Stop in for a cup of coffee

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So I tested the brand new condenser from John Deere using every means I could find on google, no resistance at all with a multimeter. Nor does the spare I bought today either. So I’m either testing it wrong or they’re both bad.

Everything else checks out fine. Cool, plug wires, new plugs. The leads from the dizzy to coil. Bypassed the switch. Yet no spark. Point is gapped to .022 as per the fsm. Rotor spins and is in time per the marks.

This on an old model 60 John Deere. Entire ignition system has been swapped out and still no spark. It’s a positive ground system as well. No ballast. Anyone got any theories?
 
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dukeboy_318 said:
So I tested the brand new condenser from John Deere using every means I could find on google, no resistance at all with a multimeter. Nor does the spare I bought today either. So I’m either testing it wrong or they’re both bad.

Everything else checks out fine. Cool, plug wires, new plugs. The leads from the dizzy to coil. Bypassed the switch. Yet no spark. Point is gapped to .022 as per the fsm. Rotor spins and is in time per the marks.

This on an old model 60 John Deere. Entire ignition system has been swapped out and still no spark. It’s a positive ground system as well. No ballast. Anyone got any theories?
Click to expand...
Should have bought sonething red!
 
When you apply a resistance check on a capacitor, the needle should swing over. Analog meter with a power source like AA or 9V battery.
Otherwise you need a meter that does capacitance.

Typically its power source to coil - in your case maybe coil negative if was for a positve ground application, then to the points. When the points close, current should flow through the coil primary windings to ground.
 
Mattax said:
When you apply a resistance check on a capacitor, the needle should swing over. Analog meter with a power source like AA or 9V battery.
Otherwise you need a meter that does capacitance.

Typically its power source to coil - in your case maybe coil negative if was for a positve ground application, then to the points. When the points close, current should flow through the coil primary windings to ground.
Click to expand...
You might as well be speaking mandarin. It will make about as much sense to him.
 
Testing condensers without a dedicated tester is impossible. Analog multi-meter on ohms scale test one way, then reverse leads. Needle will bump if its not open or shorted.
Depending on meter, battery size matters. 9 volt powered ones are better.
Or just holding on to wire,tag it across 12 volts then hand it to your wife. If she gets a snap then its good...
 
And not knowing the microfarads needed for your particular application, testing is pointless.
An engine will run without a condenser, just not very well. value is important, as it prolongs the life of the contact set.
 
Ddaddy said:
I don’t really listen to the radio in my cars much, even in the newer ones that have satellite radio. I only turn them on about 5% of the time I’m behind the wheel and generally only when I am stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Otherwise, I would rather listen to the engine and the road.

I have only turned the aftermarket underdash AM/FM/CD stereo on in the GTS once since I have owned it. I am going to pull it out and just have the AM Music Master for now. If I get ambitious, I will swap it for one of the new vintage case am/fm units that look just like the original but have modern electronics in them. At least that way I could power the rear deck speakers.
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There is one other thing about AM - the magic. Especially when driving at night on the interstates with the windows up, pull the antenna up and just move down the dial and see what gets picked up. Kindof fun to pick up stations many states away or in canada.
 
Mattax said:
When you apply a resistance check on a capacitor, the needle should swing over. Analog meter with a power source like AA or 9V battery.
Otherwise you need a meter that does capacitance.

Typically its power source to coil - in your case maybe coil negative if was for a positve ground application, then to the points. When the points close, current should flow through the coil primary windings to ground.
Click to expand...

Tooljunkie said:
Testing condensers without a dedicated tester is impossible. Analog multi-meter on ohms scale test one way, then reverse leads. Needle will bump if its not open or shorted.
Depending on meter, battery size matters. 9 volt powered ones are better.
Or just holding on to wire,tag it across 12 volts then hand it to your wife. If she gets a snap then its good...
Click to expand...

Tooljunkie said:
And not knowing the microfarads needed for your particular application, testing is pointless.
An engine will run without a condenser, just not very well. value is important, as it prolongs the life of the contact set.
Click to expand...
It’s a 9 volt analog. Not even getting spark at all. I’m getting 12 volts to the positive side of the coil. Not getting a thing at the condenser. Thinking about taking it out and sending it to hoppy.
 
Damn, my wife's uncle just passed away. And my youngest son announced he is turning into a woman. WTF is happening here?
 
dukeboy_318 said:
It’s a 9 volt analog. Not even getting spark at all. I’m getting 12 volts to the positive side of the coil. Not getting a thing at the condenser. Thinking about taking it out and sending it to hoppy.
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You need to clean and adjust the points.pos to coil,neg to points,points ground. I test coil neg to ground with an ohmmeter, with points on low side of lobe,points lead should be grounded.
Power up coil and open points, coil should throw a spark.
 
dukeboy_318 said:
It’s a 9 volt analog. Not even getting spark at all. I’m getting 12 volts to the positive side of the coil. Not getting a thing at the condenser. Thinking about taking it out and sending it to hoppy.
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frank's more of a help here than I am.
Not that it should matter much but lets see if you can explain what you've got here. yes no is fine
This is a 12 Volt battery powered system.
Battery positive is connected to the engine block or head.
Battery negative goes through an on/off switch to the coil negative.
Flip the power on (or connect the wire) and the coil positive shows 12 Volts.
Coil positive leads to the points.
 
toolmanmike said:
Damn, my wife's uncle just passed away. And my youngest son announced he is turning into a woman. WTF is happening here?
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My condolances. On both counts. your son is still your child,regardless what path he chooses.
i will say, better than being a methhead. my daughter announced she is gender neutral, some choice to not make. A vegan gender neutral human?
 
Mattax said:
frank's more of a help here than I am.
Not that it should matter much but lets see if you can explain what you've got here. yes no is fine
This is a 12 Volt battery powered system.
Battery positive is connected to the engine block or head.
Battery negative goes through an on/off switch to the coil negative.
Flip the power on (or connect the wire) and the coil positive shows 12 Volts.
Coil positive leads to the points.
Click to expand...
I miss something? Positive ground?
 
I have been poking around with my point distributor in the fargo,
It should make spark if i ever get the starter working.
Then set timing and dump some gas in it.
 
dukeboy_318 said:
@halifaxhops or anyone else, any way to check a condenser in a points dizzy to see if it’s good?
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Make sure the points are open, Disconnect the wire from the points to the coil, and make sure it does not touch anything. Then take a separate wire from the battery plus, or whatever pole on the battery that is NOT connected to groun, and hold it there for a couple of seconds then remove the wire. After that take a volt meter and turn the knob to the closest to 12 volt but more than 12 volt (unless it has autorange), hold the black test wire to ground of engine, and the red one to the screw on the points where the wire to the condenser is connected. In the moment you touch the red test probe to the screw you should see the needle fly up towards 12 volt and then go down fairly fast if it is a fairly simple analog volt meter. If the voltmeter is a very advanced one, it might read 12 volt or even higher depending on the battery voltage and then stay there for quite longer, but it will go down.
If it is a digital voltmeter it will also rear 12 volt, but start counting down and go towards 0 at the end, just like the analog one also will end at 0 volt finally.

It is does this, the condenser is most likely ok, even if you have not really measured the value of it. But, you have confirmed that you managed to charge the condenser, like if it was a battery, and you have confirmed that it decharges if you connect the voltmeter on DC voltage. If the voltmeter reads nothing, you can perform the test once more and see, but if the problem is still there after the second test, either the condenser is faulty or you have a shortening in your distributor, so the next step would be to take the condenser out of the distributor, and hold the housing to the minus of a battery, and the little wire to the plus, and remove it without touching the wires. Then hold the black voltmeter probe to the condenser housing, and the red one to the end of the wire. The needle should go up, and then down, or the figures should get up towards 12 volt, and then start counting down. If the voltage does not goes up anything at all, the condenser is faulty.

Remember, do not use more than 12 volt on the condenser. It is made for a bit more, but who knows how much more it is made for. On condensers in electronic equipment it is said on the condenser how much voltage it is made for, but not on the ones for a cars ignition system.

Bill
 
zkx14 said:
Interesting... Never had a trailer. So, while I knew they made different tires for trailers, I never gave much thought to why. There are reasons not to swap either way. Just did a little quick google read... While most people know the trailer tire is not speed rated for a car (but seam to forget that when pulling a trailer) They also don't have as good of tread for both wear and traction. Going the other direction- car tires don't have the heavy sidewall that trailer tires do. This is to reduce sway.
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Usually trailer tires are "C" tires, or so called reinforced tires. The C is sometimes also referred to as light truck tires. The old normal was that car tires had 4 ply's, while the C tires had 6 ply's. Which makes them stronger in the sides, and for a car they become a little stiffer to drive, but I have used C tires on a car and had no issues with that. Some of them may be a little more noisy than a regular car tire.
The biggest issue using trailer tires on a car I would say is the lower speed rating, around 80-85 miles per hour or something like that.

Bill
 
I had 13" tires on a 63. Could not panic stop at a speed any higher than 45 mph without locking up the breaks and skidding on all 4 tires. Went to 14's and could panic stop from 60 mph no problem. Tires hsd AA tracktion rating on the 13's
 
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