Ford CSG-649-300 in-line 6 engine on chipper, no start
 

Hi

I am stumped. This 1980’s era, Ford engine “csg-946 300” is on a wood chipper and was running along just fine but suddenly stopped and I can’t get it to start.

Ignition:
The engine has electronic ignition and a neon spark tester on the coils’s high tension wire shows lots of healthy spark, as does the same tester on each plug wire.

Timing:
I didn’t check if the distributor was loose or rotated. I do need to double check this although I’d expect the engine to at least run rough with bad timing.

Compression:
seems good enough to start
120
100
125
120
125
125

Fuel:
Tank is 1/2 full of fresh fuel. It looks clear and without water contamination.
Fed some gasoline directly into a vacuum hose port below carburetor. But no pop or stutter results. This isn’t so satisfactory as we didn’t get much fuel in this hole. Tomorrow I’ll take some starting fluid and spray into the air intake.

This is rather frustrating. Does anyone see what I’m missing? I’ve got spark, compression and at least some fuel, I should at least get a few pops.

Thanks !

Let us know what happens after spraying starting fluid down the air horn. Into a vacuum line is not acceptable.Being carburated, I am assuming this ia pre-1987. I am wondering if spark is occuring at the proper time.

Update
 

Today we :

1. checked all sparking is good, pass.
2. sprayed starter fluid into the air intake. No firing, no popping
3. Squirted raw gas into intake manifold below carburetor. No start , no pop.

It could only be timing, right??

Do these engines have timing belts or chains or gears?

it almost seems as though either the valve timing is off or the ignition timing is off.

Next step, check timing with timing light.


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Chipper w ford csg-649p-400 engine
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How did you check for spark? Did you actually look at the end of a spark plug? Hard to figure not even a pop or sputter. A good spark should be able to jump a 1/4 inch gap.If it can't, that is worthy of investigating.

Compression is a little lower than what I would expect but it's even and sufficient to run the engine. . There's no timing chain but a gear set. If there is an Achilles heal on the 300, it would be the nylon toothed timing gears.The teeth shear and jump. However, I would expect the compression to suffer if that were the case.

Update
 

- Installed a new ignition module: DuraLast blue grommet
-removed all spark plugs and checked for a healthy & visible spark on each plug, pass, all are good
- checked that distributor rotor is at cyl #1 when cylinder #1 is at TDC

ODD Observation: with all plugs out and cranking engine for spark tests , gas mist and droplets shoot out of cylinder #3 but only cylinder #3, all other cylinders appear dry. This seems to be a clue

Is the mechanical fuel pump in working order and its cam lobe sufficient to properly activate its lever?

I tried to verify if the fuel pump was working by attempting to remove the steel line that runs to the carburetor. The brass nut wouldn’t turn without twisting the steel line , so I left it. By spraying starting fluid into the air intake or squirting raw gas into the manifold aren’t I bypassing the fuel pump and shouldn’t the engine at least fire once or cough? I get nothing?

At this point I think it could only be bad fuel so will siphon the tank and put in fresh gas.

Will also try to find a timing light and double check the timing.

Starting fluid or some fresh gas into the air horn should get some kind of activity from the engine.

If the fuel system doesn't prevent humidity from entering the fuel tank every time the temp drops, that moisture will accumulate and stay in the fuel tank..

A quick check would be to remove a plug or two and see if they are wet or dry.
If wet, try to lite the wet stuff on the plug and see if it will burn. If it won't ignite and burn, you have your answer, contaminated fuel. If that is what you find , the tank and lines need to be drained and the fresh fuel allowed to enter. You do have to remove and dry out the plugs also.
A little concerned with the extra fuel coming out of #3 cyl. Carb could be full of water too.
Anybody check that fuel filter mounted on top of the fuel pump assy?

Problem solved

we took it to a mechanic who correctly diagnosed that the choke was stuck full on, so we elected to fix it ourselves.

Took off the engine shroud and got full access to carb. Choke was stuck closed, so got it freed up but then it would start and immediately die. That turned out to be caused by a weak battery that wouldn’t keep the Murphy switch open so after starting, it immediately died. We then charged the battery for a few hours and it started and stayed running.

Have given the carb a good cleaning so the choke & throttle butterfly’s don’t get hung up.

We learned our lesson: check everything including the carb even if it’s a pita to access. I assumed any engine would fire with starter fluid spraying in intake, well not if choke is fully closed.

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions!