dyoungen

Member
I have a 1954 NAA Ford Tractor and am having trouble getting her started. I seem to be having the loss of spark. I have a new coil, points, condenser, rotor and cap. I pulled the cap off this morning after checking the plugs and finding no spark at the plugs. The points open and close like they're supposed to and the right gap. I had the plugs out and the cap off and when I turned the key like to start her, the points sparked nice and blue. Somewhere between the points and plugs I seem to be losing the spark. Any idea what I"m missing?
 
if you ar elooking at closed points and turn the ignition on and you see a spark. you have a bad connection!
 
soundGuy - I think he's saying that he spun the engine with the starter with the dizzy cap and rotor off and he saw spark at the points.

dyoungen - Unhook the large wire from the center of the distributor cap but leave the other end connected to the coil, leave the free end of the wire near a good ground with the boot slid up so the copper connector is exposed, and try spinning the engine with the starter again. You should see a good blue/white spark that should jump at leas a 1/4" gap.
 
Is he?

the keys on my prior model fords just turn on power to the coil... the safety interlocked button on the trans is what spins the starter.

I don't want to guess about what he said.. so I'm taking him verbatum, unless he wants to offer up more info...
 
When he said "turned the key like to start her" I took that to mean that he spun the starter, but you're right, if it has the original wiring the starter switch would have needed to have been pushed as well.
 
You did put the rotor in didn't you and the clip on the distributor shaft?? Seen many a person lay the rotor to the side and wonder why no spark to the plugs. Next just because it is new does not mean the rotor and cap are good. Any more I do my best not to replace much due to the fact most is bad from the get go. If you still have the old cap and rotor try them and see if you have spark then
 
I guess I should have described things better. The tractor was converted to 12 volt system before I bought it 2 or 3 years ago. It ran great till a couple months ago when I couldn't get it started. I've replaced the dizzy cap, rotor, points and condensor. I've pulled the plugs and sometimes get blue spark that goes to no spark at the plugs that are grounded to the engine block. while I'm turning the engine over with the plugs out. I replaced the starter because it was beyond working right, worn out and turning slow. I pulled everything off the dizzy, cap, dust cover,rotor, clip and turned the key so the engine turned over. The points sparked blue so I"m thinking something is breaking down between the points and the plugs. Any idea where to start looking?
 
If the points are sparking good every time they break apart as the distributor shaft turns, then the next place to look is the coil. As I said before, unhook the large wire from the center of the distributor cap but leave the other end connected to the coil, leave the free end of the wire near a good ground with the boot slid up so the copper connector is exposed, and try spinning the engine with the starter again. You should see a good blue/white spark that should jump at least a 1/4" gap from the end of that wire to ground every time you see the spark at the points. If you're not getting good spark at the high tension wire from the coil then either the coil is bad or the high tension wire is bad.
 
1, your posts tells me you have a key to start system. I do not reccomend those. the machine can start in gear and hurt/kill you or somebody else.

hotwire the coil and then recheck spark.
 
Doesn't the fact that the points are sparking mean that the hot side of the coil is getting juice? All the points do is complete the circuit to ground.
 
Just to make sure I hoked up the coil right I have the "+" plus terminal going to the Dizzy and the - negative terminal going the other way. I haven't followed the negative terminal wire so I"m not sure where it goes. If I"m right or wrong let me know one way or the other. THANKS!!!
 
You said that it was converted to 12 volts. Is it set up as a negative ground system now? The original 6 volt system was positive ground, but most folks switch them to negative ground when they convert them to 12 volts. If it is negative ground, then the (-) terminal of the coil should go to the points. The (+) side of the coil should go to the key switch.
 
in good habbit, match your round coil to the battery polarity. thus if positive ground, thent he + on the coil to the points.

( PPP ) - Positve, Plus, Points

if it is neg grnd.. then the - to the points.

in practice. it WILL work both ways.
 
Ok, it was converted to 12 volt negative ground. Everything I read shows I"m setup like it should be. Plus on the coil going to the dist and the negative going to the key switch. I've checked and the coil shows good. I ordered a distributor cap as of right now that looks like it's causing the problem. I tried the old rotor and the new rotor nothing changes from one to the other. I'll find out Monday afternoon. Looks like I'm good to the dist but not going to the plugs.
 
actually.. you either did not read what I posted... or did not understand it.. at all... in either case.

if you are negative ground. - on coil to dizzy.

though it will run either way.
 
I'm sorry I didn't post a reply to your answer about how to hook up the coil. I changed the hook up of the coil and there wasn't any change. I had the + plus hooked up to the dist to begin with and hooked up the negative like you said to the dist like you said to do. Both ways got me no spark or at the best a very weak spark with a charged battery. Sorry if you took offense, I wasn't trying to offend you.
 
I checked the coil by putting a plug in a plug wire and the other end of the plug wire in the coil. I had continual sparking, ie the points opening, as long as I was holding the key in the start position. I think I"ll replace the condenser at the same time since it doesn't cost that much.
 
(quoted from post at 23:58:15 11/11/13) I checked the coil by putting a plug in a plug wire and the other end of the plug wire in the coil. I had continual sparking, ie the points opening, as long as I was holding the key in the start position. I think I"ll replace the condenser at the same time since it doesn't cost that much.
If you have spark from the coil wire, leave the condenser alone for now.
Changing it is just another chance to introduce new problems.
Do you have spark on any plug wire? Check them all.
Do you have the correct wire core plug wires or auto style carbon wires?
Make sure the spring clip and rotor are on correctly and the
rotor doesn't hit the distributor cap as it turns.
 
The tractor was converted to 12 volt negative ground before I bought it so I"m keeping it that way. It ran fine for a couple years after I bought it so I"m not changing anything like the ground system. I ordered a tuneup set from the Ford dealer today so we'll see what happens there. I went to the parts store to get the dist cap but when I took it out of the box I could see that wasn't going to work. It was small enough to almost fit inside the original cap. Not going to even try that one.
 
Ok, I got the tune up kit from the Ford dealer, changed everything except the points and I have spark at the plugs and everywhere else. I got zapped really good when I held the plug and wire against the block to check for spark. She started and after setting the carb to 1 turn out for the small side screw and 1 1/2 turns out for the big screw in the front I got her to idle. Idled for 10 plus minuets and tried to run it up but it choked and would die. I adjusted the small screw and it didn't make any differance. I turned it in till it bottomed out without any differance. I could adjust the big screw to get the idle up or down but she still chokes down when I give it the gas. Any ideas?
 

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