No spark

Turn the ignition on & crank the engine.

You should see the light pulse on & off as the points open & close. If the light pulses, but you don't have a spark when you hold the high tension wire coming out of the coil next to ground, either the high tension side of the coil is open or the high voltage wire itself is bad. Replace as needed.

If the light never comes on, disconnect the wire to the distributor from the (-) terminal, leave the test light connected, and turn the ignition on (don't have to crank). If the light comes on now, you have power to and through the ignition coil and either the points or the wire between the (-) coil terminal and the points is shorting to ground.

If the light still doesn't come on, check at the (+) terminal with the ignition on. If you have power at the (+) terminal but not at the (-) (with the wire to the points disconnected), the primary side of the coil is open and it will have to be replaced.

If the light comes on and stays on, the points are not closing. First place to check is for an open circuit in the wire between the (-) terminal on the coil and the points. Its common for the points wire to either short or break inside the insulation where it enters the distributor.

Good luck, let us know what happens.

Keith

• Hobby farm

• Hobby farm

THERE MUST BE some sort of an ignition switch terminal (I dont mean any Start terminal or push to start switch) labeled maybe IGN that is HOT when the Ignition switch is turned to ON n stays hot unless its turned OFF.

Shes NEVER gonna fire until you apply n keep hot voltage to the coils input (NOT to distributor) when some sort of an ignition switch is ON.

What happens if you hot wire a hot batery voltage source to the coils high input (NOT to distributor) terminal????

Since you have an in line ballast resistor, the hot voltage I spoke of above would be more like 6 then 12 provided alls wired correct n a good set of points is closed.

The ballast by pass is a system to by pass the ballast n feed unballasted voltage to the coil ONLY while shes cranking. Thats often done by running a wire from the solenoid to the coil input or low side of the ballast. Other ways to do it are a push to start switch/button that has an extra third terminal that wires to the coil to by pass the ballast while cranking.

You gotta get voltage to the coil first and then see para 5 below for easy troubleshooting of the points. CHECK THE POINTS FIRST TO BE SURE THEY ARE GAPPED CORRECT N OPEN N CLOSE AS THE ENGINE TURNS AND ARENT ALL BURNED OR PITTED BADLY. Other probable causes (if coil has voltage) are a weak or shorted condensor.

Heres more if needed but it sounds like you gotta get her wired correct n hot voltage to the coil first.

NOTE: You sure the ballast is good??? If its open and you have a working ballast by pass system (switch or solenpoid) it could spark while cranking but not otherwise !!!!! !!!! it should be like 1.5 to under 2 ohms if its a typical ballast

TROUBLESHOOTING A BATTERY POWERED EXTERNAL COIL TYPE IGNITION SYSTEM:

PRELIMINARY CHECKS:

(A) To see if it happens to be a cap n rotor problem and to see if at least the coil is firing, remove the coil wire from the distributor (leave coil end intact) and place its bare end to within 1/8 inch from tractor iron, turn her on n crank her over, and see if she jumps that gap with a good visible blue spark????? If so but the plug wire ends (from wire end to 1/8 inch to frame) or the plugs themselves don’t fire, its a cap n rotor or plug wire problem. If the coil wire isnt even sparking, see below.

(B) Next open the cap and see that the points are gapped correct and indeed opening and closing as the engine is cranked and the distributor shaft rotates and MAKE SURE THEY ARE NOT BURNED OR PITTED OR CARBONED UP BADLY !!!!! !!!!! If so, running a point file between them to clean them up might make her run again HOWEVER that’s only a temporary cure, so if that cleaning makes her spark, INSTALL N GAP NEW POINTS. In the event they appear good but only gray oxide coated, non abrasively clean/buff/polish them using say a dollar bill or shop cloth etc. and see what happens.

MORE TROUBLESHOOTING IF ALL THE ABOVE STILL FAILS TO MAKE HER SPARK

1) THE VERY FIRST THING YOU GOTTA HAVE is voltage to be present on the coils high supply (NOT to distributor) terminal when you turn the Ignition switch ON. If not she cant ever fire, but in the event the ignition switch or circuit/wire down to the coil or any Ballast Resistor is bad or open, you can HOT WIRE it by jumping a hot ungrounded battery voltage source to the coils high input supply (NOT to distributor) side n see if she runs then???? If she fires hot wired, you could have a bad ignition switch ((That can happen, when Ignition is on, the switches IGN terminal must turn hot)),,,,, ,or an open Ballast (if it has one) or a bad/open wire from switch to coil.

If the switch is good, if you turn the ignition switch on and place a test lamp on the coils high (NOT to distributor) terminal SHE MUST LIGHT UP. If not again, look for an open Ballast Resistor (if it has one, it should read around 1.25 to 2 ohms across its terminals) or bad/open wires from the switches IGN output down to the Ballast (if it has one) and distributor.

2a) When the Ignition switch is turned on, voltage should appear on the coils high input side. That would be 6 volts on a straight 6 volt system or 12 volts on a 12 volt non external ballasted system, or around 6 volts on a 12 volt system that used a 6 volt coil plus an external Ballast Resistor and the coil is good and the points are closed and they and ALL wiring is good.

2b) To insure the coils low voltage primary winding is not bad/open, use an ohmmeter and measure its DC resistance between its lil + and -terminals. If its an open circuit (no continuity) its bad/open and will NOT work. It should measure around 1.25 to 2 ohms or so if its a 6 volt coil and maybe 2.5 to 3.5 if its a 12 volt internally ballasted coil. NOTE CAUTION have all leads and any voltage source DISCONNECTED FROM the coil for this simple primary winding continuity test. 3) Next, place your voltmeter or test lamp over on the coils other low to distributor terminal side, turn her on and crank the engine over.

4) A test lamp there should flash ON (when points are open) and OFF (when points are closed) as the engine is cranked slowly.

5a) If the lamp never comes on there, the coils primary is bad/open,,,,, ,,,,or the points are never opening,,,,, ,,,or theres a shorted/bad condensor (remove its lead to points and see if lamp comes on, if so, bad shorted condensor or its wiring),,,,, ,,or the points wire is shorted,,,,, ,,or the distributors side pass thru stud is grounded (use ohm meter to test that),,,,, ,,,or the points may have a shorted spring.

5b) If the lamp never goes off as engines cranked, the points are not closing or are bad,,,,, ,,or the wire or circuit is missing from the distributor to the points,,,,,or the distributors not well grounded to the tractor.

She cant fire the coil unless its low side is getting a conductive ground return path via closed points and then the circuit is open when the points open.

Be sure the condensor or its wiring is NOT shorted out and see if the lite comes on (when points open) with the condensor disconnected. If removing the condensor makes her spark, replace the condensor.

SUMMARY

Be sure the points are closing fully and open on high cam and ARE NOT BURNED OR PITTED OR CARBONED UP BADLY,,,,, ,theres voltage present on distributors high side at all times when ignitions on (or its a bad switch or open ballast or bad wiring to col),,,,, ,voltage on coils low side flashes on and off as distributor is cranked,,,,, ,,,condensors not bad/shorted,,,,, ,,no shorts in wires to points and no shorts in pass thru side out distributor stud,,,,, ,,coil has continuituy.

You may luck out n just need a new set of points. If the coil wire fires (see above) and the plug wire ends to 1/8 from frame but NOT the plugs, they are baddddd ddddd . Check them BOTH.

Good Luck n God Bless, post back any questions and your findings and any questions.

John T Nordhoff in Indiana, retired electrical engineer who usually lurks over on the Mother Deere boards versus over here on the “dark side”.

If the coil wire fires but no spark getting to any of the plug wires, its EITHER a cap or rotor problem or the wrong cap or rotor etc.

John T

If you have voltage on both small terminals then take a piece of 320 wet or dry and rub those points. Even if they're new. Then hold that coil wire near a good ground while some makes an attempt to start the tractor. Take a look at your points and make sure none of the wire connections are touching the distributor. Hal

You say: "If I could get current TO the distributer, I could check things out."

My take is that you probably have current THROUGH the distributor, but it is to ground all the time, and no spark can occur until the ground is opened.

If I read you right, you have a short to ground or a partial short (resistive) path to ground at the coil (-)lead or inside the distributor on the same connection. Possible places are: 1. The connector through the distributor wall has a broken/missing insulator or metal parts attached to the feed through bolt (if that's what it has) are touching the distributor case (ground). 2. The condenser is leaky/shorted or its lead/connector lug is shorted to ground. 3. Your points never open which might include some part of the points 'hot side' from the feed-through touching a ground. Have you carefully inspected the points? They also have an insulator which is the bearing that they move back & forth on. How about the points mounting screws - could they somehow cause a short by touching one of the places I've mentioned?
You could take the coil (-) wire loose from the distributor and, with the ignition 'on', see if you get a small spark at THAT wire when you touch and remove it from a ground (it should also produce somewhat less than a full high-voltage spark at the coil high voltage tower because no condenser is connected). If this proves to be the case, then your trouble would seem to be within the distributor itself.

I see nothing wrong with your description that the ignition key switch 'on' wire goes to the starter switch then the SAME wire connection continues on to the resistor, then the other resistor end to the coil (+). The OTHER connection on the starter button switch goes to the solenoid AND also direct to the coil (+) for 12V direct to the coil while the starter is operating.

I have no diagram of this tractor to go by, but I believe what I have stated should be correct, based partly on what you wrote.