Condenser

[James Howell]

Replaced the condenser on "Rusty" our 51MT yesterday for the second time in a couple of months.

The condensers were purchased from Deere/Ag Power on separate occasions.

First time the tractor died as if the power switch had been turned off.

Last Friday the tractor died as if it were running out of gas; it had a full tank.

None of our other MTs or M has this problem.

Any thoughts on what might cause a condenser to go bad and recommendations to correct the problem?
 

[Greenday]

When I restored one of my unstlyed B's I bought a new tune up kit for the mag which I am sure was China made and I could not get the mag to spark at all. I put the old condenser back on and Presto good blue spark. Seem some these new condensers are junk.
 

[buickanddeere]

Put a new bushing in the distributed and a Pertronix points replacement kit. End of problems.
 

[Dave H]

Personally I would put a couple of social security bucks on you not haveing a condenser problem. In my decades i have only run into one condenser that was no good out of the box. The points fried and had to be replaced along with the condenser.

That sounds like a fuel or ignition switch problem to me.

That is unless you been changing points with each condenser and did not mention it.

I would carry the volt ohm meter in my poket and the next time it died I would hop off and see if you had 6 volts at the points. If you do and it won't start then check for good flow of gas out the bottom of the carb.

Just my take.
 

[Mike M]

I once bought an MT that the previous owner had the same problem. It always seemed to have a high rate of condensor failures. I never ran it much or keep it long after I had it,but I did clean up all the connections and grounds including clean the dist.
 

[M-MAN]

Sounds to me like Deere bought a bad batch. I would put a NAPA condensor in there & see what happens. Tell them you want the better one.

The day's of condensors hardly ever failing are long gone. Time was when you saw Mexico on the box & you knew it wasn't near as good as it should be. Now a day's that's the best you can do. Don't even waste the energy carrying home the Chinese ones.
 

[Earl-IL]

Yes they have had a problem for the last year. I have a condenser tester. They are intermittent,some have a dead short. The capacity will vary from one new one to another. I always use after market and test everyone before I use them. I seldom have one to fail.
 

[Mike Aylward]

The Deere part should have a warranty on it. Take it back and get another one. Odds are if they have a bad batch you are not the only one with the problem. The warranty claims they get tell them there is a problem so they can fix it. You should be able to get a new one free of charge. Mike
 

[55 50 Ron]

I use AC Delco D203 in my model 50. Haven't had a problem.
The part number is 12338664 and it says on the box "Assembled in Mexico"

This was recommended by a fellow YT'er here a few years ago.
 

[Texasmark1]

I guess you are referring to their magnetic pickup CD ignition system. I installed them on several tractors and got rid of all my spark ignition system problems on these tractors and had zero problems with it. But later on I had an even better solution......I only bought tractors with a D suffix on their model numbers. Ha! That really solved the problems.

Mark
 

[WTW]

Ron,
Glad to hear the D203 condenser fixed your ignition problem. I will only use this condenser when tuning a Waterloo two cylinder. The AT 14468 that they give you at the Deere parts counter isnt worth the cardboard box it came in. If the AT condenser does seem like it runs right after installing it, it won't last long and it will be running like miss-firing old hit and miss. I still tune two cylinders using the D203.