1970's Aspluhnd JEY Whisper Chipper Electrical demon, Help please!

[SouthernTreesNewbie]

Hello everyone,
I have an older chipper I bought about 6 months ago. It ran great for a while, then I noticed some issues. It wouldn't start some times, then didn't start at all. Here is a list of what I have replaced.
Battery, upgraded from old car battery to higher cold cranking am farm and fleet battery.
New spark plugs gapped to spec.
New spark plug wires.
New distributor cap.
New starter with built in solenoid.
New ignition with all new connections.
New fuel filter.
New air filter.
It is the 6 cylinder Ford industrial engine. I am getting fuel, and air, but intermittently not getting spark on startup.
What I mean by intermittently, I ran it yesterday at a job site for two hours, about an hour each as limbs built up. Then after sitting for about 2 hours while I bucked, I cam back to start it up and it would not, battery was strong, starter was strong. I checked spark at the plug and was getting nothing. How could it going from running fine that same day to no spark at all.
Any help is much appreciated.
Thank you,
John

 

[lone wolf]

Hello everyone,
I have an older chipper I bought about 6 months ago. It ran great for a while, then I noticed some issues. It wouldn't start some times, then didn't start at all. Here is a list of what I have replaced.
Battery, upgraded from old car battery to higher cold cranking am farm and fleet battery.
New spark plugs gapped to spec.
New spark plug wires.
New distributor cap.
New starter with built in solenoid.
New ignition with all new connections.
New fuel filter.
New air filter.
It is the 6 cylinder Ford industrial engine. I am getting fuel, and air, but intermittently not getting spark on startup.
What I mean by intermittently, I ran it yesterday at a job site for two hours, about an hour each as limbs built up. Then after sitting for about 2 hours while I bucked, I cam back to start it up and it would not, battery was strong, starter was strong. I checked spark at the plug and was getting nothing. How could it going from running fine that same day to no spark at all.
Any help is much appreciated.
Thank you,
John

Loose wire ,Coil,Dist?

 

[lone wolf]

@pioneerguy600
@dmb2613
@eric_271

 

[dmb2613]

check the switch

 

[SouthernTreesNewbie]

I will check the connections on the coil. Which switch DMB2613? I have installed a new key switch. There are some wires to the starter solenoid I don't know where they go, and there is a line from the switch that connects to an inline glass fuse that is still good and then attaches to a red box that has a button on the outside that says hold when you start. But holding it doesn't seam to make a difference. Two wires come off of that and goes back to the gauges. The wires to the starter look orange, and attach to the non main power port. It is a three point solenoid. One is the power to the switch and then the two orange. They look like they go to a box bolted to the body of the chipper but I don't see anything coming back out of it.

 

[lone wolf]

I will check the connections on the coil. Which switch DMB2613? I have installed a new key switch. There are some wires to the starter solenoid I don't know where they go, and there is a line from the switch that connects to an inline glass fuse that is still good and then attaches to a red box that has a button on the outside that says hold when you start. But holding it doesn't seam to make a difference. Two wires come off of that and goes back to the gauges. The wires to the starter look orange, and attach to the non main power port. It is a three point solenoid. One is the power to the switch and then the two orange. They look like they go to a box bolted to the body of the chipper but I don't see anything coming back out of it.

Put a test light on when the switch is in run position and test everywhere the power goes while a helper wiggles the wire to see if it goes on and off.

 

[pioneerguy600]

Is this a points condenser type ignition or an electronic type with a module box.?

 

[SouthernTreesNewbie]

It has the module box. When I replaced the cap, it had a ton of crud in it. I blew it out with points cleaner and it seams to be sealed up well with the new cap.

 

[pioneerguy600]

Those modules can and do go bad. I had a Ford 350 that the module went bad, the engine could run barely for a few mins but then stopped completely. After the engines cooled down about an hour it would re start but shut down again and would not re start until the engine cooled again. I have seen those modules do many strange things , I have one in a boat with an inboard Ford engine, it took a fit and would run about 1/4 speed but not full throttle, replacing the module fixed both engines.

 

[SouthernTreesNewbie]

Alright, I have about an hour today after I get off the jobsite and get a late quote done of daylight. I have been working dawn to dark for the last month. I will run the test light on the wires and wiggle them. If everything seems good with those, I will look at replacing the module. I have tried starting it a couple times, get a strong turn and smell the fuel, but not turning over. Does anyone know what the red box under the ignition switch is, or what it does? Also the two boxes that the wires go into that on the inside of the sheet metal around the motor. I can trace a bundle of lines to one of them from the alternator and coil and main power to the starter goes into that one. The other one, which is bigger, has the two orange lines that go from the starter to the box and then don't go anywhere else. I have a pic of the red box, but you can't see the other two on the right. This is with the old starter switch, new one looks the same just new connections and shinier.

 

[SouthernTreesNewbie]

Gents, please forgive me eagerness to understand. While driving from one site to another I stopped and autozone and had them look up the ignition module. I thought ya'll were talking about the wire and connection in the bottom of the distributor. The module is one of the grey boxes that I had no idea what it was. Relatively low cost, so picking it up tonight. If all goes well, great. If not, on to the wire chasing.

 

[pioneerguy600]

Gents, please forgive me eagerness to understand. While driving from one site to another I stopped and autozone and had them look up the ignition module. I thought ya'll were talking about the wire and connection in the bottom of the distributor. The module is one of the grey boxes that I had no idea what it was. Relatively low cost, so picking it up tonight. If all goes well, great. If not, on to the wire chasing.

Yes grey or natural aluminum color, my engines have this sort of modlue on them,

 

[SouthernTreesNewbie]

Picked a module up yesterday, when I pulled the old plugs off they had some nasty gluey type of green and yellow corrosion. I cleaned everything, put the dielectric grease on it and hooked it up. It starts every time on the first crank. Thank you for all of your help. I appreciate the time you put into this forum to spread knowledge to new and seasoned workers alike.

 

[TLG]

Just my input if it acts up again. You see that little red square box? That is a Murphy shut down system installed on that old girl. Without seeing the other side of the gauge panel I can tell you this. It's function on a gas engine is to kill the coil primary supply in the case of water temp overheats, low engine oil pressure, possibly low oil level also. In case of no starts look on the other side of that red box. There will be a black push in reset on it. Push that and see if it resets on the next no start complaint.

 

[Thisnthat]

Hello everyone,
I have an older chipper I bought about 6 months ago. It ran great for a while, then I noticed some issues. It wouldn't start some times, then didn't start at all. Here is a list of what I have replaced.
Battery, upgraded from old car battery to higher cold cranking am farm and fleet battery.
New spark plugs gapped to spec.
New spark plug wires.
New distributor cap.
New starter with built in solenoid.
New ignition with all new connections.
New fuel filter.
New air filter.
It is the 6 cylinder Ford industrial engine. I am getting fuel, and air, but intermittently not getting spark on startup.
What I mean by intermittently, I ran it yesterday at a job site for two hours, about an hour each as limbs built up. Then after sitting for about 2 hours while I bucked, I cam back to start it up and it would not, battery was strong, starter was strong. I checked spark at the plug and was getting nothing. How could it going from running fine that same day to no spark at all.
Any help is much appreciated.
Thank you,
John

I have a Whisper chipper as well. What fixed everything was putting a GM style HEI distributor on the 300-6 which eliminated the ford ignition control box and external coil. Tada has been working great ever since.

 

[Woodchuckr]

Sorry for a little off topic post.
I am putting together a whisper chipper, slowly. Had a 332 v8 ford in it, has a 390 now. Any of you who have these chippers ever check what drum speed it turns? I have a jex 16" and if I run the engine at 3000 rpm with the pulleys that are on it, I believe the drum will be turning around 4500rpm?? I have never run it, it was purchased at an auction. Just seem's real high speed for that huge drum.

FYI I found funk pto parts at john deer, at JD prices!! Brutal