Gave my WD45 a tune up. Now it does run right.Help

Yellow and thin spark is a sure sign of a bad condenser.

I&T covers rebuild, not daily care. Daily care items, like tuneups and oil changes are covered in the original owner's manual. The AC shop manual probably has ten times the information of the I&T manual and may be more accurate. Once I got the JD shop manual for my 4020 that is 1-1/2" thick, I use the I&T manual as a book mark, its too thin to be a door stop.

Gerald J.

I'm not going to bother telling you how to time the tractor again, but I will comment on your plugs.  The one on the right is fowled.  Your timing in severly retarded.  You might ask some of them fellers that are so dead set on the timing light how to advance timing using the light.  I don't even remember where mine is, or the last time I used it.

Edited by JimD - 29 Jul 2010 at 9:19pm

Thanks for your help.

No, I didn't use a resistor wire. In the pictures you can see it. Its black with yellow ends.
I've double check to make sure everything is clean and tight.
Haven't tried timing at idle. That is my next try.
I wouldn't call it labor while running but more like.... not right.
I didn't do anything besides the tune up. I had ordered the parts 6 months ago and they were still laying around so I finally decided to put them on. Wish I never would have!
Spark is good and hot. Real blue and it bit me once while making sure.

So here's the plan
1. I've ordered a video from Steiner Tractor called how to tune up your wd45.
2. Do what the video says
3. If that doesn't work, time it at idle
4. if that doesn't work, time it to the other F at idle
5. if that doesn't work, start replacing one part at a time.
6. if that doesn't work, pull out hair
7. if that doesn't work, pay someone

This is the wire that was replaced. You can see the black wire that replaced it too.

I just got in now and read these postings.

#2 & #3 plug wires are reversed.

Thanks for those fantastic photos - they are perfectly done & can be used to help others in future. Especially the shot of flywheel timing mark.

C. John

Here's one for you: This one had us scrtching our heads for awhile. Basically, ran rough for a time when we were using it for about two hours on light duty, mostly a fast idle and would rev up but got us by just puttering around the place here. Parked it and shut the fuel off to run the carb out of fuel. Now it was running when we finished and stopped for the day.

Looking at your pictures Brasky, and if the distributor turns counter clockwise, your spark plug wires are in the correct order. Remember, 1,2,4,3, NOT 1,3,4,2. Crank the engine  with the dist cap off to be sure of which way it turns. Looking at the pic of your points, they indicate counter clockwise rotation. Once you know which way it turns, find #1 compression stroke. You can use your thumb over the spark plug hole or a compression test gauge. Once you find that compression stroke, turn the engine to TDC (top dead center, piston all the way to the top). Look at where the rotor is pointing. That is where the #1 plug wire goes. From there, continue around the cap in firing order in the direction the dist spins. Now that we have the plug wires in the correct locations, it's time to "find a spark". To do that, I turn the switch on and stick a spark plug in the end of the coil wire and rotate the distributor very slowly until the points open while making sure the #1 post of the cap is over the tip of the rotor. The instant the spark jumps, stop turning the dist.

Clock wise rotation.The rotor even "tells" you that.The tang trails not leads.

Hi again guys,

I am happy to say that this will be my last post about the topic. She is running like a sewing machine now!

In case you are curious what I did...

I removed the plug wires, plugs, distributer, rotor, dust cover, and points.
I regapped everything (which was perfect).
I cranked it over with the hand crank until I found the compression stroke on number one.
Then I crawled under her and my wife SLOWLY turned the hand crank until I could see the "mark" was dead center in the inspection port. I want to stress that IT IS NOT ***NOT*** the "F". The "F" did not work but the "mark" | was TDC. Disregard the "F".
I put the rotor on with the dust cover off.
Then I lined up the rotor with the Battery Lead Terminal. There is a wire that goes to/from the coil.
I rotated it until the points just broke. Then one more time which was 180 degrees from the first time the points broke. Tightened it down.
Next I put it all back together.
I made sure everything was tight.
Then I fired her up and....
Perfect!

No adjustments needed!

JimD, you will be happy to know that I never once touched the timing light this time. That one plugs was just a little dirty from greasy fingers. I wiped it off and it was just fine. Looking at those pictures again you were right, I did have the wires on for a counterclockwise rotation. That was surely part of the problem. However, I did switch them as suggested and it still wasn't right. 

JC from Wisconsin, Don't worry... I don't feel like a fool. LOL!!! By the way, you wouldn't happen to be a German would you? You "sound" like one. :)

The rest of the fellas.... Thank you so much for all of the advice and support. Its a good feeling when she turned over and ran right. I did make sure it had power again. I ran her up the steepest hill on my property and it powered right up it.

Once again, Thank you everyone so much for all of the help!

Now, I'm off to the next project... Brakes.

Isn't "F" for the timing light with engine at speed? FIRE!

Braskyku,