Oliver 88 row-crop ignition issues

[OliverDeere]

My Oliver 88’s distributor doesn’t get spark and the coil is working. My guess is the ignition wiring. Would this be the issue and how do I fix it? See picture attached. Thanks!

 

[rrlund]

Could be, but my 66 did that recently and it was a bad connection where the wire from the switch hooks to the amp gauge. I loosened the nut on the gauge, wiggled the wire, tightened it back up and had power to the coil.

 

[Jim.ME]

Welcome to the forums.

More detailed info will help.

What does your coil is working mean? How did you determine if is working?

Your are going to need to do some checking, do you have a voltmeter? And are you familiar with its use?

 

[OliverDeere]

I used a multimeter to test the coil (ohm mode). I don’t have a service manual laying around so I don’t know the exact range of ohms that it is supposed to be at.

 

[Jim.ME]

Have you checked for voltage at the coil (terminal with the wire from the ignition switch) with the key on?

 

[OliverDeere]

yes. 0v is what I got. So it has to be either some corroded connections or faulty wiring.

 

[OliverDeere]

I will have to take off the common and ignition wire and clean them up. The rest of the wires don’t really matter as all of the lights have been removed.

 

[Jim.ME]

yes. 0v is what I got. So it has to be either some corroded connections or faulty wiring.

Ok with this information; try a jumper wire from the non-ground (you have not said if this is positive or negative ground) battery terminal to the ignition side terminal on the coil and see if it starts, or you at least get spark.

Your coil may have checked out ok by ohms, but without power it cannot work.

 

[Jim.ME]

Do you have full voltage supplying the switch? If you try the jumper wire before doing the other things it will confirm the problem is likely between the switch and coil.

 

[OliverDeere]

That is exactly what I plan to do. It is negative ground with a 12v conversion. Used a freshly charged battery when testing.

 

[Jim.ME]

That is exactly what I plan to do. It is negative ground with a 12v conversion. Used a freshly charged battery when testing.

Alternator or generator conversion?

This is all info that helps people give helpful suggestions as we can't see your tractor and there are many variations and "farmer" fixes out there.

 

[old]

yes. 0v is what I got. So it has to be either some corroded connections or faulty wiring.

Zero volts say to me the points are closed and grounding things out and is working as they should be. If you try to open the points you should get a small spark and if not careful doing so you may get shocked

 

[OliverDeere]

there is no spark even after cleaning the points up.

 

[OliverDeere]

the tractor was parked in a shed that got blown away by a tornado. It ran about 8 years ago when it was moved to a different spot. I hope that helps a little.

 

[Jim.ME]

That is exactly what I plan to do. It is negative ground with a 12v conversion. Used a freshly charged battery when testing.

Tell us if you see a small spark when you touch the jumper wire to the coil terminal. You can unhook the wire to the distributor from the coil while diagnosing if the coil is getting power, if you do that it eliminates closed points for the initial check.

 

[old]

there is no spark even after cleaning the points up.

If the points are op[en you should read battery voltage on the ignition side of the coil and zero or close to that if the points are closed.

 

[OliverDeere]

Ok. Thanks for all the help! I will clean things up and test them now that I know what is going on. How do I test the common wire that feeds into the switch? That one is in worse shape than the other wires.

 

[Jim.ME]

Ok. Thanks for all the help! I will clean things up and test them now that I know what is going on. How do I test the common wire that feeds into the switch? That one is in worse shape than the other wires.

Use your test light or voltmeter to see that there is power at the battery terminal of the ignition switch. If there is not, I expect that wire comes from the starter solenoid battery terminal. I don't have a wiring diagram so can't see for certain that is the source, but it is the common source.

From the looks of your switch picture, you certainly have potential for corrosion and high resistance connection issues, to the point of the wires not conduction power enough to operate the system.

 

[OliverDeere]

Would cleaning the wires with emery cloth or something similar help remove the corrosion? I understand the corrosion may be not just on the outside of the wire.

 

[Jim.ME]

Would cleaning the wires with emery cloth or something similar help remove the corrosion? I understand the corrosion may be not just on the outside of the wire.

Yes it will