thomas eldon
New User
I've read the recent post and also 8N troubleshooting. My 49 TO20 6V is baffling me. Since rebuilt six years ago by my cousin...a pretty good mechanic, it has run pretty well but infrequently as sits in a barn for months on end...I try to run it when I get a chance. A few months ago began not starting well then not at all. I monkeyed with carb (mistake I know) and then changed out gas as was a year old. Note two years ago I changed out condenser and coil as was having trouble starting and seemed to fix. Lately though just no luck at all. So after changing out gas, no luck. So started checking electrical. 6.24V at battery, switch, coil and distributor (the latter three when switch is on). I'm not getting the blue spark though when I hold distributor end coil wire near engine with switch on and starter cranking...but have good paint job...do I need to find or make bare metal? So out of boredom, since using volt meter it looked like I'm getting power to and out of coil and to distributor it could be condensor...I installed old condensor I took out two years ago. Bang...it started right up and sounded great...for two minutes or so, then starts chugging, coughing, trying hard but dies as if out of gas. I try to start and will not fire. Wait 1/2 hour and try, no fire. I'm not sure what possessed me but I open distributor again and unhook and reattach condensor...bang, starts right up and runs for two minutes or so and struggles hard then dies. Try to start and no fire. I repeated my experiment and it started right up again, and would not after dying. Could it be so simple as faulty condensor...seems like it but I'm not very smart in these matters and don't want to change things willy nilly. Thanks for the help...