MarlinSlayer
Bronze Member
Ok to begin with, I'm a transplanted Hawaiian in Tennessee who decided to buy a recreational piece of land. Got a good deal on a running Ford NAA, and without knowing a whole bunch took the plunge. Now realize I can work on boats, rigging, fiberglass, etc...and build cabinets, handy but I am not a motor head.
So my tractor ran great...I bought a box blade and bushhog (which I installed an after market safety cover)...and had fun playing with my farm and tractor....till I got it stuck to the axles in some mud and had to get popped out by a bigger tractor with front end loader.....but I digress.
One day I go to start tractor and it won't start....never really had a problem before, but we'd had lots of rain and tractor sat uncovered except for a tarp. Smell some gas, so I figure bad spark. Pull the plugs one at a time and get what I consider weak spark when I ground them to frame. As I reseat all the distributer wires, I notice they are very loose and the connectors are corroded and break off. Ah hah? So after watching a video about replacing points (Never done it before)...I go to Tractor Supply and buy a new distributer cap, wires, points and condenser and new feeler guage. I go out to farm with a newly charged battery and replace the points, gap the plugs, and very proud of myself go to start tractor. No deal...won't fire, turns over fine. So I figure, I must have put the distributer cap on backwards since I didn't actually pull the distributer I know I didn't change timing....so I turn cap 180 out, make sure I have the wire to #1 on the mark on distributer that says 1, make sure I have it in the 1,2,4,3 order....no go.
Now while I'm doing this, I notice a bit of white smoke coming from starter....I'm not really abusing the starter and thinking it might be something that leaked onto the brushes. No go....so figuring that maybe we flooded it, we go hunting and figure we'll start it later. When we come back, I go to start, and my cousin mentions that he sees "a lot of blue sparks" arcing in starter. Out of frustration, I open the gas tank thinking that maybe I have some sort of clogged vent and not enough gas is getting to carb and I notice...Holy smoke...there's no gas in there (there was in the bowl)...So I pour some gas in there, go to start the engine, and while it is cranking I hear a loud "Bang"(gunshot loud....My cousin thought I shot the tractor) (from near the starter or exhaust manifold area).......
My first thought was "I just blew up my starter"....my cousin said it sounded like a backfire.....I pushed the button one more time and starter turned motor over. I went to change distributor cap one more time since now I had gas in it and wanted to try to start in that orientation....then starter went click when I pushed button.
Question1: Other than reindexing toward top dead center, is there another way to tell which direction the distributor cap goes on.
Question2: Is it possible to "blow up a starter" with a bang I thought they just burned up... And would it crank one more time after the boom, or was it more likely a backfire due to wrong firing order.
Question3: Since my Cousin saw arcing, is it possible the starter is "stuck on a bad brush".....like when people tell someone to "whack the starter with a hammer". Was that the source of the white smoke.
Question 4: I saw brush rebuild kits for sale, I can use a torch/solder, is there a good reference for the rebuild of a starter (found one Youtube video), to include how to tell if something else is wrong with it.
Question 5: Tractor has been converted to a 12 volt system. How do I make sure that the starter is a 12 volt starter? (or would it have burned up a long time ago....or does it matter?)
I know this is lengthy, just need to know where to start....and by the way....when you pull off the oil filter to remove starter, do you need to drain oil first?
Regard,
MarlinSlayer:confused2:
So my tractor ran great...I bought a box blade and bushhog (which I installed an after market safety cover)...and had fun playing with my farm and tractor....till I got it stuck to the axles in some mud and had to get popped out by a bigger tractor with front end loader.....but I digress.
One day I go to start tractor and it won't start....never really had a problem before, but we'd had lots of rain and tractor sat uncovered except for a tarp. Smell some gas, so I figure bad spark. Pull the plugs one at a time and get what I consider weak spark when I ground them to frame. As I reseat all the distributer wires, I notice they are very loose and the connectors are corroded and break off. Ah hah? So after watching a video about replacing points (Never done it before)...I go to Tractor Supply and buy a new distributer cap, wires, points and condenser and new feeler guage. I go out to farm with a newly charged battery and replace the points, gap the plugs, and very proud of myself go to start tractor. No deal...won't fire, turns over fine. So I figure, I must have put the distributer cap on backwards since I didn't actually pull the distributer I know I didn't change timing....so I turn cap 180 out, make sure I have the wire to #1 on the mark on distributer that says 1, make sure I have it in the 1,2,4,3 order....no go.
Now while I'm doing this, I notice a bit of white smoke coming from starter....I'm not really abusing the starter and thinking it might be something that leaked onto the brushes. No go....so figuring that maybe we flooded it, we go hunting and figure we'll start it later. When we come back, I go to start, and my cousin mentions that he sees "a lot of blue sparks" arcing in starter. Out of frustration, I open the gas tank thinking that maybe I have some sort of clogged vent and not enough gas is getting to carb and I notice...Holy smoke...there's no gas in there (there was in the bowl)...So I pour some gas in there, go to start the engine, and while it is cranking I hear a loud "Bang"(gunshot loud....My cousin thought I shot the tractor) (from near the starter or exhaust manifold area).......
My first thought was "I just blew up my starter"....my cousin said it sounded like a backfire.....I pushed the button one more time and starter turned motor over. I went to change distributor cap one more time since now I had gas in it and wanted to try to start in that orientation....then starter went click when I pushed button.
Question1: Other than reindexing toward top dead center, is there another way to tell which direction the distributor cap goes on.
Question2: Is it possible to "blow up a starter" with a bang I thought they just burned up... And would it crank one more time after the boom, or was it more likely a backfire due to wrong firing order.
Question3: Since my Cousin saw arcing, is it possible the starter is "stuck on a bad brush".....like when people tell someone to "whack the starter with a hammer". Was that the source of the white smoke.
Question 4: I saw brush rebuild kits for sale, I can use a torch/solder, is there a good reference for the rebuild of a starter (found one Youtube video), to include how to tell if something else is wrong with it.
Question 5: Tractor has been converted to a 12 volt system. How do I make sure that the starter is a 12 volt starter? (or would it have burned up a long time ago....or does it matter?)
I know this is lengthy, just need to know where to start....and by the way....when you pull off the oil filter to remove starter, do you need to drain oil first?
Regard,
MarlinSlayer:confused2:
