At my wits 2Nd

[Jagalonia]

Once again at a complete loss.

I've got spark.
I've got fuel flow, confirmed through the bottom screw on the carb, nice steady flow, went for 30 seconds before I plugged the hole again with no sign of slowing.
Confirmed the firing order with the service manual (1243).
I don't think the timing should have been affected if I only rebuilt the distributor and didn't mess with any of the internals.
New fuel.
New battery.

Tractor will not start.
I've owned this thing for about a year, it's run consistently for about a month because I'm constantly having to troubleshoot. The one month it was running, I was troubleshooting the auger I bought for it so I couldn't even use it for what I wanted.

 

[Eman85]

So we've now moved on to a vague fuel problem, I wasn't getting any fuel from the tank into the bowl with or without the fuel cap on, so I pulled the fuel line off, with the line off fuel will flow to the bowl

When you say "the bowl", what are you referring to? If you mean the glass bowl it's common for people to think there is a fuel flow problem if the glass bowl isn't full. It can't fill up until the float opens the needle in the carburetor.

 

[used red MN]

It can fill up until the float opens the needle in the carburetor.

I’m sure this is just a that is what I meant to say, so with apologies to make this clear “It can’t fill up…” both air and fuel can’t move if the carb float needle is closed. When the engine is started and requires more fuel the float valve will open and the air will eventually be displaced with fuel.
…
Jag.. this could be a possibility. Pull the plugs if they are black with soot from running rich/to much choke they won’t fire. Clean with carb cleaner, a wire brush and compressed air.

 

[Jagalonia]

I’m sure this is just a that is what I meant to say, so with apologies to make this clear “It can’t fill up…” both air and fuel can’t move if the carb float needle is closed. When the engine is started and requires more fuel the float valve will open and the air will eventually be displaced with fuel.
…
Jag.. this could be a possibility. Pull the plugs if they are black with soot from running rich/to much choke they won’t fire. Clean with carb cleaner, a wire brush and compressed air.

Plugs are new. Engine hasn't started with them in yet.

I've replaced all the electrical components going to the plugs except the wiring harness, and resistor.

 

[Jim L WA]

I know you said you were getting spark after you got the points set correctly. But now check for spark again. I'm wondering if you may have a faulty ignition switch, which could have been your original problem all along.
If you do have spark then check the plugs for wet. It may be just flooded.

 

[Jagalonia]

I know you said you were getting spark after you got the points set correctly. But now check for spark again. I'm wondering if you may have a faulty ignition switch, which could have been your original problem all along.
If you do have spark then check the plugs for wet. It may be just flooded.

Pulled the plugs, back to no spark, and extreme bewilderment.

 

[Eman85]

Technically, the bowl is a filter of sorts for sediment, but that's semantics at this point.

I'll double check that all the valves move freely on the carb in the morning, then check the line attached to the bowl.



OK, it sounds like we have a terminology problem. Your bowl that is a filter of sorts is the fuel shutoff and sediment bowl. There is also a bowl on the carburetor which is the part with the plug on the bottom that you removed to check fuel flow.


Now if you have no spark we're back to the beginning. When I asked if you understood how it worked, if you did it should be simple to get spark back. Check to see if you're getting voltage to the coil with the ignition switch in the on position.

 

[HarryVanderpool]

Take a look at this:

H

Thread 'Front Distributor Fun!'

Apr 5, 2026

This may be boring to the experts here, but I thought someone might get something out of it.
This is about our 1944 2N that I'm always bragging about.
Front mount, 6 volt. (Of course!)

I went to start up today and when pressing the button just got a "waa, waa, waa". No fire.
One more time, "waa, waa, waa." Again, nothing.
I am not one that EVER cranks and cranks and cranks on any engines.
If an engine doesn't start in the usual fashion, somethings up.
In the case of our Ns, they usually start instantly.

O.K. check fuel. Yep, 1/2 tank full.
So I grab a spare spark plug, connect...

• HarryVanderpool
• Replies: 2
• Forum: Ford 9N, 2N & 8N

• 

 

[Jagalonia]

Technically, the bowl is a filter of sorts for sediment, but that's semantics at this point.

I'll double check that all the valves move freely on the carb in the morning, then check the line attached to the bowl.



OK, it sounds like we have a terminology problem. Your bowl that is a filter of sorts is the fuel shutoff and sediment bowl. There is also a bowl on the carburetor which is the part with the plug on the bottom that you removed to check fuel flow.


Now if you have no spark we're back to the beginning. When I asked if you understood how it worked, if you did it should be simple to get spark back. Check to see if you're getting voltage to the coil with the ignition switch in the on position.

Short answer on understanding is...Kinda?

From what I understand, starting at the battery, positive grounds on the frame of the tractor, negative goes out, through the starter switch, into the resistor, then on to the coil (Among other places). In the coil assembly, some kind of techno wizardry involving magnetic fields happens, the actual science is pretty over my head, coil touches the brass screw at the top of the distributor, which goes through to the points which provide ground. Some other part of the coil assembly goes through the cap providing power to the spinny bit (No idea what it's actually called) which goes around and arcs at the points in the cap in time with the interruption in ground that the points provide as it turns. Those arcs then go through those points in the cap, to the ignition cables, and into the plugs which spark and ignite the fuel in the chamber.

That's what I've figured out over the past month of dealing with this, and feels pretty generalist, but I'm also not super confident when it comes to dealing with electricity. If anything there is incorrect, or incomplete enough that it might as well be wrong, I would very much rather have the correct information.

My only saving grace so far is it's only 6v, and when it bites it's more like a chihuahua than a mastiff.

 

[Jagalonia]

progress!

Replaced the resistor, tractor started briefly, had some misfires, loud pops, I think one cylinder, probably towards the back of the engine (Cyl 3 or 4?), it was already giving up when I hit the kill switch. plugs are torqued and gapped to .025", is the spark too aggressive, or is it a problem somewhere else?

 

[used red MN]

I think one cylinder, probably towards the back of the engine (Cyl 3 or 4?), it was already giving up when I hit the kill switch.

??? Explain more or is this just some type of intuition you have?

is the spark too aggressive,

Aggressive spark is not usually a term associated with engine operation or diagnosis. Explain what you mean by this? You could have a lightning bolt firing across the plug gap and it would do nothing but fire the air/fuel mix better, of course that is an exaggeration.

 

[Jagalonia]

??? Explain more or is this just some type of intuition you have?

Aggressive spark is not usually a term associated with engine operation or diagnosis. Explain what you mean by this? You could have a lightning bolt firing across the plug gap and it would do nothing but fire the air/fuel mix better, of course that is an exaggeration.

Was an intuition, then I retorqued the plugs and tried again and all the cylinders were like rice crispies.

I know hotter/cooler spark can cause its own set of problems, I just don't remember what those problems are.

I'm just not sure where to start on misfires because this is the first time I've had to deal with them.

 

[used red MN]

then I retorqued the plugs and tried again and all the cylinders were like rice crispies.

You could just snug the spark plugs in with a pliers and it would run the same, just trying to elevate your idea that the tightness of the spark plugs has an effect on how it runs.

I know hotter/cooler spark can cause its own set of problems,

I believe what you are talking about is the heat range of the spark plug. That is set by how the plug is designed and made to control/change the temperature the part of the plug exposed in the combustion chamber operates at. The heat range of spark plugs has very little to do with how an engine starts or runs short term as it comes up to operating temperature. In short nothing to do with your issues.
Pull a couple spark plugs and show us a photo of the end that sticks in the engine.

 

[Jagalonia]

They're the autolite 405, From what I was reading, these ones have better performance with modern fuels.

 

[used red MN]

Smelled like an electrical problem, as I had already replaced the carb,

Has it ran and ran well with this carburetor any amount of time?

 

[old]

They're the autolite 405, From what I was reading, these ones have better performance with modern fuels.

Switch to NGK3112 plugs. Did that a few years ago and have never had plug problems since

 

[Jagalonia]

Has it ran and ran well with this carburetor any amount of time?

Yes. I replaced the carb in the spring and it ran fine until this problem started popping up

 

[Jagalonia]

SUCCESS!

Turns out points are rascals that are prone to moving after you've set them, and if they're close, but not on, the engine misfires. Who knew. Does anyone know what the actual tolerance on the point gap is? Because it feels like ±.001".

Ran the tractor for ~30 minutes, no issues. I'll probably try to fish the new ignition cables through the electrical pipe running down the center of the engine at some point, but for now I have a running tractor.

Thanks everyone for the support in the frustrating endeavour.

 

[Jim.ME]

Point gap for a 2N front mount distributor is .015" (plus/minus .001") as has been previously posted.