MF65 will not start

[Flesherton]

I replaced distributor cap, points, rotor, condensor & plugs. There is a good spark at each plug. Each cylinder tests at 120 psi pressure. Strong vacuum at intake manifold.
In carb: replaced float, seat & valve pin, main jet adjusting needle, air adjusting needle,soaked both bowls in cleaner fluid & blew out all holes w/compressed air.
When I crank at full throttle & full choke, some gas drips out of carb air intake but stops when I cease cranking. At half & zero choke there is no gas dripping from intake.
Engine still does not even cough, let alone start.
Would greatly appreciate advice please.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Easy stuff first. You replaced the wires in the correct firing order? Rotor points to #1 wire when #1 cyl is TDC?

Was the tractor running before you did the work?

 

[Flesherton]

Thanks for your fast response.
The tractor was working well but gradually lost power & stalled repeatedly. I found that the carb seemed dirty so I began the process of cleaning carb then replacing parts.

When that did not work, I worked on distributor. I believe that I replaced the ignition wires in the same order as originally installed. The firing order is 1 - 3 - 4 - 2. The order of the cables to the distributor is in that order but I wonder whether I could have shifted them all so that cylinder 1 is now connected to the wrong distributor location.
I will re-check when this heavy rain stops.
Many thanks.

 

[supergrumpy]

I had to retime old Hercules engine not long ago

pull all sparkplugs, put finger in #1 sparkplug hole and slowly turn engine in proper direction, feel for top of compression stroke (pressure stops), wherever the dist is pointing to is where #1 plug wire should be, repeat for other cylinders, no rocket science here

good spark at the right time, good compression, good clean fuel, engine cannot help itself - it has to run

 

[Anonymous-0]

check your timing and the gear on the distributor, sounds like timing is way off could be bad camshaft gears also

 

[Flesherton]

I verified that the rotor is pointing to the correct electrode when piston is at TDC, all 4 cylinders. Just to be sure, I moved the ignition cables to all 4 possible configurations whilst maintaining correct firing order. No luck, but one configuration did cause loud backfires. The distributor is tightly secured to crankcase, I have not touched the timing in the ten years I have had the tractor.

Do you have other ideas? Would sure like to get this machine into the shed before serious snow arrives. Thanks.

 

[Jerry//MT]

You have to make sure that the distributor is timed to the compression stroke, remembering that the 4 stroke fires on every other rev. To determine if you are on the compression stroke , remove a spark plug, place your thumb over the hole and when you feel pressure, you"re on the compression stroke.