No spark plug fire

[Rwellison]

My '65 Cub (12v) isn't getting any spark to the plugs. Starter spins but no spark at the spark plugs. Charge/discharge meter doesn't move when the key is turned on. Any ideas?

[staninlowerAL]

Start at the battery and work your way forward to determine where the open circuit happens, or start at the points/coil and work your way back to the battery to locate the point where you have power from the battery. Good luck

[Jason_Coffey]

I would start at the points. Then move to the coil. You can always unplug the coil wire from the cap and lay it on the motor. Crank it and you can see if it's sparking. Then you know the coil is fine. Seems to me the points give more trouble than the coil typically.

[Smokeycub]

I would do some checking with a voltmeter, staring at the positive side of the coil and if no voltage, then work backwards. Just to see if everything else is working you could run a jumper from a known 12 volt source to the coil and start it up. If there's voltage at the coil then check the points and adjust/replace as needed. While unlikely there is the possibility the coil is bad, but it sounds like power to the coil may be the problem.

[Rwellison]

Fellas, thanks for all your help. It turned out to be a broken wire running from the starter button to the ammeter. Replaced that and she fired up like she always has, with about one second on the starter. Sweet little tractor!

[Smokeycub]

she fired up like she always has, with about one second on the starter. Sweet little tractor!

Gotta love it when it's an easy fix! Glad you got 'er going.