I killed my Ford 8N ... now it won't start

[GPintheMitten]

When I had a 6 volt Ford 2N, I took the coil in to the New Holland dealer and they tested it. Sometimes it tested good and other times not. If I was 150 miles from town, I would take several parts in for them to test. And I would buy spares to have at home. I think you may have fried the coil with a 12 volt reverse polarity jump attempt. A new coil before the the jump doesn't mean it isn't bad now.

[Soundguy]

Originally Posted by whistlepig

Even in good conditions 6V is hard to start. .

Popycock.

I have 6v tractors that start faster than modern automobiles..

a good well maintained tractor can start in a single rev of the starter.. I have ones that prove it.

soundguy

[Soundguy]

here's the quick and dirty.

run a wire from battery hot.. which is negative by the way.. to the primary connection on the coil.. from there there will be a wire fromt he other side of the primary going tot he side of the distribuitor.. that is an insulating grommet with a feedthru screw that connects to a copper strip over to the points and condensor. the pointsgap for the sidemount is .025.. I know some manuals say otherwise.. as there are misprints that claim .015 same as the front mount units.. it's an error.

plugs are also gapped at .025

when points are open. you should measure full bat volts at that wire point ont he side of the distrib.. if not.. the old grommet is shot. can fake a replacement with nylon or plastic.. I've used a license plate grommet and scre before.. have also just removed the grommet and ran a wire in carefull that it don't touch anything important that moves..

sometimes that copper strip breaks too.

now.. if you still have the oem 6v generator and regulator and are positive ground, jumper bat hot ( - ) to armature stud on the back o fthe generator to repolerize it.. your jump start -MAY- have messed up the reg.. but that won't prevent you from starting.. I have some tests for you to do to check the health of the charge system AFTER you get her running.

post back.

soundguy

once you get that all doctor'd up, try to crank her and check spark at the plugs.. if spark is good, go for it.

soundguy

[RickB]

You say you have a new ignition switch at hand, but not installed. Install it.

[Sprocket1]

By the way, hurry up so we can see what it was that fixed it. Just kiddin'

[BeeferMan]

If you got 6v at the battery side of the coil, but low voltage at the coil terminal of the distributor, then hold the points open with something non-conductive like a piece of plastic or cardboard. You should have 6v on the hot side of the points. If you don't, pull the wire from the coil off the terminal of the distributor. With that off, you should get 6v at the loose end of the wire. If you don't you got a bad coil or wire. If you do, then you got a short or bad connection within the distributor, or a bad condenser.

[Egon]

Darned; the sparking side has been beat to death. How about the fuel side. Did it need a boost because of dead battery or excessive cranking?

[Soot]

Ok quick update but no NEW information. With snow, animals and the honey do list, the tractor has moved down in priority. I have not been able to get back to it yet.

To answer a few of the questions, issues, The coil is new (post 12 volt jump attempt) as are all the other parts. I an 99.999% certain I purchased a 6V coil. I no longer have the packaging from the coil, but I know I got the shop manual where I learned about 6V pos ground before I got the coil and started working on it. It has been sitting for a while though.

The reason for the jump start was excessive cranking. Prior to the jump start it would start but had what appeared to be carb issues. The guy I bought it from had done some work on the carb (he is a JD mechanic which doesn't necessarily mean that much) It died while I was driving out of the barn and when I attempted to restart it, I believe I flooded it.

Since then I've been trying to get the ignition circuit working properly so I can work on the carb issues.

Right now I KNOW I have a sparking problem ... well get to the carb in the (hopefully) near future.

I'll keep y'all posted

[Soundguy]

So... with a hot wire from the battery to the primary of the coil, and fromt he other side of the primary to the distribuitor feedthru ( connects to points and condensor ).. when you spin her over and look at a spark plug that has the threaded portion grounded to chassie.. you get what?

If no spark, ensure the points are opening and closing electrically.. IE.. use an ohm meter to make sure they are making contact.. or a test lamp. volt meter can be used as well.. just have to hook each up differently.

ohm meter.. one probe from the disconnected stud onthe side of the distrib and the other probe to ground.. cranking tractor over should make a short-open-short-open.. etc..

post back.

soundguy

[Lewissiwel]

Hello Soot. You actually don't need A handcrank to do the final tuning of you points gap. Simply make sure your fan belt is tight and turn the fan which will turn over the engine in small amounts. Hope this advice helps you. Lewis.