IH 424 Electrical Help Please

I was running my 424 Gasoline model the other day - down a hill - all of the sudden, it seemed as if the engine lost spark completely - rolled to a quick stop and died. Initially, I thought it flooded or loaded up going down the steep incline - I tried to start it immediately and the engine was slow to turn over, I stopped cranking and realized the fuel pump wasn't doing it's normal "click click click" at about the same time, the engine cranking became labored as if the batter was out of juice. Immediately after, my ignition switch *pull-type) began to smoke so I quickly pushed it back in to shut it off. I hooked up a battery charger with the 60 amp starting circuit and even with that, I got nothing out of the starter when I pushed the momentary button. I tried bridging contacts on the solenoid and the engine cranked over just fine. So now - no engagement of the starter using the starter button, and no energizing of the fuel pump. I replaced the ignition pull-switch and if I turn it on - a few seconds later, the wires start to warm up. I am guessing that I have a dead short somewhere but I don't know where it would be most likely. Is this something any of you have experienced before? Any ideas?

Thanks!

It may be a short in the relay/solenoid, or the wire going to the ignition. If there is a pull rod on the switch and not a solenoid, my guess is there is a short in the ignition wire. Check all connections shiny and tight as well. JimN

Which wire is getting warm? You should have a resistor wire between the ignition switch and the solenoid. Just like an ignition resistor mounted on the coil, if you leave the switch on with the engine not running and the points closed, this wire will get hot in the loom. On my 2444 it gets warm enough that you can smell it.

Hi Chris, had a similar thing happen to my 1967 424 gas today. It died and would not crank, same thing no clicking from fuel pump. I found a broken wire at the coil and repaired it. Then it would only click when I hit the start button. I jumped it from the battery to the starter and had plenty of cranking energy. pulled off the positive cable and did like Jim said made both ends clean and tight. Worked fine after that. Don"t think the positive cable made it quit but picked that time to stop carrying the juice I needed. Let us know what you find out.
KC

I am still working on this - I had my father-in-law (an electrician by trade) come over and he helped me trouble-shoot as best we could. The only conclusion we came to was that the coil by itself was causing excess amperage through the ignition switch when the machine wasn't running. So the possible culprit appears to be the coil. I removed it (it looks fairly new) but I do have a question. The coil says for use with external resistance. Does anyone know does the 424 have external resistance or should I buy the coil with internal resistance?

Ok - problem solved.
I checked online for a parts listing and the corresponding coil says it is for tractors with external resistance. I am not sure where the resistance occurs or where the resistor is on this tractor but nonetheless, I bought a new coil at TSC and hooked it up and the tractor runs great now. Odd thing was we checked spark with the old coil still attached and we were getting spark but the ignition switch was heating up HOT - with the new coil, no HOT on the switch so I guess it's time to start using it again until the next problem rears it's head.

Thanks for your ideas and help!
Chris

Beliebe it or not a piece of resistive wire in the harness is the resistor for the coil.