel....

LNK
 

oops, missed the part about intermittent spark. Is it 6v or converted to 12v? How are the distributor bearings, hard to keep points gapped with bad bearings....

Let us know what you find.

LNK
 
It is 6 volt. Getting good gas flow and installed new carburetor. Even though I replaced the top side of the distributor (cap, points, etc)
the distributor was next on my list. Thanks for the suggestions. Now I just have to wait for the mail with new distributor.
 
Is gas getting TO Carb, No ? Check sediment bowl flow with BOWL removed,NO FLOW? remove cutoff valve,clean
check DISTRUBTER Shaft BUSHINGS bygetting points closed,try to move the Distributor SHAFT towards 12 o;CLOCK,6 O;O clock,3 AND 9
O;CLOCK positions. Watch points to see if they are trying to OPEN or FIRE Ther shuold be MINAMAL MOVEMENT. Excess play WILL cause
points to open & close erratic
 
Saw one person that had grounded the condenser lead to dist. housing(me).Never a good idea to throw a bunch of parts at one time as new may be not so new.
 
Sounds like the issue I had with my coil. Bought two new coils and they were both bad. Went with a Pertronix and have not had any more issues.
 
had mechanic look at it, seems a fuel issue, we cleaning the tank today and recleansing the lines and bowl , did all before but not the tank filter , tried to cheat, but there are large size debris in sediment bowl, so are going there first. Air flow is unrestricted , coil is not installed incorrect, and everything has been bench tested for illumination purposes
 
(quoted from post at 09:35:01 04/07/17) had mechanic look at it, seems a fuel issue, we cleaning the tank today and recleansing the lines and bowl , did all before but not the tank filter , tried to cheat, but there are large size debris in sediment bowl, so are going there first. Air flow is unrestricted , coil is not installed incorrect, and everything has been bench tested for illumination purposes

Let us know what you find.
 
sorry, posted to wrong topic, but my issue is similar with my '50. Check your ignition switch might look OK, but if it's several years old and been used a lot , won't hurt to change it. It illuminated one more chink in the chain. Check your fuel system , check cap for venting , blow out lines, clean elbow screen on carb, clean sediment bowl assembly, check for vacuum leaks at manifold and such.
 

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