To20 - turns over but won't start

xfratboy

Member
Let's see if dumb questions are really ok here....I've been piece by piece servicing things by asking a ton of questions here and in other places. Finally got it to crank yesterday after having starter rebuilt. The new mechanical starter switch I got off eBay or this site(can't recall) smoked after about 3 or 4 attempts at starting (short burst..never more than 5-10 seconds of cranking). Had a solenoid installed too so I just took the mech switch out of the equation... piece of junk anyways. After just using a 12v solenoid I got it to crank but can't get it to fire up/run.

Replaced carb last night... more cheap overseas parts...oh well.. pain in the rear to get it mounted. Had to drill holes out some because it wouldn't line up.... old carb was leaking a lot of gas..maybe that's normal. Had cleaned old carb really good.. all holes and jets nice and clean...so that's why I replaced ...but still wouldn't fire up.

Gas is running ok. Steady stream. New screens in gas tank. New fuel valve and bulb assembly.

New solenoid
New oil and filter all the way around.
Replaced bent pto shaft
Drained and replaced coolant.
Replaced battery (12v)
Tested voltage from battery to the distributor. 12.89-v
Visually watched lightening-like blue sparks from coil to coil wire when wire was slightly removed
Verified spark at far right spark plug using a screw driver (got shocked the first time). Got smart the second time and made sure I wasn't touching metal, lol.

When I bought this, the distributor wasn't screwed down and was all loose. I have no way of knowing (haven't bought manual yet) if the spark plug cables are installed correctly. Can someone point me to a picture or video of how to test and setup the distributor and what goes where with the plug cables? Also, I searched till I fell asleep last night on how to service points. It seems like that's something everyone just knows how to do except me.

Where to go from here?
 
Xfratboy, don't beat yourself up because you've never been around an ignition system that uses points. Not your fault when your were born :). Don't worry about the points at this time, you have proven that they are working. But from what you are saying about the loose distributor, let's make sure that it's not 180 degrees out of time.
Pull the number one spark plug out and with the ignition off, hold your finger in that spark plug hole and bump the engine over (you may need a helper) until you feel the compression come up against your finger. Then remove the distributor cap and see where the rotor is pointing. It should be pointing to the tower that has the plug wire going to that spark plug. If it's pointing to the number 4 tower than you need to pull the distributor out and rotate the shaft until the rotor is pointing to the number one tower. Let us know what you have found and then we can go from there.
The firing order is 1-3-4-2 counter clock wise.
BTW, don't throw that OEM carburetor away. If it was leaking gas, then the needle and seat or float adjustment may be at fault.
 
(quoted from post at 06:29:12 07/13/21) Xfratboy, don't beat yourself up because you've never been around an ignition system that uses points. Not your fault when your were born :). Don't worry about the points at this time, you have proven that they are working. But from what you are saying about the loose distributor, let's make sure that it's not 180 degrees out of time.
Pull the number one spark plug out and with the ignition off, hold your finger in that spark plug hole and bump the engine over (you may need a helper) until you feel the compression come up against your finger. Then remove the distributor cap and see where the rotor is pointing. It should be pointing to the tower that has the plug wire going to that spark plug. If it's pointing to the number 4 tower than you need to pull the distributor out and rotate the shaft until the rotor is pointing to the number one tower. Let us know what you have found and then we can go from there.
The firing order is 1-3-4-2 counter clock wise.
BTW, don't throw that OEM carburetor away. If it was leaking gas, then the needle and seat or float adjustment may be at fault.

Thanks! So...which plug is #1? Far left or far right ? (Plugs are all on port side...in boat language). Also, what size socket do I need to take out the plugs? It's bigger than what I have. I'll have to pick one up on the way home from work tonight.

Really didn't want to use the new carb but I was stumped and threw the new part at it.
 
Gas is nice when the engine is close enough to running. I prefer starting fluid at under $3.00 a can, especially on a 6:1 compression engine.
13/16 should be your plug socket. By now you already know that.
Me? Turn off the gas and remove that from the starting equation. Pull the plugs and make sure you have no wet ones. A propane torch does a
wonderful job of drying and cleaning fouled plugs. Reinstall plugs and shoot it with starter fluid. No pop? Timing is whacked or you have no
spark going to the plugs. You said spark from coil is assured. You have spark from the wires? NO? Shorted rotor. Install a new one.
Once it pops on starter fluid, switch over to gas. Now unwind that snake pit.
Have fun with your toy.
 
Updating this thread. Got her running! Thanks to all y'all. Just had to keep working the steps. Final step was correcting the order and alignment if the distributor, replaced plugs, fixed fuel flow issue, and now she's running! Borrowing a buddy's timing light tomorrow and will fine tune...but I have to figure out how to do that first. Never used one of those tools.
 
I had trouble getting my TO35 to fire ... I had checked everything, including for spark as you did. Finally, in desperation, I hotwired the coil directly to the battery and the tractor finally fired up! It turns out the "mechanic" previous to me had wired the ignition circuit to the Accessory lug of the key switch. This meant the static testing for spark looked good but as soon as I tried to start via the key switch, the Accessory circuit was turned off. No spark was to be had while cranking.

Once I sorted out the above, the rest was easy. I was sure I had everything necessary -- fuel, compression, spark -- but there was a trap waiting for me.
 
Now I have to figure out why the 3pt won't raise or lower. Nothing happens when I move the lever. Can raise and lower the arms by hand without any resistance.
 

I didn't know this. I actually went to bed surfing the forum last night and learned this! I'll have to give it a test but I think I tried that unknowingly. I'm sitting right on the bottom of the safe range when I checked oil level at the back of the tractor. I need to bring it up to full and try again.
 

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