Alice wont start!
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URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=157834
Printed Date: 20 Aug 2025 at 7:50am
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Topic: Alice wont start!
Posted By: LouSWPA
Subject: Alice wont start!
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2019 at 7:38am
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WD, not used very often, her primary responsibility is snow plowing. Last run Aug or Sept, and was running fine at that time. Tried to start her yesterday and not even one pop. checked spark couple times, good spark on all four plugs. drained carb and refilled, checked that float was not sticking, finally replaced carb....not even one pop when rolling it over. I noticed that the plugs are dry, not even a hint of fuel or ether on them after extended attempts to start. I didn't check the compression, I guess I should, but I noted healthy puffing when checking for spark. OK, I finally hit it with starting fluid....it wouldn't even fire on ether!!!!! I guess I take the manifold off and investigate.....either a major air leak, or it's blocked? Am I missing something? ------------- I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Ps 27 |
Replies:
Posted By: klinemar
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2019 at 8:06am
| Well Lou that sucks. How old is your fuel and your starting fluid? I have had problems in the past with both. Also check your coil sometimes they have low spark in cold weather. Could be some critters made or are obstructing something.My Grandfather would say set in on fire and go find a better one! We didn't always follow Gramps advice! |
Posted By: DMiller
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2019 at 8:17am
| Intake valve stuck open on a hole, allowing intake to pressurize the wrong way? or Not develop enough vacuum? |
Posted By: LouSWPA
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2019 at 8:18am
The fuel is fresh, ether? I have a brand new coil laying around here somewhere I will try, I was kinda thinking in that direction myself. I have read that it is possible to have a spark, but so weak that it will not spark under compression. But, it bothers me that the plugs are dry. One would think that after all the attempts to start it that by now there would be some evidence of fuel or ether on them, but I don't see or smell anything on them ------------- I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Ps 27 |
klinemar wrote:Posted By: LouSWPA
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2019 at 8:20am
------------- I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Ps 27 |
Posted By: desertjoe
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2019 at 10:07am
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Hey Lou,,I'm kinda like ole Dave in that the tractor may have a compression issue due to some valves ...prolly worth to run a quick compression test as that is the only'ist thing left that will keep it from starting,,,Good Luck,!! 
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Posted By: ac fleet
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2019 at 11:53am
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Take the plugs out and squirt a bit of gas in each cylinder, quickly put plugs back in and it will start. Got one here does same thing! Also have a red one that does that. It's the only way to get them primed again. Don't know if pull start would work or not. Never had a way to do that by myself. thanks; ac fleet ------------- http://machinebuildersnetwork.com/ |
Posted By: Stan IL&TN
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2019 at 12:28pm
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You can add a little 2 stroke oil to that gas you squirt in there and it might help things also. ------------- 1957 WD45 dad's first AC 1968 one-seventy 1956 F40 Ferguson |
Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2019 at 1:17pm
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ac is right.... I have a B that if it sets for over a year it will not start.. I pull all 4 plugs, squirt a spoonful into each hole, reinstall plugs and your ready to go !! assuming the point is CLEAN inside the distributor.
------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: DaveKamp
Date Posted: 04 Feb 2019 at 8:42pm
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Lou- it is VERY possible to have spark, but not get ignition... it's also possible that the fuel is enough water, that it will not ignite, and solid enough water that it won't flow... or worse yet, solid enough to have jammed up the float, or the filter screen, or the fuel line, or... but yeah, a nasty, loud, hot white inch-long snappy-crack flash 'tween the coil wire and block is what the doctor ordered. Basically, the theory is, that if you have water, rather than gas in the carb, that spark will be 'nuff to flash that water to steam and chug'ya out of the barn!  I have a spray bottle of some petroleum-based penetrating stuff that I shoot in the venturi, and crank it... if it fires on that, I know it's just fuel supply... but if it's been that long, you COULD have a mud-dauber nest in the up-draft... or a block of ice in the oil-bath...
------------- Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest. |
Posted By: wide
Date Posted: 05 Feb 2019 at 10:38pm
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On my old Rabbit diesels I can turn the crank by hand and see how the compression is. Done it enough times that it's more accurate than a compression tester. Have you tried putting the hand crank to it to see how it turns? With the ignition off, ha. |
Posted By: Dakota Dave
Date Posted: 06 Feb 2019 at 9:10am
| My Wd45 wouldn't start the last couple days I needed I had we've got 30 inches of snow a d ithas the blower on it. I got my wife to help me yesterday used the plow truck to drag it out of the shed and push it into the shop let it warm up a few hours and drained the sediment bowl it had water in it draind the carb till I got fresh fuel it also had water in it started on the first revolution stuttered for a few seconds runs great. I had pull plugs and checked the points out in the shed. It wasn't till I put it on a warm shop that the water showed up. |