1948 Farmall H, has spark and gas but wont fire

cfitz4780

New User
Hi. I'm new here. I have a 1948 Farmall H still the 6 volt system. It has a distributor not a magneto. I have replaced every electrical component on the tractor wiring and all. It gets spark to the plugs. It gets gas to the cylinders. it has good compression on all cylinders. I have literally checked everything I can think of and can't make it run. Anyone else have any ideas. Thank you.
 
Sounds like you done almost everything. I
would double check the timing and firing
order, if you have fuel and not just spark
but good spark at the plugs it just needs
to spark at the right time for each
cylinder
 
what is the tractor history... new to you? someone else work on it? you didn't say if you checked the timing as it wont run with all those unless the spark happens on the compression stroke at tdc with some gas.
 
what is the tractor history... new to you? someone else work on it? you didn't say if you checked the timing as it wont run with all those unless the spark happens on the compression stroke at tdc with some gas. was it running before? just replacing parts wont make it run. it will run with any old spark plug or points or cap or rotor which is the nice thing about distributors.
 
Easy way to find if it is in time Remove #1 plug hook the wire back to it and ground the plug. Now turn the sw on have someone to help. Put your finger in the hole and then have someone hit the starter when the engine turns over watch the plug it should fire when your finger feels the compression stroke
 

Thanks. I bought the tractor not running. The guy didn't know anything about it as it was his deceased father's. I checked the distributor and it is loose. It is possible someone had it out and replaced it wrong.
 
(quoted from post at 07:14:54 04/30/20)
Thanks. I bought the tractor not running. The guy didn't know anything about it as it was his deceased father's. I checked the distributor and it is loose. It is possible someone had it out and replaced it wrong.

If it's loose, it may be just a matter of turning it a little till it's back in time. I'd try that first before removing it entirely. Use the method laid out by Gene Bender.
 
remove # 1 spark plug. wad up some paper and push it slightly into the hole. bump starter, until paper comes flying out. piston is coming up on compression. locate timing marks, or put a drinking straw into the spark plug hole and turn engine with crank , until the straw changes movement. should be on top dead center. then mark # 1 spark plug tower, on the distributor base. remove distributor cap. is the rotor button pointing to the mark that you just made? if not turn distributor until it does. should be close enough in time to run. perhaps on time.
 

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