Ford 3000 gasser not running right

[locopilot750]

I bought a good looking 3000 with almost new rubber from my neighbor at his auction two doors down. It ran home OK, and I put a mower on it and went to work. Within 5 minutes it popped, backfired, died several times and just barely ran on one or two cylinders. Since then, I put in fresh fuel, cleaned the sediment bowl, cleaned the carb, and blew out all the ports and orfices, put in a kit, made sure I had a full fuel flow at each point, I even took the shut off valve out of the tank to clean up, but it was fine, and put on a new gas cap, and a new air filter, and a new ignition coil. I put in three new spark plugs too, copper core wires and terminals look ok. Still have to give a shot of ether to start it, and it still wants to back fire, pop and die, will never smooth out and run right. It backfires back into the air intake, and the exhaust too. The guy I bought it from said it always ran good for him but suggested it might have sticking valves using the gas I put it in it, So I added some lead additive and Gumout and still no difference, I even pulled the valve cover off and watched the rockers, everything looked normal, nothing sticking that I can see while running. About the only thing left for me to try is the distributer. He put one in from Steiners about three years ago, and it ran fine for him. I Can see a rather weak spark in the day time, but it's firing all three, in order, and the cap and rotor are like new. The only thing I haven't taken apart to look at or clean is the fuel pump, and I think I finally found it hidden up under the generator under a lot of crud. Except for that, what else should I look for ? I'm about out of ideas without taking the head off, and I'm not wanting to do that. It's an early 70's tractor.

 

[Sean in PA]

Have you checked the distributor to make sure that 1.) it is timed properly, and 2) that it is tightened down securly so that it can't rotate and change timing on its own.

 

[locopilot750]

Yes, it's tight, previous owner timed it when he installed it. It's electronic I guess, can't see any points or condenser. He got it from Steiner about 3 years ago. He always kept the tractor inside, so no water damage. Distributor has a seal that says "warranty void if removed". So I guess no serviceable parts inside. Wires seem ok.

 

[Eman85]

Compression test? Valve adjustment? Spark test with a spark tester jumping 1/4" gap? Copper core wires and EI don't go together in the same sentence.
It's that bad gas, no doubt.

 

[Sean in PA]

There is a plastic dust cover under the rotor that you have to remove to see the points and condenser.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

He "said" it ran fine and "said" timed right. What else would he say? And one word that scares me? STEINER

 

[locopilot750]

Whatever happened to it was sudden, running fine one minute, than is wasn't. I'll dig into it a little more tomorrow. I'm working on it in a field, I need to drag it up to the house where I have all my tools. Neighbor is 80, he's had it about 12 years, worked good for him.

 

[lenray]

I bought a good looking 3000 with almost new rubber from my neighbor at his auction two doors down. It ran home OK, and I put a mower on it and went to work. Within 5 minutes it popped, backfired, died several times and just barely ran on one or two cylinders. Since then, I put in fresh fuel, cleaned the sediment bowl, cleaned the carb, and blew out all the ports and orfices, put in a kit, made sure I had a full fuel flow at each point, I even took the shut off valve out of the tank to clean up, but it was fine, and put on a new gas cap, and a new air filter, and a new ignition coil. I put in three new spark plugs too, copper core wires and terminals look ok. Still have to give a shot of ether to start it, and it still wants to back fire, pop and die, will never smooth out and run right. It backfires back into the air intake, and the exhaust too. The guy I bought it from said it always ran good for him but suggested it might have sticking valves using the gas I put it in it, So I added some lead additive and Gumout and still no difference, I even pulled the valve cover off and watched the rockers, everything looked normal, nothing sticking that I can see while running. About the only thing left for me to try is the distributer. He put one in from Steiners about three years ago, and it ran fine for him. I Can see a rather weak spark in the day time, but it's firing all three, in order, and the cap and rotor are like new. The only thing I haven't taken apart to look at or clean is the fuel pump, and I think I finally found it hidden up under the generator under a lot of crud. Except for that, what else should I look for ? I'm about out of ideas without taking the head off, and I'm not wanting to do that. It's an early 70's tractor.

I just converted my 3000 over to Gravity feed. That hidden fuel pump was giving my tractor issues.....

 

[RobCons]

I would start with fuel flow at carb, points, and ignition timing.

 

[locopilot750]

This morning, I went back out to work on it some more, and decided to look at the fuel pump. I half emptied the sediment bowl, and when I cranked the motor, it didn't fill the glass, not even any turbulence in it. So, I thought it would take the pump off. I finally found it under half an inch of greasy crud, cleaned the top off and looked inside at the screen. It had dirt all over it even down in the chambers. The green gasket self-destructed when I pulled the screen out, so decided to just order a new pump, I was going to need a new base gasket anyway, the original came of in pieces of course. It was not easy, but I got it off, and when I moved the generator down, I found the top bracket wasn't even bolted on, so I got that fixed if nothing else. I got the old pump cleaned up, and took it apart, it pumped ok pushing the plunger in and out, but as hard as it was to get off, i'm not putting that 50 year old one back on, I'll see if a clean new pump fixes my problem, Might blow out the lines too since I have it off.

 

[sweetskillsrk]

I would suggest just setting it up for gravity flow. The new fuel transfer pumps are junk and have caused a lot of people more frustration than they're worth. Tons of threads out there about new ones failing. I searched and searched for a kit to rebuild my original one, but no luck. Bypass it, keep the tank full, and move on.

 

[locopilot750]

Talked to a mechanic yesterday, he said 50 year old steel lines might have rust, took them loose, squirted carb cleaner, blew air through, not enough dirt or rust to make a difference. But I did find a big chunk of rubber in the sediment bowl outlet that might have been a restriction. I don't know if it was blown out of a line, or where it came from. Still waiting for the new fuel pump, so I used the down time to put the generator on the bench and clean it up. So dirty, I'm surprised it made electricity at all. Brushes and bearings all good, sanded the comutator, soldered together a broken brush wire, and ordered a new tach cable.