2n coil ck.

can I ck. the coil and condenser on my front mounted distributor on my 2n? If so, how? Smokey

What kind of problem are you having? No spark? Intermittent spark? Poor performance?

If the distributor is still on the engine, and there is no spark, you can test the continuity of the points and the primary winding of the coil with an ohm meter. Disconnect the wire from the ignition switch. Connect an ohm meter to the terminal on the distributor where the ignition wire was connected, the other lead to a bare metal ground. Turn the engine through and watch the ohm meter.

If the meter shows no reading, open circuit, then there is a problem with the points not connecting, or the primary winding of the coil is open, or there is a connection problem between the power terminal and the coil, or between the coil and the points.

If the meter reads 1 1/2 to 3 ohms resistance, no change when turning the engine through, the points are closed, or there is a short to ground between the coil and the points.

But if the ohm meter fluctuates between open circuit (points open) and 1 1/2 to 3 ohms (points closed), the circuitry in the coil/distributor is sufficient to make the coil fire.

Reconnect the ignition wire. Be sure there is voltage to the terminal with the ignition on. Check the voltage with the points closed. This puts the circuit under load. If it's still a 6 volt system, there should be close to battery voltage to the terminal. If it's been converted to 12 volts, and a resistor installed, should be around 6 volts.

If all this checks out, and there is still no spark, that narrows it down to the coil, the rotor or the cap. At this point, you'll need to remove the distributor assembly and do more diagnosis. Removing and installing the distributor is easy, and it will only go back on one way. It's the only way to be able to see what you are doing, to get everything set and routed correctly.

A bad condenser won't completely stop a coil from firing, unless it's shorted to ground. The ohm test above will reveal that. A bad condenser will cause poor running, or points arcing and burning. Best to just try another known good one.

Thank you Steve,
The radiator is removed, it's 12 volt. Replaced points & cond. set at .015, open 1/4" past bolt hole that mounts the distributor to motor. On one of the times I removed the dist. I found condenser wire not all the way on stud and grounding out. I thought sure I found the problem, no, that it did not. Rechecked timing all seems good. The tractor ran good before I did a major top end on it. It only had blow by.

I am going to try your method, could the shorting of the condenser burn out the coul and condenser?

Thanks Steve, SmokeyIt's ez to remove if you have other ways to check too.