I have 5 Deere mowers with FC540V engines. Can someone explain to me what the igniter does? I've had them fail in the past and would like to eliminate them. Seems to me that I was told that the later engines didn't have igniters but to do away with them on older models you have to replace both flywheel and coil. What I don't understand is that various people have recommended when you have no spark to pull the igniter wire and check for spark to determine if the coil or the igniter is the problem. If you can get spark from the coil with the igniter out of the circuit, is it really needed?
