1959 Oliver 550 Gas rotor not turning

lomamc · Jul 24, 2023

I have a 1959 Oliver 550 Gas which has been sitting since mid 2008. Recently I made an attempt to start it. Got new battery. Made sure there was oil in the pan, antifreeze in the radiator. Rotated crankshaft by hand to insure nothing frozen. Cranked engine without spark to lubricate bearings and everything else. Cleaned sight bowl and added new gas. Connected coil wire to distributor and cranked and cranked. She would not start. Removed distributor cap and saw rotor not turning when cranking. Tried turning rotor by hand and it would not turn. I think it could be the timing chain broke.
What are your thoughts?

Dieseltech · Jul 24, 2023

Engine has gears, no timing chain is used.

super99 · Jul 24, 2023

Pull the distributor and see if the gear on the end of the shaft is gone or missing some
teeth

lomamc · Jul 24, 2023

Thanks for the info. The tractor is in Colorado and I am currently in SC. I will be going back next week and will pull distributor and let you know what I found.

Tramway Guy · Jul 25, 2023

If the oil pump is seized, you will have the symptoms you describe.

scootergmc · Jul 25, 2023

Does it also have a roll pin on the distributor gear that can fail?

RCP · Jul 28, 2023

The cam drive on that engine is all gears, no timing chain. The oil pump drives the
distributor, and the camshaft drives the oil pump. I suggest that you pull the
distributor and make sure the oil pump drive is turning. Also as suggested by another
poster make sure the distributor works correctly.

lomamc · Aug 3, 2023

It appears that the gears on the distributor are fine. The other pictures are of the hole the distributor goes in.
What would cause an oil pump to freeze ?

J.Wondergem · Aug 4, 2023

First guess water.

lomamc · Aug 4, 2023

Before trying to start the 550, I checked the oil and it was between to add and full mark. Checked the radiator, the level was a little low. Added about a quart of new
antifreeze.

J.Wondergem · Aug 5, 2023

During the 15 years it sat, can you imagine the oil staying in all the little spots and no moister getting in them?

Did you figure out what is causing it to not turn?

This post was edited by J.Wondergem on 08/05/2023 at 11:08 am.

scootergmc · Aug 5, 2023

Is the oil pump drive turning?

lomamc · Aug 5, 2023

I removed the distributor from its hole. I manually turned the crankshaft by hand clockwise, if you are looking at tractor from the front. My son was looking in the hole and the
camshaft turned but the oil pump did not. The slots that the distributor goes in, did not move. If it is the oil pump, that may be beyond what I want tio get into at this time
since I am in the process of moving.

I was thinking of putting a piece of metal in the slots and slowly turn by hand to see if I could get the oil pump to turn. I would not put a lot of pressure or force when doing
that.

lomamc · Aug 5, 2023

At this time, I have not. But the oil pump seems to be the problem.

1959 Oliver 550 Gas rotor not turning

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