I had an initial posting about my project in August and appreciated the feedback. I'm still having problems with my tractor. Again I am working on a Case 770 that had its points and condenser changed to an electrical ignition unit. I'm still unable to get a spark in the sparkplugs. If I connect a sparkplug directly to a sparkplug wire coming out of the coil I get a good blue spark on the sparkplug. If I reattach the sparkplug to a wire coming out of the distributor cap I don't get a spark. It seems to me that I can get a good current into the distributor cap but I can't get it to flow through it. I've replaced the distributor cap and rotor with the stock parts for a Case 770. I also have twisted the entire distributor while turning the engine over to compensate for the posibility of the timing being off but still can't get a spark in the sparkplugs. I've tried multiple coils and have tried running a wire directly from the battery to the + on the coil bypassing the switch in case there was a short. About the only thing I can think of that I haven't tried is replacing the electronic ignition assembly. I would think if the electronic ignition assembly was bad I wouldn't even get a spark when hooking a sparkplug directly to the coil so I've been reluctant to replace it. Can anyone help me understand what might be wrong?
- Thread starter Andy10
- Start date
Janicholson
Well-known Member
When the ignition module triggers the coil to spark, the rotor must be lined up exactly with the plug terminal for that cylinder. Mark the locations of the plug wire towers on the body of the distributor with white masking tape so it can be seen with the cap off. With it in neutral, cap removed, coil wire held with a wooden cloths pin such that it will spark to the edge of the distributor, and with a good sight line to the rotor, crank the engine. Watch where the rotor is pointing as the spark snaps. I bet the rotor is incorrectly indexed on the shaft, wrong rotor, or similar issue. If the electronics are located incorrectly in the distributor housing (old breaker plate) the same result happens, the rotor is not pointing to a terminal when it fires. Let us know what you find. Jim
can not speak with authority for a Case, but some of those EI units are somewhat "universal", meaning that they can mount to different mounting holes in a breaker plate & thereby one unit fits more than one application. So if you mount it wrong, then you get a result such as you have. Pertronix addresses this in their instructions. Might not be your problem, but a place to look.
I bet the guys are right, something is causing the electronic ignition to fire while the rotor is between coil towers.
Could be the module is nounted in the wrong spot on the breaker plate, or more likely if the EI kit has a magnet wheel that presses over the distributor shaft and point cam, it may be incorrectly installed or the wrong one.
Could be the module is nounted in the wrong spot on the breaker plate, or more likely if the EI kit has a magnet wheel that presses over the distributor shaft and point cam, it may be incorrectly installed or the wrong one.
Brian Jasper co. Ia
Well-known Member
I had this exact same problem putting a Pertronix on a side mount dist on an 8N Ford. There were 2 sets of mounting holes for the module. The first set of holes I used caused the module to trigger when the rotor was between posts on the cap. Switched to the other set of holes and all is well.
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I held the cable coming from the coil to the edge of the distributor to give me an idea where the timing hits. When I did this I noticed that even though I was able to get a spark it was very weak. I found a website that told how to test the electronic ignition device and confirmed it was bad. When reading the things that can make the device go bad I"m suspecting I"ve got too much charge coming out of the alternator because I recall times in the past when the tractor ran better with the lights on than when they were off. It didn"t make sense to me at the time but I suspect the lights drew enough electricity out that it made the ignition module function properly.
All that said the next question I have is how do I control the amount of electricity coming out of the alternator and into the coil/electronic ignition?
All that said the next question I have is how do I control the amount of electricity coming out of the alternator and into the coil/electronic ignition?
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