[AT] Cub problem

[Cecil R Bearden]

I just spent 2 hours on a lawn mower tecumseh engine  for a friend that 
had new points and condenser. No spark.  When I started checking with a 
digital voltmeter, the condenser would charge up and then go to zero on 
OHMS, then charge up again...  We put the 30 year old condenser back 
in.  I had to sand the points with emery to get them to contact.   
Finally, cut 1/2 inch off the plug wire and recrimped the plug terminal 
and got spark.  This was a condenser from Prime Line mower parts handled 
by Oreilly auto parts.

Cecil in OKla

On 8/8/2013 9:39 PM, Dean VP wrote:
> Greg,
>
> Is your patience shorter than your billfold is long? I've owned several cubs and they are
> pretty straight forward.  Did you park it outside?   I would suspect that the points have
> become corroded and that you haven't truly gotten them clean yet. If they are relatively
> new points they are probably POS imports from China.  The points we can get today are
> really bad.  I would work really hard at making sure they are truly clean.  Also make sure
> water/condensation hasn't gotten into the gas tank. Water will settle to the bottom of the
> tank so draining the tank a little might help.  Also might want to squirt a couple shots
> of clean gas into each cylinder and see if you get a couple pops. Also since the tank was
> empty some gunk may have gotten into the carburetor. Check the sediment bulb for gunk.  If
> you can get a couple pops by putting gas directly into each cylinder the carburetor
> probably isn't supplying the gas to the cylinders. First make sure you have good spark
> that chase whether you are getting gas to the cylinders.
>
> Dean VP
> Snohomish, WA
>
> A gun is like a parachute. If you need one, and don't have one, you'll never need one
> again.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com]
> On Behalf Of Greg Hass
> Sent: Thursday, August 08, 2013 7:15 PM
> To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
> Subject: [AT] Cub problem
>
> In a nutshell, it won't start. I parked it about 3 weeks ago and everything was fine. A
> few days ago I went to move it to get to the brush hog and it wouldn't start. I checked
> the gas and it was empty.
> Started to pour some in and got wet feet, the rubber hose between the tank and inline
> filter had split. Fixed that and tried to start again and nothing. Had someone help tow it
> to the shop and tried to start it by towing, still nothing. Shot a little starting fluid
> in the air cleaner while cranking and nothing which tells me its electrical. This has
> magneto ignition (1949 model).  I cleaned out the distributor cap and took off the main
> coil cap which both looked ok ( IH mag). Today I took the mag off the tractor any filed
> the point and set to .013 as I found online. Put back on tractor, I 'm sure I did it right
> as it still won't start. The only problem I had was when I tried to put the rotor back on
> I had trouble getting the flat spot to line up with the shaft but I think it's right. My
> brother brought over some kind of tester you put between the wire and the plug. The light
> barely shows and it was even getting dark. I took one plug out (Champion D 15 Y) ; it was
> a little damp and the insulator was sort of brown but that wouldn't cause it to not start
> that suddenly. I have always swore if I had trouble I would try to find a battery ignition
> unit and replace the mag so I guess now I'm at that point. I think I might have an old mag
> from a cub power unit I could try, but as I get older I have less patience to try all this
> stuff. So, where do I go from here?
>
>            Greg Hass
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