Ford 3000 - Electrical Problems or Stuck Engine?

[kaemonawa]

DID... you pull the dist cap and clean the points??? With the engine bumps over till the points are closed,, then run a piece of paper through the closed points to clean off any corrosion. (by carefully pulling the points open, inserting the paper, then letting them close, and pulling the paper through them.) With the engine bumped over till the points are fully open, you should see a gap of .025. ( in the old days you could use the "opening cover" of a match book to get close). Clean points and correct gap are needed. Note you will almost positively need to pull the wires off the cap to get it open... YOU MUST mark those wires and the top of the cap, to get them back in place correctly!!!!... and the back hold down clip on the cap it difficult to get off and more difficult to snap back on... AND you must be sure the cap is seated correctly on the dist when fastening the clips or you will break the rotor or cap.

Final Update - I tuned up the points as you suggested, and it immediately fired right up when cranked. Got it out of the shed and in my shop for further TLC. Thank you sotxbill, and everyone else who gave me advice. She lives!

 

[steveo3000]

Final Update - I tuned up the points as you suggested, and it immediately fired right up when cranked. Got it out of the shed and in my shop for further TLC. Thank you sotxbill, and everyone else who gave me advice. She lives!

Did ya take any photos before dark? Let us all see what you’re working with. Good news on getting it to fire up.

 

[kaemonawa]

Did ya take any photos before dark? Let us all see what you’re working with. Good news on getting it to fire up.

I did not take any pictures during the day. Here's the best I can get with camera flash. I'll take some better photos tomorrow. It's sitting in a carport currently, while I get my shop picked up for it.

It's in need of a lot of general maintenance. All the light wiring was cut, the headlights are gone, and the steering shroud is missing. I need to replace the hack-job fuel line that was put on it at some point. Noticed while riding it that the seat is sitting on the bones of an older, missing seat, and slides around. Believe it or not, my wife's grandfather farmed 80 acres with it for nearly 40 years.

I know I can give it a little elbow grease and it'll outlive me. Or in this case, a lot of elbow grease, probably!

 

[sotxbill]

I did not take any pictures during the day. Here's the best I can get with camera flash. I'll take some better photos tomorrow. It's sitting in a carport currently, while I get my shop picked up for it.

It's in need of a lot of general maintenance. All the light wiring was cut, the headlights are gone, and the steering shroud is missing. I need to replace the hack-job fuel line that was put on it at some point. Noticed while riding it that the seat is sitting on the bones of an older, missing seat, and slides around. Believe it or not, my wife's grandfather farmed 80 acres with it for nearly 40 years.

I know I can give it a little elbow grease and it'll outlive me. Or in this case, a lot of elbow grease, probably!

Okay... you battery cables are run incorrectly and will result in the tractor catching FIRE!!!!! The edge of the hood will vibrate against the wire over time and cut through the insulation resulting in a battery meltdown and fire. The positive cable..... Must run from the battery, to the rear into a gap between the battery tray and the gas tank!!!!! and then down to the solenoid. The negative cable should also run this way also but is not as dangerous as its already at ground,,but the hood edge will cut through it over time also. Please reroute the positive cable... it can not run out the side where the hood edge is vibrating against it.

 

[sotxbill]

Okay... you battery cables are run incorrectly and will result in the tractor catching FIRE!!!!! The edge of the hood will vibrate against the wire over time and cut through the insulation resulting in a battery meltdown and fire. The positive cable..... Must run from the battery, to the rear into a gap between the battery tray and the gas tank!!!!! and then down to the solenoid. The negative cable should also run this way also but is not as dangerous as its already at ground,,but the hood edge will cut through it over time also. Please reroute the positive cable... it can not run out the side where the hood edge is vibrating against it.

Not as important, you are missing the vacuum advance line from the manifold to the distribitor advance. Not critical but will help the tractor gain a bit more power but also handle big loads, so when you get a chance down the road, you might replace that vacuum line. And also not to be picky but your plastic fuel line is probably not rated for fuel and you should also look at running a metal fuel line... rubber and plastic lines will eventually leak, and if they are near the exhaust manifold or pipe, you have an instant fire. Your 1965 to July 1968 tractor has the early power steering system so be sure there is fluid in the reservoir that is under the hood and on top of the engine on the left side just behind the radiator. Good job on getting it running again. Be aware that most all tuneup kits contain Asian parts that are horrible. So when doing a tune up, go to napa and get an American set of points and condenser. The foreign points will corrode up and not fire correctly, so every 3 weeks you will be pulling the dist cap and running a piece of paper through the points to clean off the corrosion. The American points have a tungsten coating on them so they are good for 20 years or so. However you must keep moisture out of the distribitor or it will not fire correctly. Its a bit of work, but once it all done, you will be trouble free for years to come.