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No spark to the distributor

C

chasbar431

New User
My 1952 Ford 8N, 6 volt with positive ground, side mounted distributor will not pass fire through the new 6 volt coil I just put on. I can get power to the negative side of the coil, but when I check the positive side (to the distributor) I do not get a light on my tester. Any suggestions as to what might be the problem? Any help would be appreciated.
 
If theres no voltage on the coils low output (to distributor) terminal: 1) Points closed or shorted or a wire to them or inside dist is shorted,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,2) Condensor or its wire is shorted,,,,,,,,,,,,,,3) Coils LV Primary is bad/open.

NOTE points are usually closed, so normally there should be no voltage on coils LV output to dist terminal

Unhook the wire to dist and see if theres pass thru voltage on it then with IGN on and voltage on the other high input terminal??????????????? If so but NOT if wire to dist is re attached, again points closed or shorted or condenser or wires are shorted.

Put an ohm meter on coils LV primary + and - terminals, it should read 1 to 3 ohms. If open circuit coil is bad.

Put a test lamp on coils low output to dist terminal and crank engine over. It should flash ON (when points open) but OFF (when points closed)


See my Ignition Troubleshooting Procedure

John T
John Ts Ignition Troubleshooting
 
John T has the info. Another check is to use a plastic knife or piece of butter tub plastic to hold the points open. Then check that same place with a light.
if light is lit the points are working. if not, the wire going to the points is shorted to ground or the coil is open internally. Jim
 
I posted one like that a couple days ago in the ford forum and what I found and how I fixed it. I listed all the checks I did and how and what I found.
I used a simple hot wire and touched the wire to the ignition side of the coil and found I had a spark. I then turned the engine over so the points where open and found I still had a spark. I then unhooked the copper strip from the points and tried the spark trick again and found I had spark. I then pulled the wire off the insulator going threw the distributor and hook the hot wire right to it and got spark so I then knew the insulator in the side of the distributor was bad so I removed it and ran the wire right to the points and tried to start the tractor and it fired up faster then I could get my hand off the starter button
 
Thank each of you for your input. I replaced the points just a few days ago and also the condenser, plug wires, and plugs plus the coil. I also cleaned the points surfaces with a thin piece of cardboard to remove the coating. I set the points to .025". Now that brings me to this question, which is correct, my Ford 8N operator's manual shows .015" in the specs on page 10. However on page 92 under installing and adjusting ignition points it says to set to .024" to .026". So what is correct? Previously I was using .015" but I noticed the points got pitted pretty fast. I have also read conflicting settings from some of the forum members. Any suggestions as to which is correct?
 
It's COMMON for the pass-through primary terminal stud insulation or the copper strip to the points to fail, bend, break, or otherwise muck up causing a short there.
 
Front mount distributor with the square coil on top is 0.015 and the later model 8N with side mount distributor is 0.025 the same as the spark plugs. If you set the side mount distributor at the front mount setting yep points will not last as long and also cause other problem due to the timing be off a bit
 
Update on my problem. Thanks to all of you who offered your suggestions I was able to trace the problem to the pass thru on the side of the distributor. Once I fixed that I could get fire to the plugs and was able to start the engine. So, once again my thanks to one and all.
 
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