LX 176, no spark

[Dredge Rat]

For the last several days I have been having a problem with my JD LX 176 with no spark. It is a 98 Kawasaki 14 hp. FC 420V-ES10 engine. Sometimes it will start and run for quite a while but then again you might start it up and it will run for a few seconds and then just quite. Right now it has no spark at all, I have cleaned the plug still no spark. I removed the flywheel and stator and cleaned & checked them and looked alright but I did not remove the coil which I am beginning to believe might be the problem. It seems like sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. I am going to replace the spark plug with a NKG plug if by chance it could be that as right now I have a Champion RN12yc in it. Any ideas or questions welcome.

 

[HawkFanatic74]

For the last several days I have been having a problem with my JD LX 176 with no spark. It is a 98 Kawasaki 14 hp. FC 420V-ES10 engine. Sometimes it will start and run for quite a while but then again you might start it up and it will run for a few seconds and then just quite. Right now it has no spark at all, I have cleaned the plug still no spark. I removed the flywheel and stator and cleaned & checked them and looked alright but I did not remove the coil which I am beginning to believe might be the problem. It seems like sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. I am going to replace the spark plug with a NKG plug if by chance it could be that as right now I have a Champion RN12yc in it. Any ideas or questions welcome.

Seems to be the coil about 75% of the time when problems like this arise

 

[bertsmobile1]

Pull the kill wire off the magneto coil ( the one on the outside ).
If you do not get a spark then the magneto coil is duff.
If you do get a spark you have a wiring problem.

 

[Dredge Rat]

Well it's been several days now and I still haven't gotten it to fire. One thing I did find out this morning was I had a bad cell in the battery, so I replaced it and at least now it will turn over. I tried to check the coil out by setting the tester to ohms and putting one lead on the plug wire and the other on the magnet side and it showed .15 ohm. I don't know if this right or not but I still think it could be the coil as sometimes it will fire and other times it wont. I have a coil that is supposed to be here tomorrow so will try that and see what happens. Any advise feel free to jump in.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Well it's been several days now and I still haven't gotten it to fire. One thing I did find out this morning was I had a bad cell in the battery, so I replaced it and at least now it will turn over. I tried to check the coil out by setting the tester to ohms and putting one lead on the plug wire and the other on the magnet side and it showed .15 ohm. I don't know if this right or not but I still think it could be the coil as sometimes it will fire and other times it wont. I have a coil that is supposed to be here tomorrow so will try that and see what happens. Any advise feel free to jump in.

You can test the secondary windings ( Plug wire to coil leg ) but you can not test primary because there is a chip in the primary that replaces the old points.
So it is a simple case of ;-
No ground wire , no spark dud coil.
All the testing that you need to do as coils are not repairable.

 

[Dredge Rat]

Well I got the coil and put it on the mower and it started right off no problem. I will take it out and mow this afternoon and make sure it works OK. Thanks again to everyone for their help and advise.