No spark

[rockin]

Hi everyone it's been a long while since i have been on here, anyway looking for snome insite on my 48 8n tractor, so It has been sitting for about 3 years, most of the ti me in my shop, decided that should fire the old girl up and use it, well went to fire it up and of coure no spark, did some testing ant there was power to the coil but when i put a test light on the coil and turned it over the test light should have blinked as the points opened and closed, so figured it was something inthe distributor that was the problem so pulled the distributor check and reset point , tested the coil and condensor and coil ,it all test fine, put it back together, still , no spark, put a spark plug tester on and no spark there, by chance when i hit the starter i must have wiggled the connection to it ,because when i hit it again there was spark at the plugs, so i changed the starter button with another one i had , that i new worked, since ihad the hood off i figurei might as well put new points and condensor in as i had the hood of. So i replaced them went to start the tractor and no spark again, took it apart again and relized that i hadnt tighted the condensor completely, put it back together still no spark, is it possible that i shorted something out with the condensor being loose.

 

[old]

Hi everyone it's been a long while since i have been on here, anyway looking for snome insite on my 48 8n tractor, so It has been sitting for about 3 years, most of the ti me in my shop, decided that should fire the old girl up and use it, well went to fire it up and of coure no spark, did some testing ant there was power to the coil but when i put a test light on the coil and turned it over the test light should have blinked as the points opened and closed, so figured it was something inthe distributor that was the problem so pulled the distributor check and reset point , tested the coil and condensor and coil ,it all test fine, put it back together, still , no spark, put a spark plug tester on and no spark there, by chance when i hit the starter i must have wiggled the connection to it ,because when i hit it again there was spark at the plugs, so i changed the starter button with another one i had , that i new worked, since ihad the hood off i figurei might as well put new points and condensor in as i had the hood of. So i replaced them went to start the tractor and no spark again, took it apart again and relized that i hadnt tighted the condensor completely, put it back together still no spark, is it possible that i shorted something out with the condensor being loose.

When a tractor sits that long there is a very good chance the point have corred and either need to be cleaned to the point they shine or replace them.

 

[jimg.allentown]

Hi everyone it's been a long while since i have been on here, anyway looking for snome insite on my 48 8n tractor, so It has been sitting for about 3 years, most of the ti me in my shop, decided that should fire the old girl up and use it, well went to fire it up and of coure no spark, did some testing ant there was power to the coil but when i put a test light on the coil and turned it over the test light should have blinked as the points opened and closed, so figured it was something inthe distributor that was the problem so pulled the distributor check and reset point , tested the coil and condensor and coil ,it all test fine, put it back together, still , no spark, put a spark plug tester on and no spark there, by chance when i hit the starter i must have wiggled the connection to it ,because when i hit it again there was spark at the plugs, so i changed the starter button with another one i had , that i new worked, since ihad the hood off i figurei might as well put new points and condensor in as i had the hood of. So i replaced them went to start the tractor and no spark again, took it apart again and relized that i hadnt tighted the condensor completely, put it back together still no spark, is it possible that i shorted something out with the condensor being loose.

Recheck your points gap. I've had them close up on me while I was tightening the connection. Also make sure you lube the distributor cam. If you don't, it will wear down the points in record time.
You might also want to check for voltate at the coil, and see if the voltage fluctuates when you crank it. Voltage should drop to zero when the points close and up to near battery voltage when the points open.

 

[rockin]

Thanks , thats a givin that they would be coroaded, where i live hear on a island in British Columbia im only 500 ft from the ocean, so on a quiet night you can here your vehicle rust lol, i have replaced them with new points, but, still no spark, as iwas saying I got distacted and walked away to do something else, then came back and did'nt relize that i for got to totally tighten down the new condensor, dont know if that would short somethingqe out when i put podwer to it.

 

[rockin]

I did grease the cam and have rechecked the point gap and they are still at .15 , but a loose .15, the coil was working fine and had good voltage, I have decided to do a 12 volt convversion and maybe a eletronic ignition eventuly, was trying to keep the tractor origally as it was gifted to me by an old fella that had bought it brand new in 48 and never bought another used that one almost every day, unti he got sick and passed it on to me in 2012, it has a lot of sentamentle meaning for me, I have all the documents right from when he purchaced it.

 

[Janicholson]

I did grease the cam and have rechecked the point gap and they are still at .15 , but a loose .15, the coil was working fine and had good voltage, I have decided to do a 12 volt convversion and maybe a eletronic ignition eventuly, was trying to keep the tractor origally as it was gifted to me by an old fella that had bought it brand new in 48 and never bought another used that one almost every day, unti he got sick and passed it on to me in 2012, it has a lot of sentamentle meaning for me, I have all the documents right from when he purchaced it.

Did you clean the new points? they come with goo on them that does not conduct! A Q tip and fingernail polish remover works. Then clean with a folded dollar to get them very clean W/O lint. Jim

 

[Dingo3]

If your getting power to the coil but not the plugs it’s probably the coil wire or the coil itself. Could be a break in the wire or bad connection at one of the ends. That’s my guess since you got it to fire once. Always start from one point where your getting power and work your way forward.

 

[stevieb49829]

I did grease the cam and have rechecked the point gap and they are still at .15 , but a loose .15, the coil was working fine and had good voltage, I have decided to do a 12 volt convversion and maybe a eletronic ignition eventuly, was trying to keep the tractor origally as it was gifted to me by an old fella that had bought it brand new in 48 and never bought another used that one almost every day, unti he got sick and passed it on to me in 2012, it has a lot of sentamentle meaning for me, I have all the documents right from when he purchaced it.

If you get totally frustrated, disconnect all the wires to the points, take your meter or a test light and test for continuity across the open, and then closed points. I had a direct short from my open points to the base plate that I finally solved with a chunk of plastic to reinsulate the hot side of my points from the base plate.

 

[used red MN]

Why don’t you test the connection lead between the points and the coil after installing the new points? You need the on-off power on that terminal whether the points are new or old?

 

[560Dennis]

Clean new Points with paper business card or fine sandpaper ,they come with an oxidation protection coating ,need to be removed . Some aftermarket new points , lifter arm on them is not made correctly so ,make sure they are closing and open with test light.
note don’t use Emory cloth to clean point’s because it will leave an abrasive on contact. Only sand paper

 

[Fritz Maurer]

To answer one of your concerns, no, the loose condenser won’t short anything (unless the condenser is actually internally shorted) . Might cause running issues later on, but not prevent spark from occurring.

 

[wore out]

Why don’t you test the connection lead between the points and the coil after installing the new points? You need the on-off power on that terminal whether the points are new or old?

Dingo and red, if his 1948 8N tractor is as it left the factory it has the infamous "front mount" distributor with NO secondary coil lead in the conventional sense to check, and no external/accessible primary connection lead between the points/condenser and the coil.

 

[used red MN]

Dingo and red, if his 1948 8N tractor is as it left the factory it has the infamous "front mount" distributor with NO secondary coil lead in the conventional sense to check, and no external/accessible primary connection lead between the points/condenser and the coil.

wo okay, I got suckered, you can raise the count to two. I thought that to be the case, but the little blonde gal in her video shows checking for that on the front mount distributor Ford she is working on. She doesn’t explain this, but in this case you would be checking the power delivery to the distributor. And you will not see a total on-off cycle of the power. You will only get a variation of voltage due to the resistor up on the dash as it is loaded and unloaded as the points open and close. Not a real accurate method due to variations in voltage during cranking are always present due to compression cycles of the engine. Sorry, for any confusion.

 

[old]

Clean new Points with paper business card or fine sandpaper ,they come with an oxidation protection coating ,need to be removed . Some aftermarket new points , lifter arm on them is not made correctly so ,make sure they are closing and open with test light.
note don’t use Emory cloth to clean point’s because it will leave an abrasive on contact. Only sand paper

Doesn't matter if you use sandpaper or emery cloth both leave things on the points. Use either then a business card

 

[rockin]

Thank you for all your in put i will start by giving the points a cleaning as they are new and go from there. As i mentions in earlier post i did have spark to everything before i changed points. One other thing was when i watch the vidio of the blond gall replacing the point, she was setting the point gap at .25 when they call for them to be set at .15 i thought tha to be exccessive, whats your input on that.

 

[old]

Thank you for all your in put i will start by giving the points a cleaning as they are new and go from there. As i mentions in earlier post i did have spark to everything before i changed points. One other thing was when i watch the vidio of the blond gall replacing the point, she was setting the point gap at .25 when they call for them to be set at .15 i thought tha to be exccessive, whats your input on that.

If you changed the condenser I'd put the old one back in since now days you have a 50/50 chance the new one if bad right out of the box

 

[wore out]

Thank you for all your in put i will start by giving the points a cleaning as they are new and go from there. As i mentions in earlier post i did have spark to everything before i changed points. One other thing was when i watch the vidio of the blond gall replacing the point, she was setting the point gap at .25 when they call for them to be set at .15 i thought tha to be exccessive, whats your input on that.

I am not necessarily opposed to watching a video of a "blonde gall" but that would be the last place I'd go for advice about my tractor!

Unless your 1948 8N has had the engine (or a bunch of parts) changed it has a "front-mount" distributor and the breaker point gap for those is 0.015".

Later 8N's had a "side-mount" more conventional distributor and the point gap is 0.025" due to changes in breaker cam profile and/or point pivot geometry.

To get the correct dwell angle for the best coil saturation/"hottest" spark the points need to be set correctly corresponding to the distributor you have/are working with.

 

[Tim PloughNman Daley]

Hi everyone it's been a long while since i have been on here, anyway looking for snome insite on my 48 8n tractor, so It has been sitting for about 3 years, most of the ti me in my shop, decided that should fire the old girl up and use it, well went to fire it up and of coure no spark, did some testing ant there was power to the coil but when i put a test light on the coil and turned it over the test light should have blinked as the points opened and closed, so figured it was something inthe distributor that was the problem so pulled the distributor check and reset point , tested the coil and condensor and coil ,it all test fine, put it back together, still , no spark, put a spark plug tester on and no spark there, by chance when i hit the starter i must have wiggled the connection to it ,because when i hit it again there was spark at the plugs, so i changed the starter button with another one i had , that i new worked, since ihad the hood off i figurei might as well put new points and condensor in as i had the hood of. So i replaced them went to start the tractor and no spark again, took it apart again and relized that i hadnt tighted the condensor completely, put it back together still no spark, is it possible that i shorted something out with the condensor being loose.

6V or12V? Yeah you mucked up something in the wiring. Did you first TEST the battery? Usual 1st failure is a weak or dead battery if not on a float charger when idle. Next is the front mount distributor - misunderstood by many and if not tuned up, tested and mounted right will fail. Do you know how to test the coil circuit? Do you have the OEM Ballast Resistor in the coil circuit? Do you have the 3-Wire GEN and the Voltage Regulator in the system if 6V? Points set at .015"; plugs gapped at .025"; FIRING ORDER -1, 2, 4, 3 CCW? Why replace parts willy nilly with no proof old is defective? NOT a condenser problem. Secure everything in distributor, set points and timing correctly per manuals, go thru entire wiring system with VOM set to CONTINUITY and do not use an idiot test lamp. Can test coil static with VOM set to OHMS; 1.5 OHMS if 6V coil but likely not your problem. Mount the distributor off 180 deg and you bust the base and destroy it and I think this is what you did. Invest in the ESSENTIAL MANUALS and documents.

Tim Daley (MI)

 

[rockin]

So here i am again, got spark, it was the points that had to have bit of cleanup as they were new old points, old not because they were use but because in a box parts that i got when i inherited the tractor, the old guy bought in bulk, the packaging looks like they are from the 60s, just packages of gaskets, points, condensors , rotors and fuel bowls, probably did that because of where we live here in BC, everything has to de ordered in, the closes place a person can parts for them is 8 hr ferry trip and another 8 hr drive there are only 4 of those tractor here 3 8ns and 1 9n, I own 2 of them anyway now at least it wants to try and start , it will fire up pop pop away for about 4 seconds then die , get a backfire every once and awhile ,checked firing order and it is all good, so its has to be a timing issue or maybe the carb needs a cleaning as it has'nt been started probably for 3 years or more. Thanks for all the input guys I will keep chugging away at it sooner or later i will get her running smooth like she ran when i got her. Cheers

 

[old]

So here i am again, got spark, it was the points that had to have bit of cleanup as they were new old points, old not because they were use but because in a box parts that i got when i inherited the tractor, the old guy bought in bulk, the packaging looks like they are from the 60s, just packages of gaskets, points, condensors , rotors and fuel bowls, probably did that because of where we live here in BC, everything has to de ordered in, the closes place a person can parts for them is 8 hr ferry trip and another 8 hr drive there are only 4 of those tractor here 3 8ns and 1 9n, I own 2 of them anyway now at least it wants to try and start , it will fire up pop pop away for about 4 seconds then die , get a backfire every once and awhile ,checked firing order and it is all good, so its has to be a timing issue or maybe the carb needs a cleaning as it has'nt been started probably for 3 years or more. Thanks for all the input guys I will keep chugging away at it sooner or later i will get her running smooth like she ran when i got her. Cheers

Try hot wiring it so as to take the rest of the electrical system out of it. If it stays running hot wired you have either a bad ignition switch of resister or a wire. Don't run it for say more then 15 or so minutes or you risk over heating the coil