8n will not start

[edkidd]

8n, 12v conversion, electronic ignition and a new battery. Yesterday the ammeter showed in the negative and then the tractor quit and will not restart. Would a bad alternator cause it not to start?

 

[Ultradog MN]

Not enough info.
How long did you run it with the ampmeter showing in the negative?
Will the engine turn over on the starter?
Do you have spark?
How many hours on the tractor since you did the conversion?
Have you recharged the battery?
Do you have a front mount or side mount.
The charging circuit and the ignition circuit are completely different. About the only way the alternator could cause you to lose spark is if it wasn't charging at all and you ran it
long enough to completely discharge the battery.

 

[edkidd]

Front mount distr. The engine will crank but not start. I noticed the discharge and had to finish a mowing job, probably ran for an hour in discharge before it just died, no unusual noises or any indication it was going to quit. When I tried a re-start, it sounded like it had plenty of battery. Just put a new battery on an hour before all of this.

 

[souNdguy]

a dead alt won't prevent starting.. but a dead battery would.

you say it cranks over fine, but won't start.

time to check spark.

if no spark, make sure you are getting power to the coil primary, and make sure you are getting power to that EI module.

post back.

 

[edkidd]

Thanks for all of the replies. I'll check on those later today.

 

[Dell (WA)]

kidd........ya let the smoke outta yer electronic ignition. Wanna guess WHY yer 8N won't start??? Bad alternator cause fer non-starting? Only iff'n it never charged yer 12-volt battery and ran it down. .......Dell, a 12-volt advocate for the right reason, that said I haven't found the right reason fer my eazy startin' 6-volt 52-8N

 

[edkidd]

Dell that makes sense to me.I think my question should have been does the battery control the electronic ign. Thank you for the reply. I'm on that learning curve..

 

[Dell (WA)]

kidd........does the battery control the electronic ignition? Not really. Yer dizzy controls the ignition. Battery just provides power to the BLACK BOX (transistors) inside the dizzy that makes the sparkies sparkle. ........Dell

 

[Bruce (VA)]

That EI will not fire below a set voltage. IIRC, about 9v or so. With a drained battery, you get less than whatever the module needs to fire, and no spark. Or, worst case scenario as Dell said, you let the smoke out


Charge the battery and try again.
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[Ultradog MN]

[i:654c4848f0]"ya let the smoke outta yer electronic ignition"[/i:654c4848f0]
I'm curious how you drew that conclusion Dell?
He stated that he ran it and the ammeter was showing in the negative.
Then it quit.
Wouldn't negative amps indicate that the alternator wasn't charging?
And if it's not charging wouldn't that cause the voltage in the system to drop?
How would low voltage cause the smoke to come out of the module?
Wondering...

 

[Poppy545]

What led to the new battery (in the beginning)? I suppose it was dead, but do you know how and when it failed? If you can get it restarted, perform a voltage test across the battery terminals. For 12 volt DC system, you should have 13.8VDC. If not, it could be a voltage regulator or even a alternator.

 

[edkidd]

Poppy the original battery was dead. Put the new one in, started it and ammeter showed zero.then it started discharging. Yesterday performed a spark test with no spark found. Working in that direction now. Going to start with the coil. Taking the alternator off this weekend and getting it tested.Thanks for the reply

 

[Bruce (VA)]

"Start with the coil"

Why?

As I suggested earlier, you'd save a lot of
time and energy if you start with the
BATTERY. (no pun intended)

Fully charge the battery then check for
voltage at the coil.

Post back with results or more questions.
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