Ford 601 Wont Start

[601workless]

My 601 will fire on starting fluid but not on gas. It seems that gas/air mixture is not being sucked into the cylinders. Engine has good vacuum, new carb, new intake gasket etc. Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[leroy in ne]

I know these are stupid questions on my part but gas turned on, plugged fuel line, if a drain on carb did you pull it to check for good fuel flow, water in gas, has it been run with new carb? if not correct initial adjustment of carb, just things to think about.

 

[601workless]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, everything has been cleaned and checked. Fuel bowl is full of fresh gas, good spark, compression etc.

 

[used red MN]

new carb

Hello 601, welcome to YT! Pull the air intake off the carb and crank the engine if it sucks your hand up to the carb it has the suction needed. If this is a cheap aftermarket carb there is no guarantee it will function properly. There have been many discussions on YT about the inadequacies of these carbs. Just go up to the search and type in “aftermarket carb or cheap carb or Chinese carb” and you will find the posts I am referring to. Do you have the old carb, clean it and put a kit in it and try it.
Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[john in la]

will fire on starting fluid but not on gas

Well we can assume you are spraying the starting fluid into the carb intake or at least the air filter.
So if it is sucking the starting fluid in it is sucking the air and any gas the carb is putting into the air.
So do you have an intake leak that is causing a to lean mixture or does the carb need to be adjusted/rebuilt???

 

[RobCons]

Check the carb adjustment screws. Maybe it came misadjusted. Did you turn the gas off when replacing the carb and forget to turn it back on?

 

[601workless]

Thanks to everybody. There is good suction at the air intake on both the original carb and the new one. The original carb was disassembled, boiled in cleaner, all new parts installed and still no go, The new carb made no difference. New plugs are dry and sooty. Intake was removed, cleaned and new gaskets installed. Dont know what else to try, Thanks again.

 

[used red MN]

Tell us more about where you’re at or came from. Tractor ran before? Trying to bring a tractor back to life that has been setting? We have heard nothing about the ignition side checks, even though it fires on starting fluid a spark test can tell if the ignition is up to par. Usually recommended on here to test the spark with a spark tester that can open to a 1/4” gap for testing like this one. Spark tester example

 

[601workless]

Complete new ignition, plugs, wires, coil, distributor. Spark is hot blue, Tractor has been in the family since 1959 and used very little past few years. Even when it was used daily the carb needed adjusting hourly to prevent running to rich. Has new gas tank, sediment bowl. Thanks for responding.

 

[used red MN]

Complete new ignition, plugs, wires, coil, distributor. Spark is hot blue, Tractor has been in the family since 1959 and used very little past few years. Even when it was used daily the carb needed adjusting hourly to prevent running to rich. Has new gas tank, sediment bowl. Thanks for responding.

Maybe you missed mentioning this but did cleaning include poking out all passages with an appropriate sized wire, spray in carb cleaner and then blast with compressed air? Repeating two more times on those that are not straight through that you can physically see they are open? This extra effort has solved lack of fuel delivery problems for multiple others having this same problem. Also you say the “fuel bowl” is full. What do you consider the fuel bowl? If you are talking about the glass sediment bowl that doesn’t tell you if fuel is in the carb. Have you opened the drain plug on the carb bottom to see if fuel drains out? Not that familiar with Fords, if this is a gravity system when the carb plug is pulled it should maintain a steady flow even after about 5 seconds when the reserve in the carb bowl has drained and you are only seeing the flow coming in the carb. Low flow is mainly a problem with lack of power when running, at this point mainly need to check to see if there is at least gas in the carb.

 

[cjunrau]

My 601 will fire on starting fluid but not on gas. It seems that gas/air mixture is not being sucked into the cylinders. Engine has good vacuum, new carb, new intake gasket etc. Any suggestions appreciated.

To find out if it is not getting gas through the carb. Get a spray bottle of gas not starting fluid. Spray it in the carb intake while cranking. If you can get it to fire you can keep it running like that. If no run then you know it has something to do with not hot enough spark or timing or lack of compression. Starting fluid fired east compared to gas.

 

[Mcrafty1]

To find out if it is not getting gas through the carb. Get a spray bottle of gas not starting fluid. Spray it in the carb intake while cranking. If you can get it to fire you can keep it running like that. If no run then you know it has something to do with not hot enough spark or timing or lack of compression. Starting fluid fired east compared to gas.

You beat me to it but the spray bottle is one way to determine if it'll run on gas, and has suction enough to pull the gas in after it's vaporized. Updraft carbs can be fun.

 

[MarkB_MI]

If gas is getting to the carburetor, it should be possible to flood the engine with the choke. When this happens, gas is supposed to run out the drain at the bottom of the carburetor, but the sintered bronze plug in the carburetor drain may be plugged up and gas is just running into the intake tube. So look for other signs of flooding. Is there gasoline in the intake? Sooty spark plugs sounds like flooding, or at least a very rich mixture, so start with fresh plugs.

Does gasoline run out of the carb if you remove the drain plug from the carburetor bowl?

I put a kit in my Ford's carburetor a few years back and it kept fouling plugs, even with the main jet screwed all the way in. I eventually figured out the main jet adjustment wasn't actually screwing all the way in due to a too-tight seal.

 

[601workless]

If gas is getting to the carburetor, it should be possible to flood the engine with the choke. When this happens, gas is supposed to run out the drain at the bottom of the carburetor, but the sintered bronze plug in the carburetor drain may be plugged up and gas is just running into the intake tube. So look for other signs of flooding. Is there gasoline in the intake? Sooty spark plugs sounds like flooding, or at least a very rich mixture, so start with fresh plugs.

Does gasoline run out of the carb if you remove the drain plug from the carburetor bowl?

I put a kit in my Ford's carburetor a few years back and it kept fouling plugs, even with the main jet screwed all the way in. I eventually figured out the main jet adjustment wasn't actually screwing all the way in due to a too-tight seal.

How did you correct the problem with the main jet seal?

 

[601workless]

Yes gas does come out when the drain plug is removed from the fuel bowl and the fuel bowl is full when the carb (old and new) are removed.

 

[showcrop]

Do a little trouble shooting. Carbureted engines require a high fuel-air mixture to start when cold. When colder richer mixture is needed. So rich that if it doesn't start the plugs will be wet. Have you looked at your plugs?

 

[MarkB_MI]

How did you correct the problem with the main jet seal?

How did you correct the problem with the main jet seal?

I took out the adjuster and screwed the adjustment needle in and out until it would fully close.

 

[601workless]

Do a little trouble shooting. Carbureted engines require a high fuel-air mixture to start when cold. When colder richer mixture is needed. So rich that if it doesn't start the plugs will be wet. Have you looked at your plugs?

Yes, they are dry and sooty.

 

[Janicholson]

Yes, they are dry and sooty.

Does your choke plate close fully when the choke is pulled? if not, that could be a major reason for not getting enough fuel when not closed. Jim

 

[used red MN]

Yes, they are dry and sooty.

If sooty is black, which is usually what that means they were operating under a rich mixture. Dry means currently lacking fuel; also no oil in the cylinder which is good because that is not wanted.