[Rob Doe]

chkolar, X2 all above posts. What year is your car? Adding a bit to Bob's post #6, In November of 1929, there was a wiring change made by Ford Motor Co. They moved the source of the black wire that attaches to the - post of the coil from the yellow wire side of the terminal box to the yellow with black stripe side.

This allows the functioning / opening and closing of the ignition points / proper grounding and ungrounding of the points to be reflected on the ammeter as a slight repetitious discharge as the engine is being cranked over to start the car. When at slow idle it will also show up as a negative jiggle in the ammeter needle. Not all A's have this service bulletin applied.

If your car is wired, (stock, with Service Bulletin applied) a short / unintended ground, as mentioned in previous posts will show on the ammeter as a small, but steady discharge, approx 4 amp or two marks on the ammeter???

Check your terminal box and make sure the black coil wire is connected to the yellow black stripe side. With the points blocked open with a business card or folded piece of paper, if you see the discharge, something is prematurely grounded between the + post of the coil (red wire) and the blocked open points.

You had the distributor out, and you screwed the ign. cable into the side of the distributor. It can be too tight and cause the buss bar to contact the casting, etc. 2.5 or maybe 3 turns is usually enough. If the cable is old the spring loaded end may be too stiff and stuck, or stuck shy of the buss bar (under the lower plate) and thus is an open circuit and not visible on the ammeter (no discharge).

Report back on your findings. There are common ways to bypass the switch and the ignition cable etc. and / or work backwards from the blocked open points arm with the VOM as suggested in post #2, connection by connection to isolate the fault.

Good luck.