[AT] Step one: Stop being an idiot

[Dean Vinson]

Oh for Pete's sake.

I've been struggling with this Farmall M, trying to get it to start.  It's
had assorted woes since I bought it a month or so ago but had always started
easily.

Last weekend I went to warm it up and change the oil, having previously
gotten all the wiring with the generator, regulator, lights, and switch
sorted out (thanks to many of you for help).  It wouldn't start, not so much
as a pop.  Posted some questions to the list, got some help from you folks,
tried again on Wednesday, and by then it started up.  Had some coughing and
clouds of smoke, but it started up and smoothed out so I figured it had been
flooded and didn't worry more about it.  Warmed it up, shut it down, changed
the oil.  Tried to start it back up to put the tractor away, and once again,
nothing.  Wouldn't start.  So that set off this last couple of days' worth
of questions and suggestions.

(All of which has been very helpful, and by now the carburetor and air
cleaner are *way* cleaner than before, and the points look clean and the gap
is good, and I know what the cylinder compression is and it looks okay, and
assorted other good things).

But I'd left out part of the story.  When I was warming the tractor up on
Wednesday, I'd been happy to see the ammeter, lights, generator, and
regulator all working.  But just as I was about to park the tractor to
change the oil, the ammeter jumped to full discharge and stayed there even
after I shut the engine off.  The generator itself was very warm to the
touch, so I thought "uh oh, must have shorted internally" and I disconnected
both the BAT and L terminals on the regulator.  That stopped the drain on
the battery, and I forgot about it while I went ahead and changed the oil.
Figured I'd get that done while the oil was still warm, then look into what
was causing the short.

So I still need to fix that short, but have spent all these hours cranking
and checking and cleaning and poking on that tractor, and never thought to
connect the wires from the BAT and L terminal back together.  The regulator
doesn't need to be connected for the ignition system to work--but those
wires need to be connected.  BAT and L are common inside the regulator.
Ignition circuit flows from the battery though the ammeter to the BAT
terminal... then back through the L terminal to the light switch and the
ignition switch.  Disconnecting those wires isolated whatever the short is,
but also left the ignition switch with no juice whatsoever.

So this morning I put the 6V battery back in and, as several of you have
suggested, checked the ignition circuit starting at the beginning.  About 30
seconds into it, got to the nice shiny new (disconnected) wires at the
regulator.  Hooked them to each other, pressed the starter, and the tractor
fired right up and runs like a top.

So, time to go look into that short, and see if it's really something with
the generator.  I'll try hard to rule out the stupidity factor before
posting any more questions... 

Dean Vinson
Dayton, Ohio
www.vinsonfarm.net