E4 no start, I'm stumped.

[Mike(NEOhio)]

I rebuilt the engine 3-4 years ago. New points and wires but old cap, rotor and plugs. Started easy a ran good after rebuild. Been OK this year till a couple weeks ago
it got hard to start and ran with a slight miss. I put new plugs in last Sunday, ran smooth but started hard, so I mowed some with it. Next day, no start. I noticed
the carbon button in the cap was broken off so I thought it just may not be contacting the rotor. Got a new cap and rotor and still will not start. Good blue spark from
the coil wire but not a pop when cranking. Fuel flow is good. I rechecked timing and made sure the wires were all in the right places. No spark to the one plug I
checked and by this time the battery was to low to continue. I also noticed no vapors from the stack while cranking which it usually does and the plugs are dry. Also no dripping gas from the carb as it does from over choking.

This came on suddenly. It started and ran good before and I'm out of ideas.

 

[rrlund]

Pull the tappet cover and check rocker clearance.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

Not to doubt you Randy but how could that change so suddenly? It was running last Sunday.

 

[rrlund]

You mentioned a miss. I had the bolts work loose on my 1550 and the whole rocker shaft had lifted up on one end. Thought it might be worth a shot since nothing else logical was working.

The bushing in the distributor didn't give out all at once so the points aren't opening up when it's rotating did it?

 

[300jk]

Just a thought. Back during the winter my Farmall 300 began to get hard to start and also ran with a slight miss. I figured it was due to the weather, water in fuel or some other issue. Well went to clean the driveway one day and no start. Well my problem turned out that I needed new points. Had power everywhere but nothing at the plugs. I believe you also said you have similar issue. Just an idea and maybe something to check.

 

[rrlund]

I agree with you about the points. I guess I kind of glossed over that. When I saw that the cap had been changed, my mind kind of assumed the points had been too. At last years plow day, the Super 55 died like I had turned the key off. We towed it, no start, no spark. I put new points and a new condenser in it and it's been fine since. Two plow days, five tractor drives, brush hogging, no more problems.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

Worked on it a little more this morning. It wasn't a miss but just a slight unevenness while running. New plugs took care of that. Took the plug out of the carb bowl and let gas flow. Pulled all the spark plugs, they're all dry. A slight discoloration from the little it ran last week. Plugs out and spun the starter with a thumb in each plug hole. All were breathing normally. I'm getting spark at the plugs. Again while cranking with choke there was no gas dripping from the carb and no vapors from the muffler. It does that when I choke it a bit too much. I'm thinking something is plugging the carb.

 

[rrlund]

Pull the breather tube off and hold your hand over the carb throat while you're trying to start it. A lot of times that'll get them going when nothing else will.

Have you tried ether?

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

Not yet. I took the carb off and opened it up. No sign of water or plugged passages but I haven't taken the jets out.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

I put a new set of Blue Streak points when I rebuilt it four years ago. Those are all I use now. Set it and forget it for ten years.

 

[300jk]

I do not doubt you put in a quality set of points a few years back. I just think it could still be a possibility thats all ! I have left the key on and burned out points, and had them just fail because of different reasons. I know problems like these can be frustrating ! Be of luck and keep us posted !

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

It's making a good blue spark from the coil wire to ground. Spark at plugs too.

 

[rrlund]

Mike, I got thinking. Does that still have the original switch and starter button or have you changed it to a key start?

I bought a combine last summer that would only start with a jumper wire to the coil. I could take the wire off after it started and it ran fine. I had power to the coil with the key on when I checked it with a test light. What was happening was, the switch wasn't putting power to the coil when it was in the start position. I went to town and got a new switch and it's fine now.

 

[WadeBH]

Had a similar issue with my E3. Replacing the condenser fixed the problem.

 

[P Heisey Harleysville,PA]

Are YOU sure that you have the correct NEW rotor on your E4......It MUST have a metal sleeve inside the rotor where it presses onto the distributor shaft.

PhilHeisey
21-256-8651