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I am currently working on a john deere gx75. It has a 9hp kawasaki. The internet and the JD parts guy tells me there is a igniter in the electrical system. But for the life of me, I cannot find it. Traced the wires and everything.
But in the diagram on the internet, is different than what I am looking at. I have a black, star shaped deal mounted by the solenoid. It has a diode symbol on it and stamped 5.4
Anywho, that diode isn't on the electrical diagram, that I can find anyway.

But long story short, this machine likes to die after running perfectly for 10-15 minutes, and not wanting to restart until it's cooled off.

Not trying to just throw parts at it, but after hearing about what it was doing I ordered a igniter with out even looking at the machine.

So far I've only cleaned out the carburetor,
Cleaned the ignition system,
New plug,
Coil reads 18.6k ohms.

A little confused about it. I would like to hear oth peoples thoughts and opinions.

Thanks in advance!

Do you have any idea how many different 9 hp models Kawasaki produces? We need ALL engine numbers of the ID tag to help you. Techs on this forum are good mechanics, but since COVID all psychic powers have been sucked out of us.

I am sorry to hear about the loss of your psychic powers! I will update my post this evening with the engine numbers!

IF the star shape looks like this it is a voltage regulator.


Also JD Parts is indicating a FC290V-DS10, FS10, and GS10.

FS10 and GS10 is not showing an ignitor used. Can't find the DS10. On the JD site they are showing an ignitor but I think it is only for the DS10.

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It is a kawasaki code fc290v-gs10
Engine number fc290va13653

I agree with Star. From what I have found the GS10 does not use an igniter. Next time it happens check for spark. No spark means the coil is overheating and breaking down. Time to replace the coil.

Would you just pull the plug , ground to the block, and turn over the engine?

My only experience so far with testing coils is with the ohm meter.

If you don’t have an inline spark tester yes ground the plug to the block. Todays coils cannot be tested unless you have an expensive piece of equipment.

Houston, we got a problem here. The 21121-2084 coil is NLA from Kawasaki.

this what my distributor has posted.

I am planning on testing it tomorrow after I get off work. But for giggles I tried to find a replacement ignition coil, to find an idea on what it's going to cost. Apparently I can get one from John Deere,
But it is expensive lol

Looks about right for JD parts pricing, always high.

But how would JD have it, If Kawasaki doesn't make them anymore

I doubt JD buys all their parts from just manufacturers. Why do you think they have their own packaging.

I doubt JD buys all their parts from just manufacturers. Why do you think they have their own packaging.

Rivets said:

I doubt JD buys all their parts from just manufacturers. Why do you think they have their own packaging.

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Oh okay. I don't have alot of experience with John deere besides ordering some oddball gaskets.
I've found some Chinese ones that say they are that part number, but I don't know if I should trust them.

All depends on what type of gambler you are!

Rivets said:

All depends on what type of gambler you are!

Click to expand...

So with your experience, and that ignition coil that comes from deere requires you to buy the sparkplug boot separately, the Chinese one, if you were to buy it, would you buy one that the boot is already installed, or would you continue with the two piece?

I’m not much of a gambler, because I warranty my work, so I very, very, very seldom would buy parts from FleaBay or AutoScam, which carry most of the crap. Especially electrical components. I’ve had limited luck using the boot off the old coil, plus have a limited supply of boots purchased from Stens.

Rivets said:

I’m not much of a gambler, because I warranty my work, so I very, very, very seldom would buy parts from FleaBay or AutoScam.

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I completely understand. I usually break it down for people, OEM is $$$$ China is $.
I typically leave it up to the customer. But I am still pretty green with all of this. Better than average, but still green. In my opinion anyway.

I appreciate the help!

Kradebaugh73 said:

I am planning on testing it tomorrow after I get off work. But for giggles I tried to find a replacement ignition coil, to find an idea on what it's going to cost. Apparently I can get one from John Deere,
But it is expensive lol

Click to expand...

That coil for the DS10 and requires an ignitor which your engine does not have and some additional wiring so that is additional cost. But that 21121-2058 is listed as NLA.

Well, I tested for spark, and I have spark. Engine gets hot and it dies. Will not start back up. Not sure if it is a strong or weak spark, but seems sufficient.

Kradebaugh73 said:

Well, I tested for spark, and I have spark. Engine gets hot and it dies. Will not start back up. Not sure if it is a strong or weak spark, but seems sufficient.

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And I have fuel. As soon as I wouldn't start back up, I opened the drain on the bowl, and it was full of fuel.

Kradebaugh73 said:

And I have fuel. As soon as I wouldn't start back up, I opened the drain on the bowl, and it was full of fuel.

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Well turns out it's a weak spark. I let the mower cool off and tested the spark again. So it is indeed a bad coil.
I appreciate all of you guys!

Kradebaugh73 said:

Well turns out it's a weak spark. I let the mower cool off and tested the spark again. So it is indeed a bad coil.
I appreciate all of you guys!

Click to expand...

But if anyone can point me to a Chinese coil that would work, I would be greatful!

Amazon has the coil for 34.00

Kradebaugh73 said:

I am planning on testing it tomorrow after I get off work. But for giggles I tried to find a replacement ignition coil, to find an idea on what it's going to cost. Apparently I can get one from John Deere,
But it is expensive lol

Click to expand...

Before you buy another coil check continuity of the spark plug lead to the cap. A lot of these are carbon track plug wires meaning they have a carbon coated string as a conductor. And the carbon is dust. Over time the dust migrates out of the crimped connectors and then no spark. Damned seldom a coil just up and "fails".

I had a 12 hp Briggs that I serviced - did the same thing - hear up, die, cool off, ran - the fins in the head were packed tight with grass. Cleaned it out, problem solved

RevB said:

Before you buy another coil check continuity of the spark plug lead to the cap. A lot of these are carbon track plug wires meaning they have a carbon coated string as a conductor. And the carbon is dust. Over time the dust migrates out of the crimped connectors and then no spark. Damned seldom a coil just up and "fails".

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while the engine is cool, the coil ohms at

Kradebaugh73 said:

while the engine is cool, the coil ohms at

Click to expand...

The coil ohms at 18.6k from the plug boot to the body of the coil. Is there another way to test it?

All the service techs have said it before, but I’ll say it again. Today’s coils can not be tested unless you have $$$$$ equipment because of the Hall effect trigger inside. That means pulling out your VOM is just a waste of time.

Rivets said:

All the service techs have said it before, but I’ll say it again. Today’s coils can not be tested unless you have $$$$$ equipment because of the Hall effect trigger inside. That means pulling out your VOM is just a waste of time.

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I understand that. Revb had said to check the actual plug wire.

Out of curiosity, what is that piece of equipment called?

Actually don’t know. Looked into getting one when they started to change over to the triggered coils while teaching and my research at the time said three things. One, most shops are not going to have them. Two, cost was not going to go down, due to different types at the time. Three, if you teach students to understand basic electricity and how the electrical system on a small engine works, there really is no need for one.

Kradebaugh73 said:

I understand that. Revb had said to check the actual plug wire.

Out of curiosity, what is that piece of equipment called?

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From an FC290v engine manual.....

Kradebaugh73 said:

It is a kawasaki code fc290v-gs10
Engine number fc290va13653

Click to expand...

Kradebaugh73 said:

The coil ohms at 18.6k from the plug boot to the body of the coil. Is there another way to test it?

Click to expand...

YEs
You buy an osilloscope , a variable intensity & direction flux generator, a pulsing signal generator & a HV pulse counter
Total cost is around $ 20,000 for cheap stuff and not much change from $ 100,000 for the good gear .
Krautkrammer are a bit behind at the moment but I can get you some demo gear pretty quickly if you really want them
Or you could just replace the $ 40 coil
I use my old lathe to spin up flywheels and mount the coil on the tool post holder if I have to test one off a mower but most times I test on mower
The modern magneto coils have no points , remember points ?
Well since 1959 they started to be replaced with a solid state switch called a Hall Effect Trigger
Google it and see all of the different electrical variations then work out how you would go about testing them .
How good is your understanding of DC circuits ?

Kradebaugh73 said:

Well, I tested for spark, and I have spark. Engine gets hot and it dies. Will not start back up. Not sure if it is a strong or weak spark, but seems sufficient.

Click to expand...

Just in case you'd like to get way into the weeds.....here's how the coil works at the granular level.

Kradebaugh73 said:

But if anyone can point me to a Chinese coil that would work, I would be greatful!

Click to expand...

Here is the companion video of the one I posted about "getting into the weeds" on this subject......a good explanation of coil failure modes.

Amazing.
While TRS's videos are generally good , his magneto coil failure video is rather poor
Now I only have 11 years of experience with modern mower coils but in that time at least 75% of the failures have been because the Hall Trigger was toast and that was probably a cooked transistor , some thing that he totally ignored in both of the linked videos
I rarely link his videos because they tend to be way too long and his almost monotone presentations are enough to send the viewer to sleep which is a shame because he ( or some one at least ) does a lot of work creating all of those graphics & animations .
Before they shifted the triggers into the coil envelope it was easy to check what part had failed by substituting a known good trigger & I modified a few to use for diagnostics with aligator clips .
Again about 3/4 of the time the chip was bad which is understandable because the transistors used in the stand alone modules are quite electronically fragile
The rest of the failures are split almost equally between a short in the windings & a bad HT lead / plug cap
Note I probably have only bothered to break out about a dozen or so coils to check what actually went wrong if the HT lead ohmed out OK .

OTOH I used to pick up 50 or so Victa push mower a year when I ran the courier business & paid my driver $ 20 for every one they picked up from road side clean up piles
Of those just about every one that had a no spark problem was down to the external trigger unit or the wiring associated with it and in a lot of the cases it was nothing more than the rivet used to hold ( and ground ) the unit had loosened
I loved them a 05¢ rivet and a $ 20 ( or free ) mower became a $ 100 sale
And I have been refurbishing these mowers since 1965

Kradebaugh73 said:

I am currently working on a john deere gx75. It has a 9hp kawasaki. The internet and the JD parts guy tells me there is a igniter in the electrical system. But for the life of me, I cannot find it. Traced the wires and everything.
But in the diagram on the internet, is different than what I am looking at. I have a black, star shaped deal mounted by the solenoid. It has a diode symbol on it and stamped 5.4
Anywho, that diode isn't on the electrical diagram, that I can find anyway.

But long story short, this machine likes to die after running perfectly for 10-15 minutes, and not wanting to restart until it's cooled off.

Not trying to just throw parts at it, but after hearing about what it was doing I ordered a igniter with out even looking at the machine.

So far I've only cleaned out the carburetor,
Cleaned the ignition system,
New plug,
Coil reads 18.6k ohms.

A little confused about it. I would like to hear oth peoples thoughts and opinions.

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

StarTech said:

Houston, we got a problem here. The 21121-2084 coil is NLA from Kawasaki.
View attachment 66632
this what my distributor has posted.
View attachment 66633

Click to expand...

Available at amazon 34.00

kjonxx said:

Available at amazon 34.00

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Sure you're not throwing parts at it?

kjonxx said:

Available at amazon 34.00

Click to expand...