International 460 Utility

jmart31

New User
So I recently purchased a 1959 international 460 utility tractor. I thought it was a fair price. Has the loader on it. I knoq the PTO needed sone work but i had started it up a few times and it idle and ran fine, before i bought it. Afteri bought it, and changed the battery, it would start and run in low gear but wouldn't open up. Then it started stalling. Listening to the farmers at the auction i put sea foam in the gas. (I dont have alot of mechanical experience but im not afraid to try and fail.) Now it will crank but wont start. I cant load it cuz it wont run. Any suggestions or tips to get it runnibg so i can load it get it home and them do deeper diagnostics and repair?
 
remove line from carb and check for gas flow. should have a full stream running out. if not remove sediment bowl and clean and give it a shot of air into gas line once bowl is back on as it may have junk it it. if all good there , just start at tank and work your way to carb. removing plug at bottom of carb will show you have gas flow into carb.its possible carb may require a cleaning
i am presuming you have spark as you said it would start and run at idle, which means your lacking fuel flow.
plus you can pull out the choke to see if it improves things which also will mean its a gas shortage.
 
Make sure the gas is turned on, and that it has gas in the gas tank first. BTDT. I assumed there was gas in the tank because there always had been, but apparently the carb had developed a slight leak over the years and it had run dry.
 
Has1 it been sitting outside? If it has been raining, perhaps the oil bath air cleaner got filled with water. Also do everything others have said.
 
The 460 is probably my favorite machine I own currently. I got mine in non running condition on it's way to the scrap yard. Since you're not familiar with mechanics too much the basics apply and on these older machines it's easy. Air, fuel, spark, compression. These are the 4 things your motor needs. Since it was running you can bring back to air and fuel as the most likely issues and I would agree fuel is the most likely issue. If you're ever feeling lazy, fuel issues are probably the number one problem anyhow (though for my 460 it was spark timing). I had issues similar to yours on my 240 though. I just resealed the tank on my 240 and rebuilt the carb for good measure and it runs great now. My main issue was rust and junk in the fuel tank.
 
One thing that should be added to the run down rustred gave you that folks unfamiliar with these IHs overlook.That is that the brass fitting that the fuel line hooks to in the carb has a fine screen in it that should be checked for plugging. It has to be screwed out off the carb to check it. If a lot of water is found in the sediment bowl the carb should be drained as well. I think those models had carb drain plugs, but I?m no 100% sure. Good luck!
 
I have a bad habit of think zebras instead of horses when I hear hooves, but your situation does sound like a restricted gas supply. Could be rust or something in the gas tank. Pretty easy to see if you are getting a good supply from the gas tank by just disconnecting the gas line at the carb. Have something to catch the gas and then turn on the line. Should flow pretty well. Look at the sediment bulb and see if there is sediment in it. Could be the screen in the sediment bulb is blocked with crud. If gas flows well to your carb, then time to check the carb. The drain plug, if it has one, is a start. Kind of do one thing at a time and then try to start and run the tractor. If you not, you may solve the problem but never know which fix you did that actually solved it. I have a Farmall 340 and the carbs are not complicated. For me a good soaking in carb cleaner over night has worked, or even just spraying some carb cleaner in it has worked. Now working with gas and carb cleaner involves some risk, so watch for sparks and spills. Not to scare you but 60 years ago, my dad managed to burn up a pickup when trying to clean a gas line. Just took a little spark from a wrench hitting something. Happens very rarely but can happen. So, treat it all with respect and caution, and a good idea to have a fire extinguisher near by (not just water).
 
Thank you all for the responses. Today I went to work on it, and it started right up....and then shut off after about 5 seconds, which tells me it has to be gas, right? I took the sediment bulb off and clean it....no luck. Drained and replaced the gas with fresh gas...no luck, checked the line to the carb to see if there was good flow, it passed that test the gas is flowing well. Tried to start it without the air filter hooked up...no luck. It was sitting outside, so I will check the screen going into the carb, drain the carb plug, which i did find. I'm so bummed about it, it has the loader and started right up and idled fine and move forward and reverse and the bucket was all working, and it revved well. It did snow about 5 inches of wet snow a couple days after i tested it before the auction, so maybe it is the oil thing that has water in it. Hoping to get some more time to play with it over the next couple days. Thanks again for the advice and help. I'm working on getting a service manual too.
 

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