Farmall H not firing

[John Athey]

My H won"t fire - no spark. It has a magneto. Where do I start to look for the problem. One day it was running fine and just cut off. Any advice?
 

[Andrew Z]

points, condenser, coil. clean/replace adjust points first then go from there. also look in the archives lotsss of info on this there.

Andrew
 

[Janicholson]

The following assumes the impulse coupling is working (clicks when cranked)
Pre-disassembly before servicing points: remove the wire attached to the side and see if it runs, if so the switch is bad, or the wire is grounded. it is a grounded kill switch, not power.
First realize that setting it on TDC #1 on compression allows a known position from which to work.
Remove the cap and make sure the rotor is pointed to #1 cap tower terminal attached to #1 plug. Next remove the rotor block and rotor from the body of the mag. This is geared to the breaker cam shaft and is timed with marks and must go back where it was.
The points are now exposed. Dress the points with a piont file, needle file, or 320 grit paper over a thin strip of plastic. after cleaning, use a folded dollar bill to wipe between them abrasive free. the point gap on the high point of the breaker cam is .013". Reassemble the components (in time) and give it a whirl. Condensers can go bad. If still no joy, it could be that. the condenser is mounted internal to the coil, and more needs to be taken apart. Jim
 

[Zachary Hoyt]

Mine died like that in the middle of a puddle in the woods a couple of years ago. I first replaced the points and condenser, then the coil which was apparently what it needed. Janicholson was very kind in walking me through the whole job and those old posts are all in the archives.
Zach
 

[El Toro]

Touch those magnets with a flatblade screwdriver to see if they still have strong magnetism. Sometimes they're overlooked. Hal