26 T difficult to crank start

K

KCW

Member
Well, I think my 26 T roadster pickup electric start just died. It’s happened once before. I went to crank start it, which I almost never do and couldn’t get it going. Truthfully, the unit time I can crank start it is if I take it out and stop for gas. After I fill up I’ll crank it for fun and it’s pretty easy to start.

When I try to cold start it, when I engage the engine with the crank there is always a ton of resistance, even when starting a hot engine. I’ve watched tons of YouTube videos where folk seems to crank start with ease. What’s the trick here? Is my T just finicky? Sorry for the amateur question - even though I’ve owned my at for a while I still feel like a beginner.
 
Two things that can help.
First when putting away, your next use being cold, leave the stick in high gear.
This will reduce the cold oil between the clutch plates.
So that when you put the stick in neutral there will be less drag.
The other thing I used to rely on was a simple little rachet jack under one side of rear axle.
Raising the tire allows the drive line to rotate.
You can then crank with gusto, having much less drag resistance.
Remember to chock your wheels.
 
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Is your engine still tight from a recent rebuild? Do you have a higher than standard compression head? Do you retard the timing when starting and are you sure your timing is set correctly?
 
Model Ts with a stock head have fairly low compression. If the head has been milled or it has a non-stock high compression head then it will have more resistance to turn. If the timer doesn't move to full retard, it may be in a kick back mode where there can be a lot of resistance to turn with the added danger of the dreaded Ford fracture if it does kick back.
 
What viscosity oil is in the engine? This time of year when it's cold, thicker oil will make a T engine harder to turn over, even with a starter.

Do you have a free neutral or does the car tend to creep more than normal when it first starts up, especially in cold weather?
Marshall
 
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