Having my first tractor issue

[mjdtexan]

I recently purchased my first tractor. Its a Case International 1140. I parked it the other day, everything was fine. I went to start it up yesterday and it didnt turn the starter motor over. The clicking that I believe is associated with the fuel pump was heard. I thought maybe the battery didnt have enough juice to run the starter motor. I charged the battery. Still nothing. So, I took my trusty 12 volt test light and identified power to the starter. I identified the ground wire to the starter. That left the wire from the switch to the solonoid (sp?). I hit the switch and the test light did not light up at the solonoid. So, I went to the switch, (that switch has 5 poles by the way) and tested the switch. Switch is good. So, I am gussing that I have an issue between the switch and the solonoid? Correct? How do you spell solonoid anyway?

 

[skipro3]

Measuring voltage across something like a switch without any current running though it only tells you that there's continuity to the circuit. It doesn't tell you what is happening while pulling current. It could be that the switch or any other connection, is breaking down when current is being applied. Put a meter on the starter, then crank and see what the voltage is under load.

 

[mjdtexan]

After making the post I realized an error in my thinking. There is no ground wire to the starter motor as it is grounded to the engine.

I did trace the fault to a wire that did not look broken but was broken. Tractor is up and running again.

 

[LBrown59]

After making the post I realized an error in my thinking. There is no ground wire to the starter motor as it is grounded to the engine.

I did trace the fault to a wire that did not look broken but was broken. Tractor is up and running again.

Glad ya got er fixed.

 

[skipro3]

From your description, that wasn't a fusable link was it? Just to be sure you know what that is, a fusable link is a wire that is designed to fail when a given, rated amount of current is pass through it, just like a fuse. If it's a fusable link and not just a piece of wire that went bad, be sure to replace it with the same rated link.

Here is some really good info of fusible links; what they are, how they work, etc.

Catalog

 

[mjdtexan]

From your description, that wasn't a fusable link was it? Just to be sure you know what that is, a fusable link is a wire that is designed to fail when a given, rated amount of current is pass through it, just like a fuse. If it's a fusable link and not just a piece of wire that went bad, be sure to replace it with the same rated link.

Here is some really good info of fusible links; what they are, how they work, etc.

Catalog

I do thank you for that, no it wasnt a fuseable link though. It was within an inch of the switch. The switch had been replaced and it was a poor job at that. Someone had used an old hose clamp as a spacer to keep the ignition switch from poking out to far. I am gonna get some real washers tomorrow and I think I am going to replace that whole wire tomorrow too. What I would really like is a brand new wiring harness so that I could be sure of all of the wires. That to me seems like the proper thing. It may be tough to find a new one though as that tractor was only made for one year.

 

[WayneB]

you might want to look into this to get the parts locator:

Case IH M160 Mower for 1130 1140 Tractor Micro fiche

Manuals

Case-IH Tractor Manuals & Info

 

[jls3]

Glad to hear of the fix, it is kind of disheartening when you just buy something and it breaksdown.

 

[mjdtexan]

I'll be darn if I didnt go out there and the same thing happened again. This time I replaced the whole wire to make sure it didnt happen again. I noticed the wire had been spliced a couple of times. Now there are no splices.

 

[Soundguy]

Those splices invite corrosion.. and as you found.. can become a problem.

Any time I have to butt splice a wire together insted of replacing it.. i always shoot grease into the connector to help prevent corrosion.

soundguy