The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Got the minimec pump on my engine bled up today and fuel shoots out of three fuel pipes, but 1 doesnt. Looks like the spring inside is stuck because it doesnt move like the others. Would it just be stuck?
Also the starter motor was going fine, but sometimes it doesnt work, there is 12volts going to it. Ive connected it negative earth, how do you tell if this is right?

Your stuck pump plunger may free off if you can get some ATF into the pump by squirting it onto the plunger and in through the injector pipe.

I put a couple of quarts into a couple of gallons of diesel and ran that through the system of my Super which had been stood for about 8 years. The plungers freed off and she runs OK.

The starter problem may be that the drive gears on the starter come directly into contact with the gear tooth on the flywheel. This means that the switch contacts are not made. You have to press hard on the lever which will overcome the spring and the starter will operate. It will not matter which way round you connect the battery, the only thing that could be affected is the dynamo and this is cured by "flahing" it.

ATF is Automatic Transmission Fluid, sorry if grandmother and eggs come to mind.

Thanks for your reply brian, you are what us young-uns call 'a legend'!!!!
I will try some ATF and see what happens when ive finished building the engine back up

still having problems with starter, i wired it straight to the battery just now and nothing happened, not even a spark, its earthed properly. I take it, it should spin up even if the lever is not depressed if its wired directly to the battery?

Nick,

Depends on what contact on the starter you use. When using the one behind the starter it should spin.
Could it be the brushes.

If you have the starter fitted, then take a heavy cable from the battery to the post on the front of the starter, where the heavy wire from your solenoid fits, your starter should spin. Did you paint either the block or the starter before assembling? If so, you will need to clean the mounting surfaces.

Have you a good earth to chassis from the battery?

i havent painted anything yet, but then i havent cleaned anything either! i will try and clean it up a bit, it has the original earth on it, but the point is, it did work. So even without the lever pushed down, it should spin?
Also ive managed to free the plunger in the pump off, but of course i havent had chance to test it yet because the starter isnt working!

If you take the starter off and put it in a vice, connect a jump lead to the flange and one side of a battery, the other lead to the terminal from the battery, the starter will spin. Lots of sparks too.

If nothing happens then take the cover off and check the brushes, as Henk suggests.

The above test with jump leads isolates everything else on the tractor. You do need the starter in a vice as it gives a heafty twist when it goes.

The 4 screws holding rubber boot on starter are also used to adjust the contact point for solenoid. Check even this adjustment as per repair manual..

On np the starter threads are BSF except for the electric contact on starter metric. Big nut M16, screws M5. Whether they are same for older ones is unknown for me.

i think this starter is knackered. i put it in the big vice in the workshop, and attached jump leads to it, and nothing happened. So i took the cover off and looked in, the armiture looks scored, but the brushes look like they are all touching and arent that worn. It spins freely.
I think a new one is in order unless they can be repaired.
I may hang on getting a new one until after next weekend. There is a farm sale near us and there are two majors and loads of bits up for sale.....watch this space, another project may emerge!

Nick wrote:I think a new one is in order unless they can be repaired.

Peter Thompson, in Whitchurch will recondition your starter. Does an excellent job. email: pdt55@tiscali.co.uk
All the best,