Honda GV400 no spark

Chuckyboy1980

Forum Newbie
Joined
Jul 25, 2020
Threads
1
Messages
4
I am completely out of ideas with this.
I have a ransome bobcat with a Honda GV400 engine. All was working fine last week stopped to have my dinner then wouldn't start again. No spark.
After stripping it down the coil was tested and showing an open circuit. I ordered a new coil pack, condenser and spark plug cap and plug. I rebuilt it and still no spark. I tested the coil and get a resistance of 13kohm, between the HT lead and laminated coil pack. Tested the condenser and it appears to do as you would expect on the meter. I have cleaned the points and checked them with a meter and they appear to work correctly. I have isolated the coil from the stop button just to make sure there is no faulty connection in the switch.
Has anyone got any ideas?
My only thought at the minute is the coil pack and condenser have 3 wires to connect it's possible I have one in the wrong place.
1 wire to the condenser and from condenser to points.
1 wire or the stop button very obviously the stop button
1 wire which I think also goes to the points, same terminal as the condenser lead.
I do think I may have the last wire connected wrongly but I was sure I wired it up as the original was.
The only other thought was the magnet strength but it appears as strong as you could expect.
Thank you for any thoughts it's very frustrating and I would hate to bin the engine.
 

bertsmobile1

Lawn Royalty
Joined
Nov 29, 2014
Threads
65
Messages
24,995
The system works by making and breaking a ground circuit .
So start by clipping a meter probe to the coil wire and rotate the engine by hand,
You should see the meter swing through from 0 Ω to ∞ Ω then back to 0 Ω .
If not then one of the wires has a constant ground on it or the insulating washers on the points are bridged .
The 3rd wire should be the low oil cut off and go the switch inside the crankcase.
That wire should be open to ground if the oil level is above the add line on the dipstick.
 

Chuckyboy1980

Forum Newbie
Joined
Jul 25, 2020
Threads
1
Messages
4
The system works by making and breaking a ground circuit .
So start by clipping a meter probe to the coil wire and rotate the engine by hand,
You should see the meter swing through from 0 Ω to ∞ Ω then back to 0 Ω .
If not then one of the wires has a constant ground on it or the insulating washers on the points are bridged .
The 3rd wire should be the low oil cut off and go the switch inside the crankcase.
That wire should be open to ground if the oil level is above the add line on the dipstick.
I have just completed the test. As you would expect you see the variation on the meter from closed circuit to open circuit and back to closed circuit. With the points open there is no circuit to earth which would indicate that part of the system is operating correctly.
I am starting to think that the magnet may be of insufficient strength as everything else seems to test out ok.
Is there any other tests we can do?
 

bertsmobile1

Lawn Royalty
Joined
Nov 29, 2014
Threads
65
Messages
24,995
The only thing to double check is you were supplied the correct coil .
There are two of them.
One is for points and the other has a Hall effect chip embeded in the coil .
Did you get the parts from a quality pars supplier or dedicated mower shop, or off a dunny merchant on Amazon.
 

Chuckyboy1980

Forum Newbie
Joined
Jul 25, 2020
Threads
1
Messages
4
The only thing to double check is you were supplied the correct coil .
There are two of them.
One is for points and the other has a Hall effect chip embeded in the coil .
Did you get the parts from a quality pars supplier or dedicated mower shop, or off a dunny merchant on Amazon.
I got them from a Honda shop on eBay. Will see if I can get one elsewhere.
 
Top