[CC1650Dave]

So just to recap, this is the detail I went through to try and find the problem. After all of this, it seemed that the crankshaft had to be off by one tooth.

Originally Posted by CC1650Dave

A'right boys, here's the rundown on today's troubleshooting:

1) Re-checked the spark plug. It's the Autolite 216, gap is at .025. Cranked the engine with the plug out and saw a good blue spark. Reinstalled the plug. Tried to start, same problem.

2) Went to Napa and purchased a new set of points and condenser. Reason? The condenser was the one that was on the tractor when I got it, I have no idea of its condition. The points were the ones that came with the rebuild kit, and they just seemed flimsy to me. So I wanted to eliminate them as a variable.

a) Tried the new condenser first, without changing the points. Tried to start, same problem.
b) Swapped in the new points, re-did the static timing. Tried to start, same problem.
c) Just a note for reminder, in case it strikes anyone as problematic: When I initially put the points @ .020, they break at TDC, when the "T" is in the sight hole. I have to bring them all the way out to around .040 to get them to break at the "S."

3) Swapped out my coil and spark plug wire with the ones from the K321. I noted that my coil, when inverted, had an oily liquid dripping out where the plug wire goes in. The plug wire itself was kind of wet / oily here. That doesn't seem like it could be a good thing. So I'm thinking maybe this is the problem. K321's coil and spark plug wire in place. Tried to start, same problem.

4) Now, moving away from the more obvious components, I went to a suggestion Duke gave me and ran a jumper wire from the positive side of the battery to the positive side of the coil. This will let me know if there's a problem somewhere between the key switch to the voltage regulator to the coil. Tried to start, and it did start easier.

Now, this could be because I had the tractor running for a little while on one of these previous hard starts, so it could just be starting easier because it's warm. But it did seem better. I'm going to let it cool down while I watch some football, and try it again later.

Fingers crossed...maybe we've narrowed down the problem!

Originally Posted by CC1650Dave

Nah, I went out and tried it again 3.5 hours later, and it's still a really hard starting engine.

So we're getting closer to the possibility that the impossible happened, that the cam and crank are off by a tooth. As much as I paid attention to that, all of the symptoms sure seem to point to it.

I have the K321 sitting on the bench waiting for takedown / rebuild. I think I'll open it up and try putting it off by a tooth on purpose, and then see if it's possible to get the points to open on the "S." That'd answer the question I posed in this thread...

Where, oh where to go from here.......