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

"maybe its a fuel issuse??"

Now that would be a Homer Simpson moment wouldn't it?   If it's a fuel issue, that can be established easily enough.  Pour some gasoline into the spark plug hole, put the plug back, wire on and give it a tug.  If it fires and runs for a couple seconds, it's a fuel issue.

Yeah, use mixed gas, like borat said. When I was initially troubleshooting my SS with a plugged carb, I was using starting fluid and carb cleaner. Neither was a good idea, since they don't provide lubrication (even worse, the carb cleaner tries to flush off any residual oil). What I should have been using was mixed gas, either poured in, or I've considered putting some in a spray bottle. The risk I see with a spray bottle would be getting gas mist airborne. One spark and you could potentially have it go BANG in your face. I did change to using mixed gas poured into the carb, but I should have used that right from the start

Given everything you've been through with the ignition, I kind of hope for your sake that it *is* a fuel issue, so you can get this resolved. Personally, unless you can get a flywheel fairly cheaply, I don't know that I would go as far as you have, chasing the problem. I admire your persistence, good luck!

Niper99,

    It’s sure looking like that.  It could easily be that he’s fixed one problem and unmasked another which may have been created when he cleaned the carb.

 

From above:

    I located and bought a used coil from a local shop for $55 .  Yippie...I got spark.  I then put it all back together.  (I had also cleaned the carb and replaced several parts there in).  She started on the first pull!  It ran excellent for 30 seconds and then quit.  No more spark.

 

   From this point on or shortly after the electrical problem could have been fixed but dregs remained blocking the main jet.  His primer seems to be fine and it starts and runs reliably.

 

   He could put it back together, fire it up and keep punching the primer.  I bet it will run.  On the remote possibility it doesn’t then I’d get a spark tester and put it in line and run again. The tester should still flicker after the engine dies but still rotating.  If not then he really does have intermittent spark.

 

Gentlemen,

Stopped by a local repair shop this morning (where I purchased the used coil).  He is going to see if he has a used flywheel I can try which has 3 strong magnets on it.  One would think that if 3 magnets are installed, they all should have a strong "pull" to them...not just one of the three. 

I must buy a briggs spark tester though!  What I am seeing is this.  When I hold the spark plug to the engine block, I will engage the electric starter for say 5-8 seconds.  During this time, I will see a good spark but then it stops sparking after a second or two.  Subsequent attempts will simply result in a "wimpy" spark or no spark at all.

Here is an interesting link regarding magnets on flywheels which I found on a search:

http://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60985

Hmmm, that was an interesting read. FWIW, you can get neodymium (rare earth) magnets off eBay. I also found some at the hardware store. Those are likely the type used in hard drives, referred to in that link. Just as another option, if you don't have a hard drive you can disassemble. I can't imagine that the magnets in drives can be very large, either. The heads are very small, and need to be able to move very quickly. So I'd expect you could substitute another source for powerful magnets.

It sure sounds worth a shot. You have tried closing the plug gap way down, right? To, say, 0.010" or so? Might show whether or not you can still maintain a spark that way. Is it possible that, while cranking, the plug starts to move around and loses good contact with the block, hence losing the visible spark? Could you try something like grounding a bare-ended wire under an engine bolt, then securely attaching the other bare end to the threads of the plug, and see what you observe then?

>>>One would think that if 3 magnets are installed, they all should have a strong "pull" to them...not just one of the three.

   Not necessairly.  It could be they are different for timing, field shaping or varying strength.  One could be a weaker (cheaper) magnet for a tickler field to trigger the transistor.  Could be anything or exactly as you think.  Your getting a nice fat spark consistantly is not due to weak magnets.

I have not yet made any substantial progress on this machine.  I did see a flywheel on ebay that I was interested in purchasing.  I asked the seller if all three magnets on the flywheel he was selling for the CCR2000 had basically the same magnetic pull.  He stated that the middle one is the magnet and the outer two are just blanks.  Well there you have it I guess. 

I have 2 of these toro's that have been great. Last week I went to start one (38180)and it just wasn't feeling right. After about 10 aggressive pulls the rope came out...ugggg. Back into the garage I removed the pull cover and fix the cord. A few more pulls and I surrender to the fact that it's not going to start. Long story short..no spark. I checked all as mentioned, kill switch, spark plug, fly wheel gap etc. No luck with an unknown ign module I had in a draw and the other unit (38185) doesnt have a module I can borrow. My readings from the coil assembly are 1.1ohms and 11.4k ohms. In earlier post i read a max of just under 8k ohms for the primary. Is 11.4k out of range? I want to be sure before I purchase any parts. Thanks. Note: This flywheel has a single magnet and is very strong.

   The low reading is on the primary.  The high on the secondary.  Over 8 is high.  You mentioned going over everything so just a reminder that many people replace coils for problems in the sparkplug wire and boot.  You've probably already tried connecting one lead to the ground lead and worked the other inside the plug boot while twisting the boot/wire connection to check for a resistance change.  Before tossing it you might do what's the other poster tried as a last resort of pulling the plug wire from the body & etc....

i guess at this point it cant hurt to do a little dissecting on the spark plug wire now. will post findings.