Farmall M No Power!

I started it today and it started fine and runs ok, but even at the highest throttle setting it barely has enough power to move on flat ground. Also, even after running an hour and a half the temp gauge never moved and I know that it works.

Today the temperature here zoomed up to fifty. A heat wave!

I went out to start the tractor and she started right up. While letting it run I checked the fuel and noticed it was almost empty so I filled up with fresh fuel.

I also fashioned a grill guard out of cardboard and some bungees (my unit does not have shutters.)

I let it run a while and unlike the last time, the temp guage did start to move and eventually made it to the middle of the cold sector of the gauge, it never quite got to the "run" section.

I let it run a while longer and noticed a few times it started to rev up for just a second or two then went back to where it was.

I tried checking as much as I know how, Checked the oil, checked the air filter, took off the dist cap and checked the rotor and cap, checked the voltage of the battery.

By this time the engine block and the transmission casing may not have gotten "hot" but were warm to the touch, so I think this rules out ice.

I checked my tractor manual for illumination. It says to make sure on gasoline I need to set the lever on the manifold to cold rather than hot.

I looked to see if I could do that, but my manifold does not have that lever, it looks like the original manifold was replaced with the one for gasoline engines.

I checked the operation of the linkage to the governor and it seems to move properly.

I am not sure where to go next, nothing seems wrong but it still has no power when put under load.

Does anyone who knows these things better than I have any ideas?

Thank you in advance!

David

Ok, I tried some of the suggestions, here is what I did:

1. Removed the governor cover and checked spring. It seems ok, it's not broken or anything, or excessively weak, I moved it with my fingers and it took some effort. I attached a picture to look at, maybe there is something I am missing.

2. Tried getting it running as fast as I could and pulled out choke hard a few times to see if it dislodged anything.

3. Checked main jet screw. Tractor was a little smoky, so I leaned it out until it started to slow then backed it out till it was running smoothly.

No Luck.

Bob,it was too dark too look at doing the air cleaner, so I will have to do that tomorrow.

It starts and runs fine but does not seem like anything is wrong. At least nothing apparent to me, the tractor novice.

Tomorrow I will look at the air cleaner and see if it is dirty. I cleaned and refilled the oil just before winter started, but did not look at the pipe.

I am thinking a few things here:

1. Should I pull the fuel line and check for problems there?

2. Is there a way to actually see if the governor is pulling in and out to test it? I suspect if the governor is working, it is a carburetor/ and or fuel problem.

3. Do I need to replace and or rebuild the carburetor?

Thanks so much to everyone for your help!

I checked the air intake, filter. Cleaned squeeky clean.

Drained the fuel tank, carb bowl, cleaned the sediment bowl and screen. Checked the fuel line to carburetor.

Put all that back together and checked the fuel flow at the carb. Plenty of fuel runs out.

I then took off the air breather piece above the governor and found that when the throttle is advanced, the shaft doesn't pop up and move the carburetor linkage.

To make things short (er?), I pulled the carb off and checked it, it seems ok, the butterfly moves smoothly and easily, remounted and adjusted a little and now that rod pops up like it should.

However, I am back at square one. I filled with fresh gas that I picked up today and although the governor advances and the throttle advances, I still have no power under load.

If I pull the throttle back, the engine revs up to speed but it is painfully slow.

Then as soon as a load is put on, it slows down to nothing and will die.

I am not sure which direction to turn now, as I think I have ruled out the fuel supply, the air filter, intake, and the governor.

Not sure where to go from here.

Also while fooling with it so much, now my throttle doesn't hold and is all sloppy. I notice it has a spring under the cover, should I replace that?

Thank you for your help,,

David

The weather turned here and it"s back to really cold plus we are getting gusts up to 50mph today.

If it calms down later I will check the pipe and see if I can run it with the air cleaner disconnected and see what happens.

My tractor has a loader and normally when it is lifted, the engine should speed up to take the added load. By lifting and lowering the bucket I think it should show me whether the governor is functioning.

When I opened the governor case everything seemed right, so now I have the suspicion that it is either the air cleaner issue or the carburetor or fuel line.

I was wondering though, if you think that the problem could be ignition related? I have a magneto ignition that was totally redone before I bought the tractor. I checked the rotor, cap and points and nothing seems amiss.

I would think that if the ignition was in that bad of shape that it would be really hard to start though.

When I go to start it, I crank it for a few seconds with the choke on. Sometimes it starts then and sometimes it doesn"t. ON the second try I push the choke back in and it always starts up then. If it"s really cold I have to fiddle with the choke for a few minutes to get it running smooth.

I would think that"s pretty good for when the temp is below freezing.

This makes me think I can rule out the ignition but I am a novice with tractors and not 100% sure.
Do you think I am right about that?

Thank you for all the help, I"ll see what I can find out later and tell you what happened.

I used to drive a truck for a living and ran up and down I65 through Indiana all the time and you guys get some weird weather there too.

As far as coils go, I have a magneto ignition, but from what I understand that does have a smaller, odder looking coil inside it I believe?

Mine starts up about like the manual describes, although i usually only have to use a tiny bit of choke for about ten seconds to get it to run on its own.

It was way too ugly to work on it last night, so I will try again later today and see what I can find out.

Thanks for all the help and I"ll get the next steps posted as soon as I can.

Stay warm!

David

When I get home from work I will try these things and see, and if unsuccessful post what happened.

Bob Kerr: No, it does not sputter when I let the clutch out, it keeps running at the same speed. I haven't heard any backfiring or other large noises. I haven't looked too close at the exhaust so I'll do that.

Open your main jet as shown on this old B&S carburetor. Hal