No Spark on 1949 Ford 8N

[Bartman1959]

I tried to start my 8N today after a few months of no use, with no luck. It turns over fine, but just won't fire. I pulled a spark plug, cranked it over, and was getting no spark. I pulled the distributor, gapped the points to .025, and put everything back together. Still nothing. I have power to the coil with key on, and power to the alternator, but no spark. This is a front mount distributor.

The last time I used the tractor was months ago, and then I had rebuilt the carb, new points, plugs, and wires. Now, after sitting for a few months, no spark. Looking for some great advice here guys.

 

[Dollar Bill]

Clean the points - Corrosion builds up and prevents making contact. Very light strokes with a point file followed by a strip of card stock until it pulls clean.

 

[ultrarunner]

Would happen with cars I had in storage for a long time...

My go to remedy was a crisp business card to polish the points...

Sandwich the card between the closed points and draw back and forth about 15 times.

 

[Bartman1959]

Points looked good when I set them.

 

[mapper]

Points looked good when I set them.

Doesn't take much to make them not work, cleaning the points were always my first thing to do when I had my 8n and it did not want to start. It also involved a bit of quiet cursing at that darn front mount distributor!!

 

[Oldpath05]

Isn't power suppose to go to the coil first then when the points open the power goes to the plug through the rotor button, maybe see if the coil is getting power frist.....

 

[Bartman1959]

I'very already done tons of the last part of your comment, and of course it helps me, but doesn't get the tractor started. I'll clean the points again and see what happens.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've run into bad condensers and even a short in the distributer.

If it was running when parked it sure could be oxidation on the points...

When I would go out to diagnose old Fords from the Model A era... it was always spark and fuel... even with bad compression it should at least try to run.

My substitute for fuel would be a whiff of starting fluid and if the starting fluid made a difference then it was a fuel issue... if not then electrical.

 

[AA7TU]

I'll clean the points again and see what happens.

A voltmeter at the input to the distributor will tell if the DC voltage is actually making it there, and is the first thing to look at. Assuming it is, I just had this experience, and found that the points were not easy to clean with just the usual rough bit of paper. When I picked up my tractor, it had been sitting for a while in this damp climate, and the points had probably already been overly filed by the previous owner. It took several tries to get it going finally. Corrosion is a more effective insulator on a 6V system as compared to 12V.

 

[Bartman1959]

The points only have about 10 hours on them, and it is 12V. I did clean them a bit when I set them the other day, and it fired right up. It died after only a few minutes, and yes, fuel was turned on. There is power going to the coil.