Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I turned the key on and have no spark from the plug or even the plug wire when turning over the engine

How do I know if it is the coil magneto or the xstar module magneto?

It is a model 38180

Ok, I put it all back together and so far it runs as well as ever.  I ran it to clear some fairly dense snow near the street that I shoveled off the high banks to widen the entrance and it worked great and started each time after I shut it off.  A huge frustration of the old module is that the engine would never start when the module was hot.  Pulling the spark plug and drying it with a lighter did seem to get it going, but what a pain that was so I would never shut it off until I was all done.  I wish I knew of this fix several years ago when it started acting up.

I'm no expert at this stuff, but so far I'm really happy with this module and I could buy seven of them for the cost of the Toro part.  Thanks, Denny, where ever you are!

I'll figure out how to post pics and do that next.

This picture shows the original part mounted on the bottom of the engne near the chute.  It's the small brass box in the middle of the pic.

This is the Mega Fire II module.  I used a twist tie to hang it from the wires up by the key switch plug.  After installing the control panel I verified that the wires didn't interfere with the pull cord etc.

The yellow arrow points to the ground wire for the new module clamped under the same bolt used to ground the key switch.  You can see how easy it would be to replace the module if needed.  I considered getting a ring type wire connector and I still might.  That's what the key switch ground wire uses.  I could have installed the new module in the factory location, but would have needed 1/4" longer screws and decided against that for the reasons I mentioned in previous posts.

Here's a link for a short vid of the machine running.

http://s852.photobucket.com/albums/ab90/miller87a/Toro%20CCR2000/?action=view&current=DSCF0168.flv

So that's about it.  I'll let you know if anything goes wrong.  I don't know the durability of this module, but since I mounted it for easy replacement, it will probably never fail, haha.

If anyone can explain how this part of the ignition system works, I'd like to hear it.  Thanks.

One more thing I wanted to mention on this is that when I could not get the engine to start last week I did check for spark by taking the plug out of the engine, putting it in the plug boot, grounding it to the engine and pulling the cord.  I did see a blue spark so I thought that was ok, however, it must not have been strong enough to ignite the fuel/air mixture under compression.  The hot engine starting issue along with the shop's suspicion of the module being the culprit made me quite sure this was the problem.

Miller87: Excellent write up on solving the problem. I have a 1989 CCR2000 with a similar problem.  It would run for 10 minutes and then quit running. Let it cool and it would run for a few minutes more. Sometimes it would sputter and quit (like a fuel problem) other times it would stop dead.  I got the Stens Mega Fire II module and installed it with the negative terminal to ground and the positive to the coil.  The machine ran. One caution, make sure that you have everything hooked up before firing up the engine. On my first test, I forgot to hook the key switch up (Doh!).  This did not present a problem with starting the engine, but I could not stop it!  Instead of grounding the ignition, I pulled the wire off the Spark Plug.  Big mistake, the engine stopped but I believe I blew the mega fire module as the engine now would not start.   I hooked up the old Xstar module and was able to get the engine to start.  I bought another Megafire module and mounted it like miller87 described.  I was going to mount mine where the old Xstar module was mounted but decided that miller87's approach was a lot better. You have access if you need to replace it and also the Xstar module was mounted in a hard to get to spot.  This solution may work on other CCR2000s with  no or weak spark. For $20 shipped, I was willing to take a chance. (The Toro dealer wanted $140 special order, no returns for the Xstar module so even if I have to replace the Megafire every year or two, I'd rather do that considering the age of my unit. )  Later CCR2000 had the ignition module built into the coil so you need to check which version you have before you try this solution.  I also cleaned the carburator (kind of needed it after 20 years). Now my snowthrower is running like a new one. Now I can be sure there will be no more snow this year.

This message was modified Mar 13, 2010 by hosed

I had a friends ccr2000 that would run but always backfire. I asked around and was told that if it stays running the moduale was good, but I had a feeling that was the problem and wasn't spending 140 dollars on a hunch. Thanks to this tread I tried a universal ignition module from oregon (part #33-053) that I keep on hand and it runs great now. I did silicone around the wires on the unit for extra protection being this is a snowblower. Thanks to all in this tread for taking the time to share your findings.

Eighteen dollars vs. $140.00 for a Toro piece???? 

What do you figure?   $130.00 mark up?  Unbelievable!!!

l use these modules alot with older engines that have points that go bad, its a cheaper fix for the customer and a ton more reliable. l personally have NEVER seen one go bad yet.

As of yesterday, I had similar problems. No spark. Tried a new spark plug and that did not work. The writeups and advise on this post have been invaluable. Thanks everyone. Miller87's pics and summary were very helpful. I followed the same proceedures and actually ordered the stens module from the same supplier. The machine had never run this well since I purchased it ten years ago for 40 dollars. Sadly, after ten minutes of running, it quit as if the key had been turned to off. I pulled the spark plug and there is no spark again. Can these modules blow out that quickly? Could a bad coil cause it to fail? I clipped the wire from the old ignition module and used the wire nut provided to tie it the new wire. I used the negative wiring diagram for the module. Perhaps it's a defective module? Thanks for any thoughts or ideas. Mark

Denny wrote: Jan 25 2011
Denny, The xstar module went south on my 1992 Toro CCR2000 snowblower and after reading about your fix I also installed a Mega Fire II. The machine started right up. I ran it about five minutes,seems good. The next time I blow snow will be a better test. Actually it was this sight that led me to my problem. Thanks to all. 

Blew snow yesterday with that little Toro for about a half hour after installing a $20 Stens Mega Fire II module. Ran great ,seems good.