Archive through February 01, 2016

[nbextermueller]

Charlie! Your no longer "Digger"? I almost didn't even notice it was you posting.

Al, there is a lot more than just on/off on the PTO switch. All circuits must be working properly or it won't fire.

Although the, my guess is points. They are on the left side, near the front of the engine behind a approx. 1"x2" rectangle cover.

 

[danderson]

Page 1-2 of the repair manual shows the point location

 

[avalle]

Ok I found the points. I also found what I'm guessing a pick-up off the flywheel .I'll try amd load pick .it has a 3 wire plug attached to it .I took it off and the grooves are full of dirt ,grime etc .so I'll look into flywheel cover amd see about cleaning that as well . Thanks again guys. I'm goin to change points and cond.and see where that puts me .pto switch will also come out and be replaced .

 

[avalle]

 

[digger]

Al V.
That's your voltage regulator/rectifier.

 

[mgonitzke]

That is the rectifier for the charging system and has nothing to do with the ignition. The points are driven off of the camshaft.

It is unclear based on your posts if the tractor will not turn over, or will turn over but has no spark. I feel like I say this every week, but I'll say it again: randomly replacing parts until the problem is solved is the most expensive and frustrating way to troubleshoot electrical problems.

Go to the wiring diagram section of the website and print off the wiring diagram for your tractor. It sounds like you have verified you have power to the coil and the coil is not shorted or open, so next I would check the wire between the coil and points, as there are a LOT of places on a 1450 for that wire to chafe and short to ground. I've had that happen several times. If that's ok, file the points and clean any oil off of them. You will still have spark with a bad condenser as long as the condenser is not shorted.

If it won't turn over, then it could be the solenoid, PTO switch, or a bad connection somewhere in between. All of these things can bet tested with a multimeter.

 

[avalle]

It's spins over. Was running then just quit .4 ohms across coil ,12 volts /good ground . (That's a stupid place for a rectifier ).js .lol .cars are so much easier .lmao ok off to the parts store .

 

[sblunier]

Rectifier is there to keep it cool (fins on back transfer heat).

Take some of the others advice....run a hot wire directly to the plus side of the coil and check ignition (points, coil, condenser, plug).......this will determine if problem is in the harness or the ignition system.

Isolate the sub systems, test them out, then solve problems.

 

[hydroharry]

Al V - before just replacing parts you really should try to determine your problem. Otherwise you risk unknowingly causing another problem.

Did you check your gas? I know you said it was running and just quite which doesn't sound like running out of gas, but still worth checking. The normal fuel line routing on the 1450 has the line a little higher than the bottom on the tank. If you see just a little gas at the bottom of the tank there may not be enough gravity pressure to push the fuel into the carb. I had this problem with my 1450. I could have about 1/8 tank and she would stop running.

 

[dlbarnett]

Matt G. "I feel like I say this every week, but I'll say it again: randomly replacing parts until the problem is solved is the most expensive and frustrating way to troubleshoot electrical problems."

I agree, Test, test and test. I'll throw this out again, get a test light and spark tester. Check for spark - no spark - check for power on battery side of coil while cranking - if no power check for open in circuit. if power, check negative side while cranking - light should flash on/off. If light is lit but does not flash - bad points. If light flashes and you have no spark - bad coil.
while some won't agree with me, in most cases a ohms test is useless. test the circuit under load.

 

[kharvey]

Al V or it could be a bad condenser causing the no spark problem.

 

[sblunier]

AL,

BTW, your replacement front axle is on backwards......

 

[avalle]

Ok I textra everything lol. All grounds all positives. No spark. Tested coil even tho it showed good at ohms. Couldn't get it to fire dirty. So I replaced coil,condenser and coil wire .I then cleaned and adj points. I tracked pto.switch wires and confirmed they were feeding what they needed to be .I have spark at points on every rotation .but only intermittent fire at coil . Chkd.all connections and now I'm stumped .lol tomorrow ig it ion switch will be my project to see of maybe I'm losing ignition power sporadically .Thanks for all your posts .btw I set points at 20 /nice blue spark (shrug)

 

[avalle]

Steve ? I havent touched the axles yet .lol .oh wonderful someyiing else to fix .lmao .thanks .

 

[hydroharry]

Al V - if you have spark at the points do you have spark at the spark plug??? You may just have a bad plug or plug wire.

If you have spark at the plug then the next thing I'd check is for a fuel problem. I mentioned before to make sure you had gas in your tank (say at least 1/4 tank).

Also, look to make sure your Governor spring didn't break. You should see one end of it connected to the bottom of the Governor arm (look just above where the points are located) and the other end connected at a linkage point about 10" back from there. These springs typical break loose right at the loop connected to the Governor arm. Make sure you look closely since sometimes the spring cracks and stays connected, but bends and doesn't flex/spring when you push the throttle up. This could be what happened if your engine just suddenly slowed down to idle and then slower until it died.

 

[sblunier]

Have you changed the plug yet?

 

[jbaker]

 

[digger]

Hey Jeff!
That Popcorn getting stale while your waiting for something to happen?

 

[jbaker]

Iv'e refilled it twice, looking forward to Als outcome

 

[hydroharry]

Ok Jeff (and others), while you're munching the popcorn, what are the odds that Al has:
1 - bad spark plug?
2 - bad plug wire?
3 - no gas to carb? (nearly empty tank)
4 - broken/cracked governor spring?
5 - ignition switch issue?
6 - broken rod?
7 - you name it?

(Also - what happened to Digger? Charlie clean up his act? No more "Diggin in the Dirt"?)