90' 520H relay

[Dieselcowboy 210]

I have a 520 that when I bought it , it would not start from the key switch. I put a jumper wire in the relay ( the one just under the choke behind inspection plate). It also would not charge the battery. I put a jumper straight from the regulator to the battery and problem solved. After thinking on this more could the relay be bad? I traced the charging back to it. It has 14v or whatever it might be at whatever throttle position but only 12.55v coming back out at any given poll. Has anyone ever seen this before? And where can I get a new relay for it. Is there anything special about it or can a use say a common ford relay in its place? 

[boovuc 1,090]

The relay could be bad. A 416-8 speed I had was a major mystery to me and the previous owner. I would fix this and that and sometimes it would fire right up and other times, I had to hit the starter up to 10 times before I would hear a "click" and then I had power to the starter.

The fact is there are so many other things that "usually " are bad before you think about the relay. (Ignition switch, bad connections, safety switches, bad battery, solenoid, etc.).

 

I even had a melted fuse and fuse holder that I found while playing detective on this machine. Fixed it, started a few times and I thought, yup! That did it! Then it was back to hitting the switch 6 times before it fired. Like a solenoid, it is a mechanical electromagnetic moving part that can wear out.

 

I "borrowed" a schematic from SOI University , (thanks Save old Iron), that shows the relays and ignition circuits on the modern 520's.

There are a few other things you can do to diagnose the relay as " it's dead, Jim" but from what you have stated, it is looking more like a relay issue if your safety switches are jumped or operational and your ignition switch functions as it should.

I would use Partstree to look up your specific year 520 to get the correct numbers for the relay if that is what is wrong with the tractor.

 

Good Luck.