Ford 4000 quit during hay cutting. Electrical issue Gas model

Stonefly7 · May 26, 2013

Was cutting and engine just wined down. Tried to restart, smoke from below. During restart burnt off end on neg cable. Replaced neg cable, tried restart, burnt off end of pos cable. Replaced pos cable and now smoke and arcing from pos side of selonoid. Short somewhere. Have new starter and battery. Started running wires, found many cracked and frayed. Fixed many. Many wires just cut off going nowhere. So starting over. Whats basic need for tractor to operate electrically. Pulled all wiring except main bundle connection that comes out aft of tank, by battery tray.
So what do I need, battery-key-selnoid-coil-distributer-ground. Thats the basics, right? Still has to be a short somewhere.

Kind regards

KYErik · May 26, 2013

It sounds like a big short- I bet it is the alternator charging wire. Just leave the alternator unhooked and see what happens.

You could put a fuse holder on the ignition circuit to be sure that isn't the problem.

COYOTEMAG · May 26, 2013

WHAT TYPE OF ALTERNATOR DO YOU HAVE. iF SINGLE WIRE i CAN DRAW YOU SCHEMATIC OF THE IMPORTANT STUFF . I REBUILD THESE AND MAKE MY OWN HARNESSES

Stonefly7 · May 26, 2013

Yes, big short. It is a single wire alternator. Alternator to gage to pos side of selanoid. I tried disconnecting the alt wire, still heats up like the forth of July. I used ohm meter and checked all cercuits. OK. Batt showes 12.4V. Funny thing, when I used the charger to check batt, it pegged the needle, odd. I checked the batt on my truck, it pegged and then settled to 4.5. Is there such a thing as a batt switching polarity? The only thing I have not done is pull the start switch to check ohms from the switch to the bundle.
I thought I would replace the selonoid Tues and see of that worked. I am a good mech, poor electrician. It could be the ignition cercuit. Can you give simple instructions how to proceed? Thank goodness the rain has held off, would like to finish hay.

Kind regards,

COYOTEMAG · May 26, 2013

IF THE SHORT IS THAT BIG , YOU MAY WANT TO HAVE YOUR STARTER CHECKED FIRST. A SINGLE WIRE ALT . YOU CAN RUN THE WIRE FROM ALT TO YOUR STARTER AND BYPASS ALL THE TRASH IN BETWEEN.

Stonefly7 · May 27, 2013

Starter is new. I kind of ruled the starter out, as when it quit in the field, the starter was not engaged. What would completely shut down engine while in row cutting? Complete loss of elec power. Still chasing short. If anyone has more ideas, let her fly.

Kind regards

KYErik · May 27, 2013

Yes- a battery can be charged backwards and end up with reversed polarity.

If you need to use the tractor, unhook the + batt cable, leave the ground cable cable connected and just install a jumper wire from the + batt terminal to the + coil terminal. The tractor will run (until you disconnect the jumper wire) but won't charge the battery.

You have a good point about the starter not being engaged while having the problem in the field- maybe the starter button is shorted out or the insulation on the wire that runs to the alternator has rubbed of at some point.

With the + cable unhooked from the battery (and the neg cable still connected), use an ohm meter to check resistance of each of the wires that branch off of it (you will need to unhook/isolate them so you are checking one at a time) until you find the one with no resistance (a short).

Stonefly7 · May 27, 2013

KYERik,

Well, friend came by, we used his tractor to finish hay. He noted the batt has broke cells or touching cells, thats the only thing that would fry cables. So this afternoon I tried my truck batt, nothing, not even a spark. Going to the coop tommorow and get a new batt, selonoid, coil. Who knows what I fried when everything arced and smoked. Still thinking it may be the switch, did not want to tear into that. Its a pain to pull everything off to access the bundle and switch. I will update you as I find anything else.

Kind regards

Stonefly7 · May 28, 2013

Well, I replaced batt, selonoid, coil, already had new starter. Turn key, nothing. I guess its a wiring issue. I have reached my knowledge capacity. Will call a tractor mech out to see whats wrong. Will let you know. Thanks for the ideas.

City Farmer · May 29, 2013

I would take a good look at the ignition switch or the neutral safety switch. My "68" 3000 and "69" 4000 have to be in neutral, both levers before it will turn over. The 3000 netural safety switch is going bad, I have to shuffle the gears around a bunch and back to netural sometimes before it will start. There's really not much left for you to swap out for her to get go'n again.