TO35 weak intermittent spark

John_Mason · Mar 24, 2016

Was running good, suddenly started running bad, Then not at all. Weak spark, intermittent spark.

Jerry/MT · Mar 24, 2016

Check the radial run out on the distributor shaft bushing. Should be 0.002" or less. Bad Condenser? Dirty points?

maxwell99 · Mar 25, 2016

I had to replace the coil on my TO35
Broken wire inside coil, hard to trace problem, as motor would start, but as soon as motor got warm, coil attached to block, broken wire inside coil would separate stopping motor,

Was a pain to find the cause of the problem.

John_Mason · Mar 25, 2016

Thanks,
The coil is not that old, new when I converted to 12V 6 or 7 years ago. I took it to an "old tractor" mechanic and it was running better than ever. Suddenly 2 months later its down again. The one thing he did was ADD a ceramic condenser in front of the coil.

wellmax99 · Mar 25, 2016

at this point, do not rule it out, everything is suspect!!!!!!!!!!!.
no spark, so something has gone dead on you,

why that ceramic condenser, would that not cut down on the output of the coil.
take that out of the circuit and see it you have spark.

should have large strong blueish spark from plug wire to plug, if you have a weak spark you are going to have weak performance.

may have to replace all things in the electrical system, until you find the problem
condenser can be bad, just as with coil hard to test.
so replace,
at least you know you have new parts.
are the wires good,
need copper core wires, not that cheap car wires with radio suppressor material inside
these old tractors need the best of everything to run right.

buy parts at napa or good quality not TSC low quality,

Steve@Advance · Mar 25, 2016

Need to know what coil it has now.

If the new coil is a 6 volt, the resistor needs to be there. If it has a 12 volt coil, chances are the resistor is not needed.

If you have an ohm meter, disconnect the distributor lead wire and the ignition wire. Check across the + and - terminals. For a 12 volt system, you want to see around 3 ohms resistance. If the reading is low, try including the resistor in series with the ohm meter leads. If that gets the reading up to 3 ohms, the resistor needs to be there.

Would you consider an electronic conversion kit? They solve a lot of problems, especially if the distributor shaft bushing is worn. The quality of todays points and condensers has been known to be less than acceptable.

TO35 weak intermittent spark

John_Mason

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Jerry/MT

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maxwell99

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John_Mason

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wellmax99

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Steve@Advance

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