1952 Ferguson TO30 just quit


Hi Y'all,
I was just doing some light scrape blade work with my 1952 Ferguson TO30, 12v, negative ground, with electronic ignition and it just quit, not sputtered at all like a fuel issue would normally do so I suspected an electrical issue. No spark to the plugs. As it was getting dark, I left it on the the woods path I was working on, looked kinda lonely walking away from the ole boy, but it was nice hearing the quail calling. Too late in the day to do any real troubleshooting , plus I did not have any tools but tomorrow I am going to make sure I have power to the coil, and then check resistance across coil. I have the NAPA 14-SB with the internal resistor and it is about 8 years old. If the coil and voltage checks out any ideas as to what might cause sudden stop. Are coils a high failure item?
Have had a lot of help from this board in the past, hope you can give me some insight now. Thanks, Rick
 
Did you happen to leave the key on? Could be you ignition module overheated failed. Or your module may have crapped out. I had a Pertronix for 5 years and the module just up and failed. Bought a new module and that lasted about three months. Finally went back to points. I've car electronic ignitions go for twenty years with no failures. Gave up on Pertronix.
 
My opinion being that there is absolutely nothing better than Petronix.
Especially if you carry a second one in the tool box with all the tools needed to replace it in the field.
Ignition Points however, when they fail, usually can be cleaned up enough to run with a cheap points file.
No fun in that one.
 
A voltmeter reading at the input side of the coil will verify if you have power to it. A voltmeter reading at the opposite side should vary when the engine is being turned over as the points or electronic ignition makes and breaks connection. Quick way to diagnose if you have a broken wire, bad switch, or a bad electronic ignition unit.
 
A few years ago I was mowing with my TO-30
and it started to cut out then return to running
then a few min later it shut off and would not start
long story short it ended up to be the Ign Switch
the old one must have been worn inside.
Replaced it ran fine.
 
This may sound too simple but check your distributor to coil wire. Ive had problems with one that would work its way out and then of course no spark.

Tom
 
Thanks Guys,
Here we are so far, Took the voltmeter and some tools out this morning. I have 12 volts to the + side of the coil with the switch on , which also means I have 12 volts to the module. I disconnected the leads to the coil and check the resistance across the terminals, 3.5 ohms, which is about what I was looking for . Moved on to the distributor and looked under the cap and the button where the rotor contacts the distributor cap is burned off and charred in the area. I suspect this is my issue. I have one ordered and should have it tomorrow PM. Hopefully this will take care of the problem. I don't know what could have caused it. Will keep y'all posted.
Thanks for the information , it was really helpful. I had gotten into the habit years ago , at the end of the day when I was using the tractor that I would cut the fuel off and let the tractor run out of gas in the bowl, turn the key off and disconnect the ground to the battery. This has helped a lot not having ethanol sitting around in carb and now with EI I don't have to worry about leaving the key on. Thanks, Rick
 
Changed out distributor cap and rotor for good measure, still no spark. Talked with the Pertronix folks and will have new EI in about 3 days. Nice people . Mine was a gift so no warranty for it, it was a gift over Christmas. Keep you posted, Rick
 
You didn't buy the second one? Not gonna say Toldja'so, not yet.

I believe the points have been in the wife's Fergy for about 80 hours of run time so far. Yeah, I put an hour meter on her machine.
Along with a volt meter, amp gauge, fuel gauge, water temp gauge and the official idiot light. Oh yeah, the oil pressure gauge also.
 
My dad has EI in his to30, his cap done somthing similar to yours and I replaced it. I was going to replace my points with electronic ignition as well, However my points have been great, almost 5 years old to date.. I think Ill just stick with them for now. I cant see spending well over 100$ on EI and take a chance at burning up caps. Keep us up to date please. Thanks for this post .. you may have saved me some money.. 😉
 
Rick, like Bruce in OR, I'm not an E.I. guy, but, are you using resistance plug wires? I've read where the E.I. requires them. If not, then that may be why you're burning up the rotor contact.
 
I can give parts , and people , a second chance. My primary reason for putting EI on it was the slight wobble in the the distributor shaft. I thought that a magnet would not be
affected by the slop in the shaft as much as points were. I enjoy tinkering so I don't mind making mistakes with it. I kept all of the points setup so I can change back anytime, but I
wanted to give it a try. It does seem to start a lot faster with EI. If it fails in a short time I will go back to points and get a bushing for the distributor. Heck, if you don't
try, how ya going to know. Don't regret giving it a whirl.
 
Jim, you are going to have to enlighten me. I did not change out the plug wires when I change to EI. All, I know is that they are not solid copper core. What should I be looking for.
I can ohm them out. Thanks Jim, Rick
 
I guess that's as good a reason to go to E.I. as any. You say you enjoy tinkering, so do most of us. Without actually pricing them out, I would think new distributor bushings would be a lot cheaper than an E.I. conversion.
As for your plug wires, as long as they aren't solid copper I would think you are good to go.
 
Just to close out this thread for now . I received my second Pertronix EI module and rotary magnet today. After installation, she fired right up and ran great . I was concerned that the input voltage to the coil was too high from the single wire alternator but after checking it at the coil it, was 14.25 volts.
Still trying to see what would have caused the module to fry along with the top of the distributor cap because I really like EI. Voltage to the coil is less than the max of 16 volts that Pertonix recommends and the resistance across the coil terminals are within range of 3.0 to 4.5 ohms, mine is 3.5 ohms. If this one cooks I think I will go back to points, but it is noticeable that it starts better with EI. Thanks for the input, Best to all, Rick
 

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