I'm trying to get an International 300 Utility tractor running. It had sat for many years and I bought it mostly for parts but it is complete and I'd rather just get it running than take the parts off for my other one. It currently will fire when cranking but as soon as I release the key to the run position it dies. Continuous cranking will get it running longer until it kicks the starter out.
Current setup is a 12v battery (negative ground) with the generator disconnected. The 6v battery was cranking too slowly and only had a couple tries in it before needing a charge.
New points, condensor, cap, rotor, wires and spark plugs.
Ballast resistor between (-) from coil and distributor.
Verified 12v at coil with key in run position.
Added jumper wire from battery to (+) on coil with no change.
Jumped from (-) coil terminal to distributor to bypass ballast resistor, no change.
Turned distributor to adjust timing, it was initially not firing and by moving the distributor (eyeballed position by looking at my second tractor that runs) it fires consistently.
What else am I missing? It seems like it should run and it fires almost immediately when cranking but just won't stay running.
If it was originally 6V, why did it have the resistor? Starts on 6, runs on....3?! Did you put the resistor in along with the 12V battery? Clearly this is where the problem is. It's happy with 12V to the points but as soon as the resistor is switched into the circuit, like when you let go of the starter, it conks out. I'd be tempted to wire it to run on the full 12. It'll just cost you a set of points after awhile. I don't think they're going to fry in minutes or probably not even hours.
But then I reread your post and you said you did bypass it. I dunno.
I added the resistor when switching to the 12v battery after reading that was a common addition to increase life of the points.
put the old points back in, adjust them to proper gap (or dwell, whichever you're using), and see if it runs.
also, check the wiring diagram. doesn't the ballast resistor go on the (+) side of the coil?
Found this. Relevance uncertain.
It sounds like something isn't happening correctly when the key is in the run position. I wonder if it might be worth trying to wire up the ignition for full 12V power all of the time using jumpers, like coil and distributor straight to the battery, so that the ignition is always hot with full power (no ballast resister) and see if the tractor stays running after started.
Ignition sounds fully powered properly when the key is in the start position but not normal run position. You also said there's full 12V+ at the coil when the key is in the run position but the symptoms seem to say this isn't actually what's happening.
is there any safety switches which might allow it to crank but not run in the run position?
might be time to dig up a wiring schematic and do some checking.
barring that id just go over fuel and spark again.
