My 1948 TE20 Quit

I fired up the TE20 to go work a food plot yesterday and as I was hooking up the harrows it died, no spit or sputter just like someone turned the key off. I have power on the hot side of the coil and yesterday had power on the negative side but today none. Will a coil just die? The last coil it ate would slowly die out when it got warm.

Been converted to 12V

Where do I start?

Thanks

Ryan

The first thing I would try would be to replace the condenser , that said even new ones out of the box can be defective so try to get one from a reputable shop .
Low tension wires to the distributor next .

What do you mean by low tension wires? The one from the negative side of the coil to the dist? Because I did replace that.

you say that it was like the key was turned off.... perhaps there is fault with ignition switch

You say you have power to the ignition side of the coil.

Now move your test lead to the distributor side of the coil, spin the starter through. You should see the voltage go high when the points open, go to zero when closed.

If voltage is present all the time, the points are not making contact, there is a bad connection between the points and the coil, or the distributor housing has lost ground.

If the voltage stays at zero, the points are out of adjustment and staying closed, the condenser is shorted internally, or the wire from the coil is shorted to ground. If everything checks good, disconnect the distributor wire from the coil, check for power at the coil terminal. If no power, the coil is bad, open internally.

Be careful not to leave the ignition on very long not running. If the points are closed, the coil will overheat. While you are checking things out, be sure you have the right coil or coil and resistor combination. If it still has the 6v coil, it will need a 1.5 ohm resistor ahead of the coil. If you don't know what coil it has, check the resistance across the coil terminals. A 6v coil will have about 1.5 ohms resistance. A 12v coil will have 3 ohms. Your goal is to have about 3 ohms, either across the coil, or across the coil/resistor combined.

Once you establish spark from the coil, check for spark at each plug.

Once that is established, check for fuel in the carb. There is a drain plug in the bottom of the carb, with the fuel valve open, remove the plug and catch the fuel in a clean glass. You should get a full stream of gas, slowing to a trickle as the bowl empties. It should continue to trickle, not slow to a drip or stop. Look at what was caught. If there is water, or excess trash, rust, that will also be in the carb and tank. Doesn't take much to foul the carb, but it is simple and easy to clean. Be sure the sediment bowl screen is there and clean. If heavily rusted the tank may need to be dumped and rinsed out.

Does the coil have internal resister? If not it's burning(killing) your points.Change
coil or put a inline resister.Something to check.

Darn, just went back out to check and I left the key on. Battery is dead now. I bet I was turning it over yesterday when I had power on the distributor side of the coil. I did not have spark at the plugs when I tried yesterday by taking one out and grounding it.

like charlers said get a new condenser. better yet buy two they are cheap.

That's the one , make sure the contact is not shorted to the body of the distributor .
New condensers are unreliable as well , as Steve said buy two , I woud go further and get two or three from different suppliers . Both my tractors have suffered from new condensers breaking down , warm weather after a cold Winter seems to cause it more than anything else . I now collect old ones whenever I can , a forty year old one salvaged from a wreck is usually much better quality than a new one .
They really don't make things like they used to

New condenser didn't do it.

I don't have spark at the plugs but when I turn it over the points don't really open and just kind of sit there are spark intermittently. I can actually open the points by moving the rotor side to side by hand.

Sounds like the distributor bearings have collapsed .