miller87

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.

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.

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.

hosed, after installing the new module I started the engine a few times and from what I could tell, it ran the same as it always had.  I didn't blow any snow yet since I haven't put the shrouds back on yet.  I am going to put it all back together today and then give it a real test.  I'll post again.

In another post by Denny, I think on this site, he mentioned the key switch operated in the opposite way, but I did not find that in my case.  On is still on and off is off.

Update.  I bought the part mentioned in this thread, the Mega Fire II universal ignition module (http://www.rcpw.com/kawasaki-ignition-coils-parts/440465.html).  I actually got it from my local Toro shop.  I installed it with the negative ground wiring as shown in the installation diagram.  I decided to install the module up near the spark plug access cover instead of under the engine near the auger as the original part was.  Since I'm not sure of the durability of the part in this application, I wanted to make it easy to replace it if it fails.

From what I can tell, the original part (Toro Xstar Module-Magneto 81-0340) was grounded by its metal case with the two screws that held it to the engine block.  I grounded the new module with the included bare-end wire.  I clamped the bare wire (which I stripped to about 1") under the bolt holding the key switch ground wire.  I applied dielectric grease to all connections.  I'll secure the module body with a wire so it stays in place yet is isolated from engine heat and vibration.  It seems like the old module failed when the engine was hot and I figured minimizing vibration couldn't hurt.

I'll post pictures once I get it done if I can do it on this site.