# 1967 Gravely will not start



## cbr120 (Jul 11, 2011)

I have a 1967 Gravely and it began missing and running rough until it stalled yesterday while mowing. I pulled off the magneto and noticed there was a small amount of oil on both of the tiny wiper sponges and the cam. I cleaned it off and now it sparks well on the bench. I reinstalled the mag and it will not run. I think I have the timing set correctly. 

I installed the same mag on my 1955 using the same timing technique and it runs good. Now I think I have a carburetor issue but I removed the air filter and sprayed starter fluid inside the intake and still nothing. I think it should have puffed a little something out of the muffler. 

One more thing...The mag fires nicely when I turn it over by hand but I can't hear it pop while using the electric starter. It seems to pop when I first hit the electric starter but I can't hear it after a few cranks. 

Anyone have any ideas?


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## Richard-tx (Jan 30, 2011)

The oil on the cam and wiper felt is supposed to be there. It keeps the contact block on the points lubricated thus the point gap remains constant. A common mistake is too much oil on the felt. Excess oil can spray and contaminate the points causing either no or intermittent spark.

There are 3 things needed to make an engine run.

1 - fuel and oxygen
2 - spark ...and at the right time
3 - compression

Since you seem to have ruled out 1 and 2, that only leaves #3.


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