1970 j.d. 300 will not start

[naddrof]

I start off by saying this is a basic 3 cylinder gas job. I put a new battery in my tractor, turned it over, and no fire. The spark on the plugs was o.k, not great, but I replaced them anyway with brand new ones. The spark is still not great, but there is spark. There is plenty of fuel getting through the filter. I can olny think of 2 reasons: #1 the the fuel is not getting through the carburater or the distributer is not getting enough spark to the plugs. When I took out the plugs and shot a dose of starting fluid in each cylinder, still nothing. The funny thing is yesterday before I changed out the battery, when I jump started it from my truck, it would fire, but only run for about 10 seconds, before dying. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks much, Dan

 

[Ken Cunningham]

You should check your points gap to make sure it isnt closing too soon. Plug wires could need to be replaced. Maybe the coil is on its last breath?

 

[naddrof]

thanks ken, right after I wrote that post, I ate lunch and went back to it. I unscrewed the steel fuel line that wraps around the engine block into the carburater, and while I was doing so, I noticed the steel line had a pretty good kink in it, I don't know if it was there when I started or if I caused it by forcing the nut on the line to come off. Ethier way, I am picking up a new line tommrow and should have it on by the afternoon. If it fires, then we'll know thats the problem, if not, then we're back to the begining.