IH 300U Stalling

pwyld

Member
I’m looking for some suggestions on a probable root case for my tractor stalling out. Here’s what I got:
- 1956 International Harvester 300 Utility Tractor (Gasoline).
- Refurbished the carburetor (used new carburetor kit, new gasket and new pin) – float works fine.
- Cleaned fuel line & tank of debris, cleaned gas filter – fuel flows freely into glass filter vial.
- Installed new oil and water temperature gauges. Oil gauge registers fine when tractor is running.
- Tested water temperature gauge prior to installing in tractor. Water temperature gauge registers when sensor was put in boiling hot water.
Facing the engine manifold the upper left exhaust manifold has a crack directly on top of it. I patched this up with JD weld. I know it’s a bandage solution, but crack goes back to the engine block. Didn’t want to chance brazing it that close to the engine block, nor wanted to risk taking it off and possibly breaking or snapping a bolt.
Here’s the symptoms:
Tractor fires up initially with no problem. Runs pretty well for about 15 to 20 minutes, even under load. Water temperature hardly registers. After engine is running for this amount of time, the engine starts to sputter and jerk as if it were not getting enough fuel. Again, the water temperature is just starting to register; still within the low range. If I let the tractor sit for a little while, say about 5 minutes, it fires up again; however, it will stall again approximately within 5 minutes say.
In my opinion, the problem is somehow temperature related. I was thinking it might be the crack in the exhaust manifold, but that doesn’t make sense to me. I can see if it was the intake manifold sucking in air, which would make the air/fuel mixture too lean when the crack would expand when the engine heated up. But I didn’t visually see any cracks on the intake side. Plus, the water temperature gauge was reading very low, so the engine temperature was relatively cool.
I’m wondering if anyone else out there had a similar problem, or any suggestion on what I should try next.

Thanks
 
If your not having fuel problems it's probably the coil or the condenser. If you give it a little choke when it's starting to die and it does not help I would check the coil first, see if it's hot to the touch.
 
I have the exact same tractor and luckly I don't have that problem. But I know that mine takes awhile to heat to run on my gauge! I would also say it must be electrical, good luck!!! Stoner
 
my guess is coil or condenser. Check spark when dead cold (overnight). Should be 1/2" to 3/4" blue white. Immediately after it quits do the same check. If it's less, like 1/4" and yellow, you have found the problem.
To check: take out spark wires, hold one near frame and crank it over. You may have bad plugs wires as well.
 
Fire it up and as soon as it starts giving you trouble check for a blue/white spark that will jump a 1/4 inch gap or more. If you have good spark then check that you have a good steady flow of gas form the carb drain plug. Catch the gas to watch for dirt.rust etc. Work your way back to where flow slows if the flow is not good. If you have an in line filter on it throw it as far away from the tractor as you can and hook up the line and give it a try. Also you might try running it with the gas cap off and see if that helps
 
Once again, sounds like Old is on the trail. It doesn't sound like you have a compression issue. It sounds like you either have a fuel or an ignition issue. It kind of seems like an ignition issue to me. I'd run it till it stalls again, then immediately check the ignition. If that's good move onto full supply issues.
 
Sure sounds like a fuel problem to me. I also have a 300 U that acted like that and I found stuff growing in the screen just before the carb. I've also found stuff in the outlet of the tank. I had a F14 that acted like that and it was just corrosion in the fuel line.
 
I want to thank everyone for their suggestions. I will try the suggestions mentioned this weekend. I will post my success or failure to everyone.
 
After running through all the electrical I noticed that the center coil plug was loose. After correcting that the tractor fired right up and ran fine. I also changed the ballast resistor location from the coil / distributor to the positive coil / ignition switch side. I was told by a reputable auto mechanic that I should have left it on the original side; however, I've notice no difference in performance...so far. I guess that's a question for another day.

Thanks to all.

Now onto another problem. I bought a used 3pt hitch broadcaster that is seized up and want some ideas on how to un-seize it. I'll put under a different post.

Thanks again.
 

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