184 Lo Boy weak spark/stalling

[Lucas1997]

Hi guys! I Just joined this forum with hopes to get a question answered by some more experienced people.

So I’ve owned a 1979 184 Lo-Boy for about 3 years now, that has been a great tractor. About 6 months ago, I noticed if I use the tractor (specifically mowing) for more than about 30-45 mins the tractor will stall out. If I try to restart the tractor it will continuously stall out, but if I let it sit a couple of hours, it starts and runs fine again. The carburetor is in good shape, it’s getting fuel, so I then came to the conclusion that it has a wiring/ignition problem due to my voltage gauge on the tractor reading low. So last week I replaced the points/condenser, coil, pointer, wires with all Hamilton bobs parts, and I noticed upon disassembly, that the plastic insulator for the distributor terminal screw was all but gone. on the inside. So I thought I had found my problem, but after replacing the distributor screw and new plastic pieces, the tractor will barely run. Points have been gapped to .20” like the manual specifies, and all wires are in good shape. could I have gotten a bad coil?

Look forward to hearing from you guys,

Lucas

[Richard Goetze]

Sounds like bad coil or wrong voltage coil to me

[Jim Becker]

A bad condenser could also have the same symptoms. If it is an out-of-box failure, I'd be more incluned to start there. Put the old condenser back in and see what happens.

[Eugene]

Could be a bad coil.

Check the battery voltage at the battery then again at the coil. Something to consider is a bad battery ground. Try moving the battery ground cable from the sheet metal to the transmission case.

[Don McCombs]

Try moving the battery ground cable from the sheet metal to the transmission case.

Or just clean it well and reinstall.

[Lucas1997]

Thanks for the reply’s guys! I’ve changed out the coil and still have the same problem, so tomorrow I will swap condensers and see if that makes a difference as well as clean and inspect the ground cable.


Lucas

[Eugene]

Thanks for the reply’s guys! I’ve changed out the coil and still have the same problem, so tomorrow I will swap condensers and see if that makes a difference as well as clean and inspect the ground cable.

Normally it's the corrosion where the battery box mounts to the frame.

[Lucas1997]

Hey guys, just swapped out the condenser and she fired right up and ran just like it should! The new one must’ve been bad out of the box. Thanks everyone for the help!

Lucas

[Don McCombs]

Not uncommon these days.

[cubbrian]

I had the same problem a few years ago on a regular cub. I ohmed out the condenser and the lead was shorted to the case.