Starter or solenoid bad?

[Larry Barnes]

Hi Larry, I'd just blame in on fingers not rememering. If you had tied a string to one of em 3 years ago to remember the wires go in-- 180 out on the cap-- that string would be long gone!

Hi "Soaked" and all you guys.

Turns out the issue WAS the timing. My distributor was rigged up 180 degrees off. Not by me, mind you, but by a previous owner. The number one plug wire needed to be facing AWAY from the coil, the exact opposite of where it's supposed to be, according to Ford. Once the wires were routed 1-2-4-3 beginning from that point, it fired right up!

When it would not start a month or so ago, I had attacked it from all directions, by the book: New battery, electrical contacts cleaning, carb cleaning, adjusting points, new spark plugs, etc. But when I put it back together with your help, You Tube's help, and my original manual, it would NOT start. So today, a friend came over and helped identify TDC on the compression stoke. And we marked the flywheel with paint.

The funny part is that I went through the same battle in 2020. But my poor brain did not remember that "180 degree story" from then! So if I ever have the same issues again in 4 years, please remind me! I'm old and don't know what I'm doing!

 

[soaked]

Hi "Soaked" and all you guys.

Turns out the issue WAS the timing. My distributor was rigged up 180 degrees off. Not by me, mind you, but by a previous owner. The number one plug wire needed to be facing AWAY from the coil, the exact opposite of where it's supposed to be, according to Ford. Once the wires were routed 1-2-4-3 beginning from that point, it fired right up!

When it would not start a month or so ago, I had attacked it from all directions, by the book: New battery, electrical contacts cleaning, carb cleaning, adjusting points, new spark plugs, etc. But when I put it back together with your help, You Tube's help, and my original manual, it would NOT start. So today, a friend came over and helped identify TDC on the compression stoke. And we marked the flywheel with paint.

The funny part is that I went through the same battle in 2020. But my poor brain did not remember that "180 degree story" from then! So if I ever have the same issues again in 4 years, please remind me! I'm old and don't know what I'm doing!

Hi Larry,
That's great news its back running!
John

 

[Eman85]

Hi "Soaked" and all you guys.

Turns out the issue WAS the timing. My distributor was rigged up 180 degrees off. Not by me, mind you, but by a previous owner. The number one plug wire needed to be facing AWAY from the coil, the exact opposite of where it's supposed to be, according to Ford. Once the wires were routed 1-2-4-3 beginning from that point, it fired right up!

When it would not start a month or so ago, I had attacked it from all directions, by the book: New battery, electrical contacts cleaning, carb cleaning, adjusting points, new spark plugs, etc. But when I put it back together with your help, You Tube's help, and my original manual, it would NOT start. So today, a friend came over and helped identify TDC on the compression stoke. And we marked the flywheel with paint.

The funny part is that I went through the same battle in 2020. But my poor brain did not remember that "180 degree story" from then! So if I ever have the same issues again in 4 years, please remind me! I'm old and don't know what I'm doing!

"The tractor started and ran fine a couple weeks ago. The points are clean and set right. I'll have to study up on how to check and set the timing, in case that's it. Can't hurt to check...thanks."
You posted that it ran a couple of weeks ago on Jan. 24 How could that be???

If I was you I would either set the distributor in the correct position or at the least write the cylinder #'s on the distributor cap.

 

[Larry Barnes]

"The tractor started and ran fine a couple weeks ago. The points are clean and set right. I'll have to study up on how to check and set the timing, in case that's it. Can't hurt to check...thanks."
You posted that it ran a couple of weeks ago on Jan. 24 How could that be???

If I was you I would either set the distributor in the correct position or at the least write the cylinder #'s on the distributor cap.

Yes thanks, I wrote the numbers on the distributor cap! It ran that one time because I rotated the cap 180 degrees. But the cap didn't click in place like it should and the wires were all tangled, so I probably tried to straighten that all out.

 

[Eman85]

"The funny part is that I went through the same battle in 2020. But my poor brain did not remember that "180 degree story" from then! So if I ever have the same issues again in 4 years, please remind me! I'm old and don't know what I'm doing!"
I think you should remove the distributor and install it the proper way.