Post by hermitjohn on Feb 22, 2016 21:36:38 GMT
Magneto coil went bad on mower I was using to clear firebreak that didnt get done last fall. So swapped on spare engine. Fine first day, then it started kicking back and whipping starter cord out of my hand with a vengence when I would try to start it. That usually means sheared or partially sheared flywheel key making magneto timing too advanced. Pulled the flywheel, key is pristine.
Now in old days point gap could be way off and cause this but engines havent used points and condenser for decades. Didnt figure much chance of success but swapped out spark plug. An Autolite for the no name chinese. That solved it. I got to looking close at the chinese plug and compared it to another spare Autolite and think gap too small on the chinese. Low energy today so didnt regap and try my theory. Didnt throw away the chinese plug so can try it sometime in future. Its nearly new. The chinese plugs can be as good as any other or not, luck of the draw. Had one last for years. Others had to be replaced just to start the engine first time.
If you go buy replacement plug, you can actually now buy a no name chinese replacement. Not sure why you would want to as they for some reason sell for over twice the price of the equivalent Autolite. Had American plugs be unreliable too. Period of time lot bad Champion plugs, period of time lot bad Bosch plugs, and so on. Autolite always good. NGK and Denso always good too though guess there are fakes stamped with NGK name out there. Anymore I think the fakes tend to be the high end fancy nancy plugs that they want ten dollars each for. Not lot profit faking a $2 plug.
Now in old days point gap could be way off and cause this but engines havent used points and condenser for decades. Didnt figure much chance of success but swapped out spark plug. An Autolite for the no name chinese. That solved it. I got to looking close at the chinese plug and compared it to another spare Autolite and think gap too small on the chinese. Low energy today so didnt regap and try my theory. Didnt throw away the chinese plug so can try it sometime in future. Its nearly new. The chinese plugs can be as good as any other or not, luck of the draw. Had one last for years. Others had to be replaced just to start the engine first time.
If you go buy replacement plug, you can actually now buy a no name chinese replacement. Not sure why you would want to as they for some reason sell for over twice the price of the equivalent Autolite. Had American plugs be unreliable too. Period of time lot bad Champion plugs, period of time lot bad Bosch plugs, and so on. Autolite always good. NGK and Denso always good too though guess there are fakes stamped with NGK name out there. Anymore I think the fakes tend to be the high end fancy nancy plugs that they want ten dollars each for. Not lot profit faking a $2 plug.
