farmall h no fire past points

Next thing to do is to try and clean the contact points using a point file, but replace if they are badly burned or pitted or heavy carbon coated, check the gap, and then see if the coil is firing high voltage. To do that remove the coil wire from the distributor leaving coil end intact and place that bare end to within 1/8 inch from the head or block. Then with the ignition on and voltage to the coil each time the points are closed but then open (manually or by cranking engine over) a spark should jump that coil wire end to frame. If the coil wire fires but not the plugs, I suspect a cap or rotor or plug or plug wire problem, but you gotta at least get the coil to fire before the cap n rotor n wires etc can do their job.

Burned or gray oxide coated or carboned up or mis gapped points are the elading cause of non firing. To see if a shorted condensor may be the problem REMOVE IT (at least its wire to the points) and see if she fires then??? If so it may be bad/shorted.

John T Nordhoff in Indiana, retired electrical engineer

If you have good hot fire at the points and nothing at the plugs, the problem lies on the secondary side of the ignition system.

Coil, coil wire, rotor or cap, plugs and wires.

Sometimes if the battery is low, it can only provide enough juice for the starter and just barely enough for the primary side.

Make sure she spins as it should and has a good blue spark like Cowman says.

Allan