No Spark to plugs...please read and help

   / No Spark to plugs...please read and help #1  

nj82tj

Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2012
Messages
42
Location
Holland, NY
Tractor
2013 Kioti CK30
photo(20).JPGphoto(21).JPGphoto(22).JPGThank you in advance to anyone that reads this and replies...

The tractor: 1954 Ford NAA with 12v single wire alternator kit installed.

It ran when it was 6 volt, but I decided to change to a 12 volt system. It's ran 3 times since and runs great when it does. The problem is there is no spark going to the plugs now. It has a new 12volt battery(good charge), new 12 volt coil with internal resistor, new wiring kit(double and triple checked for correct connections) new ammeter, new dist. cap and wires, new rotor, new condenser, new points (properly gaped to .025), new plugs (also properly gaped). The ground is now negative on the tractor so the positive is going into the coil and neg going to the distributor. I can use any wire from the cap and plug it to the coil and get a very nice blue/white hot spark and I also get a strong spark at the points. Absolutely ZERO spark is going from the distributor to the plugs though. Any help is welcome as I'm pulling out my hair trying to figure it out. Thanks.

Nick

Also, I do have the wires in the correct order. 1-2-4-3 when looking at the cap from the right side of the tractor and 1 being in the "3 o'clock" position and the rotor spins with no play in the shaft.
 
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   / No Spark to plugs...please read and help #2  
Maybe bad cap, Check the cap to see if the center piece is there and maybe a ohm check from coil wire to a spark wire.
 
   / No Spark to plugs...please read and help
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Maybe bad cap, Check the cap to see if the center piece is there and maybe a ohm check from coil wire to a spark wire.

Thanks murphy1244, ohms checked good. I will try another cap but that will be the 3rd! Worth a shot though.
 
   / No Spark to plugs...please read and help #4  
Thank you in advance to anyone that reads this and replies...

The tractor: 1954 Ford NAA with 12v single wire alternator kit installed.

It ran when it was 6 volt, but I decided to change to a 12 volt system. It's ran 3 times since and runs great when it does. The problem is there is no spark going to the plugs now. It has a new 12volt battery(good charge), new 12 volt coil with internal resistor, new wiring kit(double and triple checked for correct connections) new ammeter, new dist. cap and wires, new rotor, new condenser, new points (properly gaped to .025), new plugs (also properly gaped). The ground is now negative on the tractor so the positive is going into the coil and neg going to the distributor. I can use any wire from the cap and plug it to the coil and get a very nice blue/white hot spark and I also get a strong spark at the points. Absolutely ZERO spark is going from the distributor to the plugs though. Any help is welcome as I'm pulling out my hair trying to figure it out. Thanks.

Nick

Also, I do have the wires in the correct order. 1-2-4-3 when looking at the cap from the right side of the tractor and 1 being in the "3 o'clock" position and the rotor spins with no play in the shaft.

If you have a "FAT BLUISH-WHITE SPARK" from the hih tension wire out of the top of the coil then your primary ignition circuit is correctly wired.
There is something wrong in the secondary or high tension circuit downstream of the coil high voltage lead. Make sure that you have the correct cap and rotor and that the conductor at the top of the rotor is touching the bottom of the "button " on the center of the distributor cap. Do you have copper conductors in your spark plug wires? That's a must. Don't use graphite plug wires on a tractor! Make sure the metal clips on the distributor end of the plug wires are installed correctly and are touching the metal part of the distributor cap receptacle.
 
   / No Spark to plugs...please read and help
  • Thread Starter
#5  
If you have a "FAT BLUISH-WHITE SPARK" from the hih tension wire out of the top of the coil then your primary ignition circuit is correctly wired.
There is something wrong in the secondary or high tension circuit downstream of the coil high voltage lead. Make sure that you have the correct cap and rotor and that the conductor at the top of the rotor is touching the bottom of the "button " on the center of the distributor cap. Do you have copper conductors in your spark plug wires? That's a must. Don't use graphite plug wires on a tractor! Make sure the metal clips on the distributor end of the plug wires are installed correctly and are touching the metal part of the distributor cap receptacle.

Thanks Jerry/MT. That is the sparking I'm getting. The wires are copper and the cap and rotor are correct. I matched them up again at the tractor store this morning. I'm still stumped and very frustrated with it. I did put some pic's on the original post though, everyone likes pics.
 
   / No Spark to plugs...please read and help #6  
Maybe your rotor button doesn't line up with the cap posts correctly at time of point opening. I have seen that happen before where the distributor was put back wrong, or the centrifugal advance was messed up and seized, or the rotor button was put on wrong because the piece that indexes it to the rotor is bad or wallowed.

I am not speaking in specific terms about the technicalities of your tractor...just general comments on reasons I have seen a strong spark at the coil wire, but not to the plugs.
Usually, if I change a cap, I keep the old one in case I have to cut a section out to see exactly how the rotor button is aligning with the cap posts.
 
   / No Spark to plugs...please read and help
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Thanks EE_Bota, I did not think to cut my old cap to be able to actually see alignment. I will be doing that!
 
   / No Spark to plugs...please read and help #8  
Have you checked for contact of the rotor with the button for the center wire in cap per my original post?

I can't swear to this but doesn't the NAA distributor require some kind of clip to hold the rotor in place?
 
   / No Spark to plugs...please read and help
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Yes. The tab on the rotor does show marks from circular contact with the top of the cap (interior) at the coil wire. Also, yes, there is a small "horse shoe" like clamp that attaches on top of the dust cover that helps secure the rotor.
 
   / No Spark to plugs...please read and help #10  
I have seen a bad rotor, that leaked spark to the distributor shaft, there for grounding out the spark. Is the coil to powerfull for the old style distributor system? Is there a resistor, in line on the run circuit, from ingition switch? In the crank position, there should be full voltage to coil, bypassing resistor.
 
 
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