Rusty Coil

A little over a year ago I purchased a 12 Volt distributor conversion kit for my AC Model C which turned that little engine into one of the best-starting machines I own.

Until two days ago.

My grandson uses this little tractor for doing his daily chores around their homestead. He is under strict orders to shut the machine down EVERY time he dismounts, no exceptions, which he obeys quite faithfully. This requires 12 or more hot re-starts every day. It typically fires up almost instantly.

After a record-setting, long, hot dry summer, we are finally being blessed with some wonderful rain. Lots of it

Grandson wandered in all wet and muddy, says that Little Alice won't re-start and chores are only half done. Hmmmpf!

I have lots of grey hair, grew up with breaker points, am a retired electronics tech/sawmill maintenance guy and do not fear old style distributors.

Expected to find moisture inside distributor. Nope. Points looked okay but hey, you never know for certain. Pulled points and polished them with my EZ-Lap pocket model diamond knife sharpener (the best point file I have ever found yet). Re-installed and gapped, told Grandson I don't think that was the problem; I was right. It started briefly then died. Started again long enough to get it into the shop.

Checked breaker point resistance with my Fluke 88 Automotive meter, they aren't the problem (this is for all of the naysayers who are going to tell me to replace the points anyway. Besides, I don't have a spare set on hand).

Condenser bad? Don't have one of those on hand either, but tester shows it is okay (gotta get some spares bought though).

Bad coil maybe? Pulled the coil wire from the distributor cap and connected it to my little spark gap tester which clips on to ground, then removed the wire from the distributor (the one connecting the Negative coil lead to the points). I have 12 volts to the positive side so now grounding the negative side and removing it should make spark, no joy.

I do have Bosch Blue coil for my VW, swapped it in and away we go!

I looked inside the coil terminal and it was full of rust. Dry, powdery, red rust   I turned it over and rust particles literally fell out, lots of it.

Remember, it only recently started raining here, and the little rubber boot was obviously doing its job as this rust was bone dry.

My old Bosch Blue coil has a brass terminal, no rust.  Whoda thunk it

I chucked an old rifle cleaning brush in my drill and scrubbed the rust out of the coil terminal, packed it full of dielectric grease and re-installed the offending coil; Little Alice once again fires right up instantly and Grandson is happily using it for chores.

We'll see how long THAT lasts.

Lots of things that look brass or copper aint.  Could just have been plated, and the plating wore off, and there you are.

DiyDave wrote: Lots of things that look brass or copper aint.  Could just have been plated, and the plating wore off, and there you are.

Possibly. This coil is less than two years old, so if it was plated it wore off pretty fast. There was not even a hint of green corrosion, only dry, red rust.

Update:
After another condenser failure I finally decided to join the 21st century and ordered a Pertronix ignition module for Little Alice. My 11 year old grandson did the actual install while I watched.

I never cease to be amazed at the nearly instantaneous starting ability of that little tractor when it has good spark