Farmall A Runs for a few minutes and stalls

xlyst

New member
Hello, working on a Farmall A, it will run for a little while and stall out. Looking for possible solutions and or ways to test whether it is fuel or electrical / ignition. Thank you.
 
How long, time wise, will the tractor run before it stalls out? Two or three minutes, probably fuel. 20 or more minutes, most likely ignition problem.

How long do you have to wait before you can restart the tractor? Few minutes, probably fuel problem. Hour or so, ignition problem.

Ignition is fairly easy to check. Get prepped for the test. Start and run tractor. As soon as the tractor dies, pull the coil wire from the center of the distributor and place the end close to ground/engine block. Ignition still on, crank the engine over. Good blue spark - fuel problem. No spark - ignition problem.
 
The one time it ran for a half hour other times a few minutes, it may start back up after a few minutes or not at all for a while.
 
ignition problem ---- could be coil getting bad or the condenser. They usually mess with you before they go south for good. ---- when running or right when it dies---is the coil hot---I mean REAL hot??? ---I had one that did that on an Allis C tractor---run 30 mins., die for no reason at all, wouldnt start til it set for and hour or over night ,--same thing again!-- so check that and see if it might be bad. Also are you on 6-v or 12-v??? --- if 12, it could be the resistor in the line.
 
SONNY":3img1mpb said:
ignition problem ---- could be coil getting bad or the condenser. They usually mess with you before they go south for good. ---- when running or right when it dies---is the coil hot---I mean REAL hot??? ---I had one that did that on an Allis C tractor---run 30 mins., die for no reason at all, wouldnt start til it set for and hour or over night ,--same thing again!-- so check that and see if it might be bad. Also are you on 6-v or 12-v??? --- if 12, it could be the resistor in the line.

My super a is doing that exact thing now. Coil gets wicked hot, says on the back external resistor required, but I definitely dont see one on there. I guess I can find one at parts store or should I just get a new internally resisted coil since I've done let it get cooking hot a few times now before I caught it? Its been converted to 12V in the past and the coil is 12V.
 
ElementGardens":57vznkk0 said:
My super a is doing that exact thing now. Coil gets wicked hot, says on the back external resistor required, but I definitely dont see one on there. I guess I can find one at parts store or should I just get a new internally resisted coil since I've done let it get cooking hot a few times now before I caught it? Its been converted to 12V in the past and the coil is 12V.
Get the coil with internal resistor even though the external resistor is about 1/3 the price. You may have cooked the existing coil.
 
I use the external type on all of my tractors,---once set up if the resistor burns out---that's the only part I have to replace. If the coil goes----same deal. easier to troubleshoot if they are seperate ----It really is more of preference because either way works o.k.
 
I fired up the old super A yesterday that had not been cranked in 4 months to cultivate the corn and it would run a lttle and then quit.I removed gas cap and it kept running,something stopped up vent in the cap. Bobby
 
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