310-8 - No spark/intermittent spark sanity check

[Snoopy11 5,714]

43 minutes ago, Gregor said:

ebay is kind-of a crap

 

 

Don

Edited October 4, 2021 by Snoopy11

[johnnymag3 2,520]

Bought 2 off Fleabay.....one was great...the other ....welll.....nuff said

JMO

[johnnymag3 2,520]

I do have a new one on the shelf, its NOT an Ebay item....60.00 shipped ECHRIS...or come and get it !!!!    and bring chinese food    LOL  

Edited October 4, 2021 by johnnymag3

[echris 1,425]

On 10/4/2021 at 4:08 PM, Gregor said:

 

The kill wire, (whatever color it is) could be grounded under the flywheel, or some where else on the motor, before it ever reaches that 5 pin plug.

 

 

I have all the manuals for that machine. Guess where I got them?

On that machine, the kill white (white) goes through the back sheet metal to the 5 pin harness which connects to the chassis. So no wire under the flywheel, unless I misunderstood you.

I did check it for continuity before disassembling anything, and it was good. no ground.
The flywheel has a little rust, but not enough that I would be concerned. I'd consider it a normal amount.

I'm going to try one last thing. Now that the coil and blower housing is off, I'm going to keep the kill wire disconnected from the coil, keep the 5 pin disconnected from the tractor, try yet another new spark plug, and send 12 volts to the starter motor.
If I have no spark, it's got to be the coil.

[echris 1,425]

On 10/4/2021 at 6:16 PM, johnnymag3 said:

I do have a new one on the shelf, its NOT an Ebay item....60.00 shipped ECHRIS...or come and get it !!!!    and bring chinese food    LOL  

As long as it's not the "bad" Ebay one, that sounds like a plan. heh heh heh

Do you take returns without restocking fees if it doesn't work? 

I have a pretty good Chinese food joint in town. So there's that!

[johnnymag3 2,520]

I dont sell EBAY stuff.....ever...LOL

Yes its good, and yes I take returns unless you short it to 12 volts and it grows whiskers...Chinese....yeah boy !!!

 

[johnnymag3 2,520]

I will not get new junk anymore, not worth it...Burned once....thats enough !!!!

[Gregor 4,846]

29 minutes ago, echris said:

On that machine, the kill white (white) goes through the back sheet metal to the 5 pin harness which connects to the chassis. So no wire under the flywheel, unless I misunderstood you.

The white wire goes from the 5 pin connector to where?

[echris 1,425]

14 minutes ago, Gregor said:

The white wire goes from the 5 pin connector to where?

From the coil to the 5 pin to the key switch. I just ran up to the shop now and it's working as expected. With the key off, the white wire on the key is grounded. Turn the key on and it's open.

With the 5 pin disconnected, the white wire, on the engine side is open. Not grounded.
All the wiring is working as expected.

Thanks for the suggestion. Even though I've already removed the tractor from the equation, I'm trying to get a better understanding of the system in general. The color codes on the diagrams are not exact for my machine, even though it's all factory. I think I might have a mid- year model or something. You helped me confirm one other aspect. The kill circuit. Thanks!


EDIT: In my last post, I should have said, "back sheet metal *of the engine*"... In other words, it exits the engine at the back.

Edited October 6, 2021 by echris

[Snoopy11 5,714]

On 10/4/2021 at 6:16 PM, johnnymag3 said:

bring chinese food

 

On 10/4/2021 at 6:16 PM, johnnymag3 said:

60.00 shipped

How 'bout we make a trade... @echris you buy me 60$ worth of Chinese food, I buy you the coil you need?

 

Don

[echris 1,425]

2 minutes ago, Snoopy11 said:

 

How 'bout we make a trade... @echris you buy me 60$ worth of Chinese food, I buy you the coil you need?

 

Don

John doesn't know it yet (ssshh don't tell) but if I bring Chinese food AND I'm the shipping company, well..... The price goes ▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼

[echris 1,425]

Welp, I went out to the garage this afternoon to look at this again. All I did was clean the magnets on the flywheel, which were not bad at all, and decided to re-install the coil and wouldn't you know it, I've got a nice hot white spark. Reconnected the 5 pin to the tractor. Still have spark, I put it all together, testing again each step and it's all working well. After final assembly, she starts right up, like 2 seconds on the key.

 

It was intermittent, then dead. So hopefully, I didn't just jiggle the right wire somewhere along the way. On the bright side, aside from not having to spend any money, I've given the entire electrical system a thorough inspection (which I hadn't done yet), and coated each connection in De-Oxit, so there's that. Sorry @johnnymag3 no Chinese food for you. Yet.

Thanks for all the help fellas!

Also, Mowin' The Lorne Greene tonight. Very tall and very wet. She no care. She just go!
 

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by echris

[ebinmaine 67,608]

Excellent work. Let's hope it stays just that way for you.

 

Old saying I learned 25 or 30 years ago:

You must do all your maintenance before you do any diagnosis.

 

I believe rust or corrosion elimination and protection is and should be a part of the maintenance ritual for most any machine.

 

A repair nicely done. And, without spending any money on unneeded parts.

 

[echris 1,425]

That's probably the main reason it's running right now. I'm a cheapskate and HATE spending money on unnecessary parts. But I will definitely spend money on correct/quality parts vs crap aftermarket parts once I'm confident it will fix the problem!

Hence, the plea for help before I spent ~$100 on a Kohler coil. 

Edited October 7, 2021 by echris

[Bill D 1,926]

Glad you got it running again.

[echris 1,425]

Welp, it's dead again. Same problem. I guess it truly is an intermittent problem. After getting the seat assembly back together, I mowed for about an hour or so. Then shut her down in my neighbors driveway for about 45 minutes to BS and have a beer or two. She fired right up, I drove her a few hundred yards home and it died right in front of the garage. No spark.

 

@johnnymag3 I'd like to take you up on your coil offer if it's still available.

[johnnymag3 2,520]

I smell Chicken and Broccoli in my future......Maybe some General Tso's ….Hmmmmmmm

 

Call me up E !!!