Farmall 460 Wiring Issues...

At least I believe it to be a wiring issue. I was out baling this afternoon & the 460 just stopped dead. When I pushed the starter button, there was nothing. I checked over all the wires I could find & everything seems to be connected. There was a white 12 - 14 ga. wire that comes down to the battery side of the solenoid that had a corroded end on it. Replaced it with a new end on the spot & no change. Cleaned the battery posts & both ends of the wires & that made no difference. Put a charger on the battery & the meter read about full. Pulled the kill switch out & jumped the posts on the solenoid. The engine cranks just fine, it just won't fire. I did note that there were some fairly fresh scorch marks already on the posts, so I'm thinking this may have been a problem before? I personally don't know much about the tractor as I've only had it for about a week & the owner is deceased.

I have given it a bit of a tune-up. The plugs, cap & rotor are new. The plug wires don't look old & the points are fine. The old gas was drained & the fuel line was cleaned. Didn't feel like putzing with cleaning out the sediment bowl, so I replaced it with a good one I had stashed away. I noted the bottom of the gas tank was relatively void of any debris. Just half of a grass hopper & a wasp. Got those suctioned out with a hose & "vacuumed" up the rest of the crumbs off of the bottom of the tank. That's all I've done to it so far & it ran like a track star until it conked out in the field. I suppose after all I was through with rewiring my old 400 I should have this figured by now. Must be the frustration.

T.I.A.,
Mike

It sounds like you have lost an electrical connection some place. Here is a source for the wiring diagrams.

460 wiring diagrams

You will need to follow the diagram for the small wire from the battery stud on the starter up through the ignition switch and down to the coil.

It actually should have run while cranking if the problem is in the switch but check all the wiring first and make sure you have spark at cranking. If you have spark we can look at other possible causes.

Thanks Owen, I'll print out a copy of the diagram & give it my best in the morning. Didn't think to check for spark until after I got back home, that'll be the first thing on my to do list.

Mike

Check your ignition switch and make sure you have power going in and out when key is on
BTDT
Tracy

Owen,
so far, I've come up with - no juice to the coil, no juice to the pushbutton & cranks over great when jumping the solenoid. The tractor has been converted to an alternator system. Could the diode have died? The battery was dead when I got to it, this morning. Is there a wiring diagram out there that covers the 460 with an alternator?

Once I'm done baling hay, I'll drag the 460 home & tear it apart.

Mike

If the diode went bad it would drain the battery if it was shorted or the alternator would not start to charge if it was open circuited.

At this point you don't need to worry about the alternator wiring. Check for voltage from the starter. The wire from the starter goes to the ammeter. From the other side of the ammeter it goes to the key switch, the push button switch, and back to the S terminal on the solenoid. If you have power through that circuit it should crank. Since it will not crank from the push button I think you will find the problem in this area.

There is another wire that goes from the key switch to the resistor by the ignition coil. There is a wire from the other side of the resistor that goes to the coil. There is another wire on that side of the resistor that comes from the I terminal on the solenoid. This is the wire that bypasses the resistor to give the coil more voltage for starting.

The last wire goes from the other side of the coil to the distributor. When the points are open this wire should have battery voltage. When the points are closed there should be no voltage on the wire.

If all the wires have the correct voltages and you still have no spark, the problem is in the secondary side of the ignition system. Those parts are the coil, rotor, distributor cap, plug wires, or spark plugs.