Farmall 400 no spark.

Finally spending some quality time with my 400.
Last time I used it. It was not running very well.
Charging system was not working and was spitting and sputtering with a fuel problem.

Now I got her in the shop. Took the tank off, carb off,
Cleaned out the tank, put on new fuel strainer, rebuilt carb, changed oil and filter, replaced coolant.
Put in a new set of plugs.
Figured it was a good time for a test drive.
Turns over fine. wont start.
No spark!!!
Swap out the coil with known worker. No spark.
New rotor and cap. No spark.
New condencer. No spark.
Dont have a spare set of points. So clean them up and check gap. No spark.
New plug wire. No spark.
New wire from dist to coil, checked wire from coil to switch. No spark.

Grrrrrrr, ok whats left? I really hate elctrical problems.

Any way I got ------ and yanked all the wiring out. Tomorow I will install a 12 volt neg ground, W/ delco alt. Was going to do that any way. Just dont have faith thats going to solve the no spark issue. Hope it does.

Not the 1st time this has happended with this 400. 4 years ago it just died with no spark. I swapped every thing out and still no spark. Went out the next day to drag it home and she started fine. Hmmmmm
Any ideas?

Pull the coil to destributor "Small" wire off of the terminal on the destributor. Pull the coil wire (high voltage) out of the center of the dist. cap, and place it so it is 1/4 " from the cylinder block. (put it in neutral) Turn on the ignition, and ground the wire you took off of the distributor terminal. Pull it off of ground and watch for spark. this replaces the points with momentary contact to ground. If it does not spark (both places) the coil is either not getting voltage, or it is bad!! If it works, the distributor is not operating correctly. Put an ohm meter on the terminal (withno wire on it) and to ground. With the points nopen, there should be infinate resistance. With the points closed, there should be no resistance. Good luck, JimN

Thanks. I will try that as soon as I get the new Alt and wiring done.
Tried testing the coil with my multi meter. just found that I need to buy a better meter. Mine only registers in Meg Ohms and K ohms. Suppose to be 3 ohms between the Plus and Neg contacts.
My needle just deflects past the 0 on the scale. :-(

Use your volt meter or test test lite to check for voltage to your coil with points open. You should have voltage on both small terminals on the coil. If there's no voltage check your ignition switch terminal that feeds voltage to your coil. Could be the switch or the wire that feeds voltage to the ignition switch. Run a separate wire from the battery to your coil and see if will start. Your starter solenoid if you have one probably feeds voltage to your ignition switch. Most cars and trucks use this too.

Since you're getting battery voltage for cranking
your ignition switch or the wire from the switch to your coil may be the culprit. Hal
PS: Rub those new points with some 400 wet or dry.

Sounds like bad connection or bad wire somewhere. Follow it from the switch to the points and you'll find where it's either grounded or open. Double check that the points have good contact.

I went to electronic ignition a couple of years ago. No more points/condensor to maintain.

Your meter needs to be zeroed. Touch both leads together on Kohms position. Then set the zero. JimN

I had similar senereo with my 400, I had 4 brand new dead champion sparkplugs. i will never deal with champions again.

I can see where that would cause some angst. Some times its a good thing I keep the big hammers in the other barn