Please Help! Farmall H 1948

early321

New User
I recently bought a farm. This farm came with a 1948 or 49 farmall H. The tractor is in good shape and has been running recently but not a lot of tune up or maintenance work done on the machine.

I am currently experiencing trouble where 2 things are happening.

1.) The tractor requires a jump everytime to start. (I recently replaced the battery and I do not think that is the problem.)

2.)The tractor once running will idle fine and run for a short period of time and then for some reason the tractor will act as if it runs out of gas or loses spark. I then have to wait a few minutes, jump start the tractor again and it will run for a short period and then do the same thing.



I have recently replaced the condenser, distributor cap, spark plugs, and battery. I have also cleaned out the fuel tank, sediment bowl, and sprayed carb cleaner(gumout) into the carb.

I am wondering if something is wrong with the generator? or possibly the coil/condenser that is causing me to lose spark. I feel like I have ruled out the fuel as the problem. Could it possibly be the carb?



I need help. This is my first time posting I was referred to this site by a friend and I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction.



Thanks in advance.
 
You need to start by separating electrical from fuel. After the stuff you did to the fuel system can you remove the plug in the carb and get a steady flow of fuel for a couple of minutes. Its possible something is stuck in the screen to the carb or in the needle valve. On the electrical its possible your coil is going bad. They will act up after running fine for a bit. You need to tell us more on the jump starting. Does the tractor not crank or cranks but doesn't start. Have you got a distributor or a mag. Distributor has to have either a working generator or a battery with a good charge and if you only depend on the battery sooner or later you have to recharge the battery. Is it 6 volt or 12 volt. Does your amp gauge show a charge? Your problem could be from a list of things and you have to rule them out one at a time to find the problem.
 
Thank You Charlie. What your saying makes sense. It is a 6 Volt and with a jump the engine starts just fine. Most of the time on the first try. When the tractor is running after a few minutes the engine dies and once that happens, I have to wait 2-5mins I'd say before it will start again and that is with a jump. This weekend I am going to spend some time playing the process of elimination game. haha! Anyway I will try to narrow down what is happening a bit more and will get back to you. Thank you for the quick response.
 
When you leaned the gas tank did you remove the sediment assy to make sure it is clean. You have bought a lot of new parts you need to know if the problem is fuel or electric. I would take the starter and gen to a shop and have them refreshed then make sure good batt and cables they should be 1ga and POSITIVE gnd is used on that system
 
Here is what I would check. Check the cables from the battery to the starter, they must be heavy 6 volt cables. It sounds like you are not getting enough current to the starter. If they have been repaired with the ends that wire sides under a metal clamp with two 7/16 bolts, they corriode. I would replace them with new 6 volt cables. The starter switch could not be making a good connection, not allowing enough power to the starter. Next check the starter, it should be checked for worn brushes, weak springs on the brushes or shorted armature. If you haven't repaired starters it would be best to take it to a repair shop.

It sounds like you have tried things in the fuel system. You may want to try draining the fuel through the fuel system. If the carb has a drain try draining gas from the system or from the fuel line at the carb. Either way drain about a gallon if there is a blockage it will slow or stop draining. You said you cleaned the sediment bowl but did you clean the passage from the tank to the bowl. I had an A that was blocked with dirt, it would run ok in the summer and would not run good in the winter when plowing snow, all the dry gas in the world would not help. I have a model t ford that would run good until it got to less then a half tank of gas. When going up a hill or when it needed more power it would spit and spouder. The gas tank is gravity feed located under the seat (kind of like riding on a bomb)the housing of the sediment bowl was full on dirt.

I hope this helps, good luck, Bill
 
Running a short time and stopping is running out of fuel. I bet ya. And spraying carb cleaner in the carb does NOTHING. You will have to disassemble and clean out the tiny holes.
 
How are you jumping the 6 volt battery? Please tell me youre not hooking the 6 volt battery to a 12 volt battery?! Sounds like a fuel delivery problem.
 
I am using a Stanley quickstart portable jumpstart. Although I have used a 12volt battery off of my truck to jump it in a pinch.
 
Are you jumping with a 12 volt directly to the starter? Do not jump a 6 volt battery from a 12 volt!

A new charged battery should turn the engine over really well. If not, there is a wiring problem between the battery and starter (switch, cables, etc).

Once the wires and switch are OK, the generator should keep the battery charged. If not, there is a problem with the generator or voltage regulator. A volt meter is your friend.

The engine stopping after a couple minutes sounds like a fuel supply problem between the tank and carb (the carb bowl runs dry), but it could be a bad coil. Even with a bad coil I've never seen them run less than 10 minutes. You can tell if it's the coil by feeling it when it stops. After only a couple minutes it should barely be warm. If it's hot hot, replace the coil and see if it keeps running. If not, a fuel line and carb cleaning is in order.

Sounds like the starting problem is electrical, and the stopping problem is probably fuel supply but could be electrical.
 
IF YOU HAVE TO JUMP WITH 12 VOLT TO SIX VOLT HOOK THE CABLES DIRECTLY TO THE STARTER AND TO THE FRAME.
 
Good advice above, I would first check the battery. Sounds like it may be going dead on you. Use a small trickle charger and charge overnight. If it still acts the same then it is probably not your battery. When the tractor dies place your hand on the coil, if it's warm, that's normal, if it is almost too hot to touch then the coil is going bad.
With a 6 volt system, all battery connections & wire terminal connections should be bright & shiny, this is very time consuming but well worth the effort. Use di-electric grease or equivalent to prevent corrosion once cleaned. Even grease will work for a season or more.
Battery cables should be "ought" (O) or even double ought "OO", used welder cable makes usable ones be sure to solder the ends on, and use shrink wrap to protect where the cable meets the ends. Remember these tractors are POSITIVE ground, the positive side of the battery should lead all the way to the mounting bolt on the starter, or as close as possible. The negative lead should run up to the starter button.
 
try running it with the gas cap off my h ran about5 minutes then stopped took gas cap off and it ran good replaced cap with a new one and it ran good
 
There should be (unless they are gone) a screen inside the top of sediment bowl and one inside where the fuel line screws into the carb. Check them and make sure they are clean. Float valve sticking is a common problem if it has sat for awhile. You either have a low charged battery, or bad connections. Is why you are having to jump. If you are jumping straight to the starter, you could possibly have a bad starter switch. You have to have a good generator and voltage regulater/cut out for tractor to keep battery charged. Generator also has to be polarized or it will run battery down instead of charging it up. Check ampe guage while it is running and make sure it is not showing a discharge with lights off (not on). For what its worth, a fully charged battery should start the tractor and it should run along time even if the generator is not working. You will be limited to just a few starts if that is the case though. Hope some of this helps.
 
How do I polarize the generator?
In spite of what some say here, you can have either positive or negative ground with a 6 volt system. The starter, generator, or voltage regulator doesn't care once the generator is properly polarized to match the configuration of the battery connections. I've run my Super A with the 6v pos to ground, then swapped to negative ground and it worked just fine for 2 years each way. Just recently put it to 12v with an alternator, and both I and it are much happier.

Anyway, to polarize the generator, take a piece of 12AWG wire with a short bit stripped from each end, and with one end on the "A" (larger) terminal of the generator, momentarily touch the other end to the "Bat" terminal of the voltage regulator, or the NON-grounded terminal of the battery (or starter lug). It should spark. All it takes is a 'touch'.

To check your generator, disconnect the wire from the "F" (smaller) stud of the generator, then with the engine running at least half throttle, take your length of wire and with one end on the engine block (or other good 'ground'), put the other end on the "F" terminal. Have a helper look at the amp gauge - it should show a charge.

There is a good possibility that when you jumped the 6v with a 12v battery, you cooked the regulator.
 
WellWorn gives an explanation. Anytime a battery is disconnected, goes completly dead, or any of the wiring is disconnected and then hooked back up, there is a posibility that re-polarizing the generator is needed on a 6V system. If your ampe gauge is showing a charge, it is not needed. Showing a discharge, it is needed. Voltage regulators (guessing that is what you have) don't take any abuse or they will just fry. If it does, your generator basicly won't do anything. Charge or discharge. The regulator controls the generator and tells it what to do. Kind of like an on/off switch. I hope this makes sense.
 
(quoted from post at 14:35:13 11/17/14) how do I re polarize the generator?

Don't get ahead of yourself here.

The engine will run fine for days off the battery alone, so get the engine running reliably FIRST, then go after the charging system.
 

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