Hard starting Ford 8n

What year 8N, side or front mount distributor?(guessing front - do side mounts have 1/4 of the problems? haha) When you say "hard-starting" what do you mean? Does it start at all? Do you have to choke it completely to start? How long does it run when you get it started? Is this a 6V or 12V electrical system? How about the ignition coil? Are you handy with a voltmeter? Can you check the voltage at the top of the coil (assuming front mount) with the points closed and opened? If a 12V conversion, do you have a true "12V" coil or the original 6V and are you using the 2 proper resistors (in series) to reduce the V down to about 3.5-4V at the coil? Have you checked compression in each cylinder?

Can you confirm that your wires are in the correct firing order? (Are you using copper core plug wires and not carbon core?) Remember the firing order is not 1234 but 1243 going counter-clockwise. Can you check the color/intensity of the spark at the plugs (by laying one across the block and getting someone to start it. It should be a nice blue spark -

Can you verify the fuel flow to the carb? Have you checked the filters in the fuel system?

There are so many reasons for hard/non-starting engines - but bottomline is that the tractor needs air, fuel and spark to start. You need to determine (if you have good compression) which one of these it is lacking. With some of your results to these questions, the masters on this forum (which I am not) can assist you!

Regards,
Andy

First...you might have to resort to scraping some of the crud off the inside of the bowl on the cast parts. That varnish is tough stuff.

Also, I haven't found soaking to be too usefull without following things up with compressed air. Use a rubber tipped air gun, and blast the crud out of each passage after soaking.

I've never been comfortabe sticking cleanout wires in jets, and I think unless a tractor has set for years, it shouldn't be necesarry with a complete soaking and blowing out with compressed air.

It's not a bad idea to look at the carb flow schematic to see which passages are connected to each other. If a path is completely blocked, you may not know it.

Good Luck
steve

Send it to me andy@charter.net or post it up here.

Thanks!

Andy

First...you might have to resort to scraping some of the crud off the inside of the bowl on the cast parts. That varnish is tough stuff.

Also, I haven't found soaking to be too usefull without following things up with compressed air. Use a rubber tipped air gun, and blast the crud out of each passage after soaking.

I've never been comfortabe sticking cleanout wires in jets, and I think unless a tractor has set for years, it shouldn't be necesarry with a complete soaking and blowing out with compressed air.

It's not a bad idea to look at the carb flow schematic to see which passages are connected to each other. If a path is completely blocked, you may not know it.

Good Luck
steve

Danny

• Don8NAZ's Rebuild Page

Whoa...Nice learning curve!
Keep at it...You are smarter than your N!!!

:-)