1941 bn farmall

[amylynn711]

Tractor ran great all spring/summer. End of summer wouldnt start but could catch it in gear. Now it wont start either way. I have a full battery new, a new starter, new spark plugs, new coil, new condenser. Gas is going where it should and have spark. Any idea of what i could be missing

 

[old]

Tractor ran great all spring/summer. End of summer wouldnt start but could catch it in gear. Now it wont start either way. I have a full battery new, a new starter, new spark plugs, new coil, new condenser. Gas is going where it should and have spark. Any idea of what i could be missing

Put the old condenser back in to start with. Will the spark jump a 1/4 inch gas or more? Catch in gear what do you mean are you saying pull/roll start?? If yes you need to check the compression it maybe to low

 

[used red MN]

Hello Amylynn, welcome to YT! I am trying to decode some of your post. When you say “could catch it in gear” I think that means you had starter trouble and you would roll start it on an incline by using the clutch/transmission, is that right? Will the new starter crank the engine? Where and how are you checking for spark. Should be at the spark plug wires where they plug on the plugs. Should be a hot sharp blue spark that will jump a 3/16 to 1/4” Is the tractor a 6 volt or converted to 12? Does it have a magneto or is it a battery, points and coil ignition? When you say the gas gas gets where it should what does that mean? The gas flow should be checked at the carb drain plug.

 

[amylynn711]

Hello Amylynn, welcome to YT! I am trying to decode some of your post. When you say “could catch it in gear” I think that means you had starter trouble and you would roll start it on an incline by using the clutch/transmission, is that right? Will the new starter crank the engine? Where and how are you checking for spark. Should be at the spark plug wires where they plug on the plugs. Should be a hot sharp blue spark that will jump a 3/16 to 1/4” Is the tractor a 6 volt or converted to 12? Does it have a magneto or is it a battery, points and coil ignition? When you say the gas gas gets where it should what does that mean? The gas flow should be checked at the carb drain plug.

Thank you sorry im new to this. The tractor is my sons hes 14 he fully restored it when he was 12. It ran when he got it and worked great all summer. End of summer he had trouble getting it to start but we put it in 2nd gear and pulled him then it started. Now we cant get to start at all. The new starter is working cranking the engine. Yes spark is at the plugs and blue. Its a 12 volt. It has a q2 volt battery and yes magneto. The gas is getting to the carb drain plug.

 

[amylynn711]

Thank you sorry im new to this. The tractor is my sons hes 14 he fully restored it when he was 12. It ran when he got it and worked great all summer. End of summer he had trouble getting it to start but we put it in 2nd gear and pulled him then it started. Now we cant get to start at all. The new starter is working cranking the engine. Yes spark is at the plugs and blue. Its a 12 volt. It has a q2 volt battery and yes magneto. The gas is getting to the carb drain plug.

12 volt battery

 

[used red MN]

Let me be clear so you understand, the carb drain plug is an actual plug in the bottom of the carb. Not to be confused with the fitting the line connects to on the carb. To expand on this, there is a fine screen in the fitting that screws into the carb that the line connects to. If this completely plugs then no gas gets in the carb, this is why I asked you to check it at the carb drain plug. I would suggest to pull a couple spark plugs and put a tablespoon of gas in them. You can use a drinking straw to do this if you can find one that stands up to gas. Stick it in the container and hold your finger on the end place it in the plug hole. About 6- 8” in the straw will do it. Then see if it cranks up for a short period. If it does and your carb has adequate gas flow out of the plug it has passages that need cleaned or rebuilt as it often referred to.

 

[grandpa Love]

Tractor ran great all spring/summer. End of summer wouldnt start but could catch it in gear. Now it wont start either way. I have a full battery new, a new starter, new spark plugs, new coil, new condenser. Gas is going where it should and have spark. Any idea of what i could be missing

I'm gonna say it's the condenser. I read that you have a magneto? Not a terrible part to swap, but not super easy. A condenser that is going bad can show spark at the plugs, but not have enough juice to run the tractor. ( I actually learned this fact on this forum ) ...... The H4 mag uses a different condenser than an IH distributor. Sometimes I can't find them locally. Brillman has them.

 

[grandpa Love]

Tractor ran great all spring/summer. End of summer wouldnt start but could catch it in gear. Now it wont start either way. I have a full battery new, a new starter, new spark plugs, new coil, new condenser. Gas is going where it should and have spark. Any idea of what i could be missing

Couple other things to check, pull the valve cover and check the valves, adjust as needed. Fuel flow out of the bottom of the carb should fill a pint jar in a minute or so. Ever had the manifold or carburetor off? Make sure those gaskets are in good shape and bolts tight. It's something minor

 

[DaveBN]

When turning the engine over with the starter or hand crank you should hear a clanking noise from the magneto. That is the impulse which trips to add voltage at cranking speed. If that's not working it would explain why you had to pull start it and maybe why it's not starting now.
After cranking it a few revolutions are the spark plugs wet with gasoline? If so your spark is not hot enough. If the plugs are dry then either your not getting gas to the cylinders or your timing is off.
As stated earlier you need to check for air leaks at carburator and manifold.
Also check to be sure your air cleaner is not obstructed, that is too much oil in the air cleaner cup of insect nest in the intake tube.
Let us know what you find.
Dave

 

[teddy52food]

If you decide the mag needs help, I do them as a hobby.

 

[used red MN]

Couple other things to check, pull the valve cover and check the valves, adjust as needed. Fuel flow out of the bottom of the carb should fill a pint jar in a minute or so. Ever had the manifold or carburetor off? Make sure those gaskets are in good shape and bolts tight. It's something minor

A respectful correction, filling a pint jar in a minute yields 7.5 gallons per hour. (GPH common quantifier of fuel use for a tractor) Only a 100hp or more will use that much gas. If your tractor will fill a pint jar in 3 minutes that is adequate. 2.75GPH. To get the no start problem you would have to have nearly zero gas in your carb. Any gas at all in the carb will get pulled in the engine through the main fuel circuit when the choke is on. Only severe blockage of fuel passages in the carb will prevent this, while not real common it can happen. Putting the gas in the cylinders through the spark plug holes will tell you which direction to go in your pursuit, towards spark or the fuel system.

 

[grandpa Love]

If you decide the mag needs help, I do them as a hobby.

And does a darn good job on magneto repair! Very pleased with his work

 

[teddy52food]

Thanks, Grandpa!

 

[Fixingfarmer]

A respectful correction, filling a pint jar in a minute yields 7.5 gallons per hour. (GPH common quantifier of fuel use for a tractor) Only a 100hp or more will use that much gas. If your tractor will fill a pint jar in 3 minutes that is adequate. 2.75GPH. To get the no start problem you would have to have nearly zero gas in your carb. Any gas at all in the carb will get pulled in the engine through the main fuel circuit when the choke is on. Only severe blockage of fuel passages in the carb will prevent this, while not real common it can happen. Putting the gas in the cylinders through the spark plug holes will tell you which direction to go in your pursuit, towards spark or the fuel system.

Sniff of ether also will verify if you don’t want to pull plugs again. Sparingly. If it hits right off after the described no start you know it’s fuel.

 

[amylynn711]

Thank you everyone we finally got it running to say my kid is happy is an understatement. It was the magneto it was big time off timing.

 

[wore out]

Thank you everyone we finally got it running to say my kid is happy is an understatement. It was the magneto it was big time off timing.

Thanks for coming back and letting everyone know of your success!

But I have to ask how it got "out of time"? Did the sparkplug wires get somehow yanked out of the mag and get put back at random? Or?

 

[DURTFANN]

New here guys but just gonna throw this out there , the mag didn't get hit or vibrate lose & move the timing so far it won't start ?

 

[amylynn711]

Thanks for coming back and letting everyone know of your success!

But I have to ask how it got "out of time"? Did the sparkplug wires get somehow yanked out of the mag and get put back at random? Or?

We replaced the bad coil spring and condenser. The magneto was off by 180 degrees

 

[used red MN]

DURT, my man. Let’s get you off on the right foot here. (for others who may think I am hitting him cold, I greeted him in another post) Don’t get into the trap of reading just the “original posters” (OP) opening post and then throwing in your answer ignoring other’s replies. If you do that to me it says your ego is huge because nobody else could possibly answer it better than you. If you would have read them all you would have seen that the OP replied (#15) saying he got it running and was thanking those who gave suggestions. Also FYI, the red slash across the upper left of the OP’s avatar which in his case is a purple circle with an upper case A in it denotes all replies by the OP. Thanks for joining in!

 

[amylynn711]

DURT, my man. Let’s get you off on the right foot here. (for others who may think I am hitting him cold, I greeted him in another post) Don’t get into the trap of reading just the “original posters” (OP) opening post and then throwing in your answer ignoring other’s replies. If you do that to me it says your ego is huge because nobody else could possibly answer it better than you. If you would have read them all you would have seen that the OP replied (#15) saying he got it running and was thanking those who gave suggestions. Also FYI, the red slash across the upper left of the OP’s avatar which in his case is a purple circle with an upper case A in it denotes all replies by the OP. Thanks for joining in!

Im sorry im really confused on what your saying im new to this group or page i dont know what i need to do .. did my post notgo to everyone? I still try to figure out how to do things on here