Ford 8n spark

[Patsdeere]

So let me start with I'm a Deere guy. My Mm a local museum asked me to look at their 2n/8n. Front mount distributor. Was restored about 10 years ago, runs about 10 hours a year. New guy overseeing it and it won't start. Had a coolant leak from bad water pump. Got pump, starter switch replaced. Tried spinning over, it's sluggish. Battery is 8 years old, so it might be on its last legs too. To overcome that I put my big 6v jumper on and it spun decently. However it never pops, tries to start, just spins.

So I did a little reading and the wiring looks good per a drawing I found. I have 6.3 volts to the top post of the coil. The spark was very small and yellow/white

Given that, if reading other articles it seems like my next step to investigate would be to pull the coil, pull the cover and check points, shaft movement and make sure it looks good. Am I going the right direction?

 

[ErikL97]

So let me start with I'm a Deere guy. My Mm a local museum asked me to look at their 2n/8n. Front mount distributor. Was restored about 10 years ago, runs about 10 hours a year. New guy overseeing it and it won't start. Had a coolant leak from bad water pump. Got pump, starter switch replaced. Tried spinning over, it's sluggish. Battery is 8 years old, so it might be on its last legs too. To overcome that I put my big 6v jumper on and it spun decently. However it never pops, tries to start, just spins.

So I did a little reading and the wiring looks good per a drawing I found. I have 6.3 volts to the top post of the coil. The spark was very small and yellow/white

Given that, if reading other articles it seems like my next step to investigate would be to pull the coil, pull the cover and check points, shaft movement and make sure it looks good. Am I going the right direction?

Has the distributor been taking off?

You need spark fuel and air
A good battery is a must.

You can check the coil and the cap connection for spark plugs too & the condenser inside the distributor.

Check your point gap make sure it's between .014 and .016 inch (I think)

If your distributor has been removed and someone turned the little knuckle on the back that goes into the case housing you have to remember where that was when you removed it, so what I would do is turn the knob on the back of the distributor 180 degrees. If it was out of time

Are they any cuts in your plug wires?

Clean the plugs and check the gap in them as well should be .025 inch

Hope this helps I'm no expert on these I'm new to the 8n and I've ran into the same issue.

 

[Patsdeere]

Has the distributor been taking off?

You need spark fuel and air
A good battery is a must.

You can check the coil and the cap connection for spark plugs too & the condenser inside the distributor.

Check your point gap make sure it's between .014 and .016 inch (I think)

If your distributor has been removed and someone turned the little knuckle on the back that goes into the case housing you have to remember where that was when you removed it, so what I would do is turn the knob on the back of the distributor 180 degrees. If it was out of time

Are they any cuts in your plug wires?

Clean the plugs and check the gap in them as well should be .025 inch

Hope this helps I'm no expert on these I'm new to the 8n and I've ran into the same issue.

Distributor hasn't been touched. Ran last fall, won't start this spring.
Brand new plugs, multiple plugs have same minimal spark.
One plug wire has a small rodent chew, but no copper visible.
Ill pull cap tomorrow and check for point gap. Just not much room for big hands to work in there.

 

[R Geiger]

Distributor hasn't been touched. Ran last fall, won't start this spring.
Brand new plugs, multiple plugs have same minimal spark.
One plug wire has a small rodent chew, but no copper visible.
Ill pull cap tomorrow and check for point gap. Just not much room for big hands to work in there.

Easier to remove the distributor to work on. just make sure the tang is aligned correctly when going back on. I would make sure you have fuel thru the carb before messing with the spark. I might even give it a wiff of starting fluid.

 

[soaked]

Hi Patsdeere,
Suggest with points closed, open with fingernail, and pull a matchbook cover, or similar thin card or paper, through the points to clean away 6 months of oxidation.
If not conducting properly, an Ohm meter should show resistance when points closed, probe on moving point and other probe to dist housing.

 

[ErikL97]

Distributor hasn't been touched. Ran last fall, won't start this spring.
Brand new plugs, multiple plugs have same minimal spark.
One plug wire has a small rodent chew, but no copper visible.
Ill pull cap tomorrow and check for point gap. Just not much room for big hands to work in there.

Remove the whole thing it's easier to work on like R Greiger said. Just give everything a good cleaning, I used carb cleaner on my points and made sure after I was finished everything was dried. I didn't fell comfortable using brake cleaner even tho I use it for everything. The carb cleaner did work.

Just make sure all contact points are clean and have no moisture.

 

[Mad Farmer]

If your distributor has been removed and someone turned the little knuckle on the back that goes into the case housing you have to remember where that was when you removed it, so what I would do is turn the knob on the back of the distributor 180 degrees. If it was out of time

If you bolt on the the distributor 180 degrees off, it will break the housing. Tang on the distributor shaft is offset, as is the mortise inside the case it fits into.

 

[Ray,IN]

Given the time it's been sitting, did you remove,clean to bright shiny bright, all the electrical connections? It doesn't take much corrosion to create high resistance, especially with 6VDC.
Another item; if the fuel system was not completely drained, especially the carb, the jets and needle valve are likely gummed up enough to prevent proper fuel flow.
The distributor cannot change during storage, just corrode connections and points.

 

[Patsdeere]

Remove the whole thing it's easier to work on like R Greiger said. Just give everything a good cleaning, I used carb cleaner on my points and made sure after I was finished everything was dried. I didn't fell comfortable using brake cleaner even tho I use it for everything. The carb cleaner did work.

Just make sure all contact points are clean and have no moisture.

I didn't realize how easy it was to remove. Thanks.

 

[Patsdeere]

So let me start with I'm a Deere guy. My Mm a local museum asked me to look at their 2n/8n. Front mount distributor. Was restored about 10 years ago, runs about 10 hours a year. New guy overseeing it and it won't start. Had a coolant leak from bad water pump. Got pump, starter switch replaced. Tried spinning over, it's sluggish. Battery is 8 years old, so it might be on its last legs too. To overcome that I put my big 6v jumper on and it spun decently. However it never pops, tries to start, just spins.

So I did a little reading and the wiring looks good per a drawing I found. I have 6.3 volts to the top post of the coil. The spark was very small and yellow/white

Given that, if reading other articles it seems like my next step to investigate would be to pull the coil, pull the cover and check points, shaft movement and make sure it looks good. Am I going the right direction

UPDATE: after going through things, reading your comments and thoughts, I dove in and took the distributor out. Points were probably about .010, grunge everywhere from the water pump leak....

I cleaned it all up. I tested the coil, but was getting weird readings, I'm going to have to change batteries in my meter and try again.

Got the points opened up to about .015-.016. tightening down the clamp screws moved them, so went a hair big.

Put it all back and now I get a good white spark from plug to sparkplug top.

I took the suggestion of starting fluid (even before distributor removal) and nothing. After reassembly, I got 2 fires, sounded like one plug fired and that was all.

It chuffs when spinning over. Knowing my battery is old I put my booster on it, still nothing. I know it has spark, starting fluid would be the fuel, I can't imagine how I could be missing air.... So maybe timing, but how does that go from working fine to not?

 

[ErikL97]

UPDATE: after going through things, reading your comments and thoughts, I dove in and took the distributor out. Points were probably about .010, grunge everywhere from the water pump leak....

I cleaned it all up. I tested the coil, but was getting weird readings, I'm going to have to change batteries in my meter and try again.

Got the points opened up to about .015-.016. tightening down the clamp screws moved them, so went a hair big.

Put it all back and now I get a good white spark from plug to sparkplug top.

I took the suggestion of starting fluid (even before distributor removal) and nothing. After reassembly, I got 2 fires, sounded like one plug fired and that was all.

It chuffs when spinning over. Knowing my battery is old I put my booster on it, still nothing. I know it has spark, starting fluid would be the fuel, I can't imagine how I could be missing air.... So maybe timing, but how does that go from working fine to not?

Did you make sure everything was aligned back in the same spot it was removed? Check your fuel now. Once you see that you are getting the fuel. My issue when I reinstalled the distributor my motor would maybe make two popping sound so I traced back to a timing error, my tang on the distributor was aligned correctly but was 180 degrees off, so I just turned it 180 degrees and it went right into the housing and fired right up

 

[Jim.ME]

Did you make sure everything was aligned back in the same spot it was removed? Check your fuel now. Once you see that you are getting the fuel. My issue when I reinstalled the distributor my motor would maybe make two popping sound so I traced back to a timing error, my tang on the distributor was aligned correctly but was 180 degrees off, so I just turned it 180 degrees and it went right into the housing and fired right up

The distributor drive tang is offset from center and should only install one way. Force it and breaking of the distributor housing is possible.

 

[Mad Farmer]

UPDATE: after going through things, reading your comments and thoughts, I dove in and took the distributor out. Points were probably about .010, grunge everywhere from the water pump leak....

I cleaned it all up. I tested the coil, but was getting weird readings, I'm going to have to change batteries in my meter and try again.

Got the points opened up to about .015-.016. tightening down the clamp screws moved them, so went a hair big.

Put it all back and now I get a good white spark from plug to sparkplug top.

I took the suggestion of starting fluid (even before distributor removal) and nothing. After reassembly, I got 2 fires, sounded like one plug fired and that was all.

It chuffs when spinning over. Knowing my battery is old I put my booster on it, still nothing. I know it has spark, starting fluid would be the fuel, I can't imagine how I could be missing air.... So maybe timing, but how does that go from working fine to not?

Here is a good link for R + R the front mount N distributors.

FORD 9N, 2N, Early 8N FRONT DISTRIBUTOR

 

[Non-farmer]

I can't imagine how I could be missing air....

Have you opened up the air cleaner? It's an oil bath with a metal screen in the middle. If that screen gets dirty, it won't breathe properly. Take it apart and change the oil and clean the screen if necessary.

 

[Colin King]

Are you getting good spark with a plug off your bench, or did you pull a plug to test for spark? Try putting a fresh set of plugs in it. Autolight 437 and gap them at 0.025.

 

[Patsdeere]

Are you getting good spark with a plug off your bench, or did you pull a plug to test for spark? Try putting a fresh set of plugs in it. Autolight 437 and gap them at 0.025.

All brand new plugs gapped to .025. pulled a cap and did a screw driver to plug test, jumped a 3/32 gap and was white.

 

[Patsdeere]

Have you opened up the air cleaner? It's an oil bath with a metal screen in the middle. If that screen gets dirty, it won't breathe properly. Take it apart and change the oil and clean the screen if necessary.

I changed the oil in the cleaner, wasn't bad. To temporarily eliminate it, I in did it from the carb and sprayed starting fluid in. But still no go.

 

[Patsdeere]

The distributor drive tang is offset from center and should only install one way. Force it and breaking of the distributor housing is possible.

I carefully roller the distributor forward to keep orientation correct. I then marked it and the housing to make sure it would go back in the correct location. As I pushed the distributor back on, it dropped right in place and went flat to the block, making me think it's situated correctly.

 

[Patsdeere]

Given the time it's been sitting, did you remove,clean to bright shiny bright, all the electrical connections? It doesn't take much corrosion to create high resistance, especially with 6VDC.
Another item; if the fuel system was not completely drained, especially the carb, the jets and needle valve are likely gummed up enough to prevent proper fuel flow.
The distributor cannot change during storage, just corrode connections and points.

Battery cables all shined up, terminal on top of coil, shined up, new starter switch as old one was variable continuity when testing with meter, points cleaned with business card, rotor cleaned, contacts in cap cleaned, voltage getting to coil etc.

 

[EmmettDave]

Can't wait to hear how it goes...I'm fighting the same battle, 6 V side mount dist.