So last week my 1650 gas burner started and
ran great in the cold like it always has.
Yesterday it would not start. I have strong
spark and gas to the carb and rolls over
fast like it should. I even removed the
carb and replaced it with one off a running
tractor. My only thought is that the
advance in the distributor is messing up
and screwing with the timing. It has the holley distributor. Does any one
have any other ideas? After working on it
tonight in the cold I would love to set the
damn thing on fire and watch it burn if it
wasn't my chore tractor.
 
To funny the "watch it burn" comment because ive been there with same tractor.
Does it backfire or pop at all when trying to start? If not i'd say bad fuel. This has happened
to me before.
 
Almost forgot about that had a skid loader wouldn't start had a guy look at and that's what was wrong but he knew in advance seems the gas station had got bad fuel . I was lucky some guys didn't even make it out of the parking lot. Would pouring in some additive in help at least start it ?
 
Many years ago (20 maybe) my 1650 did about the same thing yours is doing. First I'd start with the gas as already suggested. In my case I ended up replacing the Holley distributor with a Mallory and pertronix guts inside it. I always wonder now if pertronix could have "fixed" the old Holley dist. guess I'll never know now, been happy so far with the Mallory. You need to put a timing light on there and see what's happening. Those Mallory distributors are not cheap!
 
Drain a small amount into a metal can and throw a match into it to see if it burns.
I'd say no to addative, just waisting hard earned $$.
Drain the tank & carb, new gas and she'll go.
 
Well my Holley distributor already has a patronix igniter in it. I haven't tried new gas yet but it does pop on occasion and I even tried to give it some ether right in the intake without the carb on it and couldn't get it to pop at all.
 
I don't know what that Holley cap is like,but my 1550 with a Mallory wouldn't start a year ago. I had shut it off to fix a chain on a wagon,with cows all around. They had pulled on the spark plug wires and tipped the cap up just a little bit. When they did,the spring loaded electrode pin in the center of the distributor cap fell out and went down in the center of the distributor.
 
Tractors that ran yesterday and not today always intrigue me. Seems like the smallest thing shoots them down. AFTER I finally find out what went wrong, I always feel foolish with myself, because afterwards it seems so obvious. That said, I feel for your thoughts about setting it on fire.

I saw that you tried ether and you said it didn't pop with that either. Even the stubborn B&S motor on my wood splitter will run on ether until the sniff is used up. I tend to agree with Randy, that you may have a rotor & cap problem, or electrical loss of continuity somewhere. Fuel problems seldom show up out of the blue, but the loss of ignition happens immediately, most times. Even key switch problems happen fast. It may be as simple as a broken coil/dist wire crimp. Pull and test them all. Substitute a plug wire for the coil wire and see if it will run on 5 cylinders. Lots of places for something little to go wrong.

Last year my faithful 2-44 (550) industrial just quit, after running the day before. I finally dragged it down to the shop from his garage, and started in, pulling, probing, and testing. In desperation, I pulled the cap off, to find the dirtiest, rustyest , crudyest rotor I had ever seen. How it ever ran the day before I will never know. $1.45 later I had a new rotor from town, but it still wouldn't fire. Then, like Randy said, out dropped the little carbon button from the old cap, into my hand. $7.50 and another trip to town for a cap, and it was purring like it always did. Go figure? I was embarrassed to know what I had neglected so long had come to shut me down. Good Luck with your trouble shooting. I hope you can get it inside somewhere warm to work on it. Ron
 
I'll have to agree with Marv. I've had my JD A quit while baling. Always started good and ran fine till it just stopped. It was the key switch. Another thing, the spark may look good at the plug (out of the head) but it takes a lot more to fire under compression. Needs a good ground to the block, too. Could also be cross-firing inside the cap. I had a '65 Galaxy that was prone to moisture in the cap. I carried a propane torch. When it quit I could pop the cap and point the flame in to dry it out. That was in my younger days.
 
Well guys I guess I shouldn't have made the set it on fire comet. It back fired thru the carb and ignited gas that was spilled on the block and ground. Things got warm for a few minutes when the dead grass ignited. I wouldn't have been too upset if it wasn't parked between my 1550 and 2-70. Also near buy is my 1066 756 550 2 770's sc case and jd b. We got it out but if we didn't id just be left with my old oliver 70 and 1070 and 400 case that are at my friends farm. Pretty scary how quick an entire collection could have been lost. I'm taking a break to change my pants and drink a beer.
 
If it backfired like that,I'd bet on a cracked cap or something similar. I wouldn't even try it again until I changed the cap and rotor.
 
The cap has been on there a long time. I'm not sure why i haven't changed it but it always ran good so never thought of it
 
You better scatter them out, you know what happened to the army fighters at Pearl Harbor when the japanese showed up! The advance block in my sons 1650 was worn out and it would lose it's point setting. I mounted it rigid to the base plate with machine screws, I'm going to toss the diaphram and make a cover for the hole. Haven't got around to finishing it yet so I can try it out. Petronix has had a high failure rate lately so I opted not to go that route and the Mallory is currently out of production after MSD bought them. Korves was trying to get them to resume production.
 
just something to check with it back firing could the distributor have gotten moved? Years ago at a pull dads 66 won the 4000 pound class then powered out in the 3500. seems someone moved the distributor. Two years ago had my wifes favorite horse do the same thing while I was loading manure. now have most tractors with cold chisel marks top and bottom. Also if the weather has changed some wires will draw moisture even inside a barn. My 77 chore tractor sometimes gets neglected because it is so reliable. good luck with your gremlin.
 
That's a good thought but the distributor is as tight as can be. Hopefully we can get a new cap and rotor tomorrow to try
 

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