I know it's not a mower, but I figure the engine mechanics are still the same.
My dad gave me his old Ryobi 60511 cultivator a couple months ago and said it wouldn't start and that it probably just needed to flush the old gas out and clean the air filter.
What I've done so far:
1) Cleaned air filter, though it looks rough and should probably be replaced (can't seem to find one locally and haven't committed to coughing up $10 to ship one online).
2) Replaced the fuel lines. Both the line to the carburetor and the one from the primer bulb were both broken.
3) Cleaned the carburetor. I watched a handful of videos on this and feel I did a good job being careful and cleaning everything out.
4) Replaced the spark plug.
5) Cleaned up the axle and blades. He had a ton of roots and other garbage just wrapped around the axle.
6) Replaced the clutch assembly. While initially taking everything apart to clean and look for problems I saw the spring on the clutch assembly was broken.
After putting everything back together it still won't start.
Going into this I knew nothing about mechanics so I've already learned a lot. I wish I knew beforehand to check for a spark before I started messing with everything else. Right now it's not sparking, so while the fuel line, axle, filter, clutch and carb were all probably issues it may not have even been sparking in the first place.
I've checked the air gap on the magneto and set the spacing using a business card once and some folded up paper once. My calipers need a new battery so I couldn't check the thickness of either. Regardless I couldn't get a spark with either spacing.
I'm pretty confident everything I've worked on so far is okay. What I'm not sure about at this point is the wiring, or the coil itself. Coming from the switch I have 2 wires. Both are black. I have two places to attach those. One is a red wire going toward the throttle, and the other is black going toward the coil. I'm thinking the black to the coil is the ground. I don't know about the red. And I'm still wondering if it matters which of the black wires coming from the switch plugs into the other red or black wires. I would have thought the switch would have a red and a black, but it doesn't.
So I'm open to suggestions. I don't want to sink too much money into it since it was a free tiller, but I'm wondering at this point if I just need to replace the coil or if it could be something simpler still. Cleaning the points? I haven't removed the flywheel to check that.
And while I'm here, does anyone know where I can get an air filter without having to pay $6 or 7 shipping on a $2 part?
#2
Carscw
Did you check for spark with the wires on the coil unhooked?
(( racing is the only sport that you need two balls ))
No. Everything was hooked up. I just unscrewed the spark plug and grounded it against the engine while it was plugged into the cap/cord coming from the coil. Was I supposed to unhook the ground?
No. Everything was hooked up. I just unscrewed the spark plug and grounded it against the engine while it was plugged into the cap/cord coming from the coil. Was I supposed to unhook the ground?
Based on advice from a friend at work I went ahead and replaced the coil and magneto assembly. Still no spark. Now I'm starting to wonder if the new spark plug I got was a dud. Or is there something else that could be keeping it from sparking?
