Mad Mackie
Lawn Addict
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2011
- Threads
- 50
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- 1,851
Hi Doug,
The weather finally improved and I've been busy!
I have replaced the coils on a 17 and 19 Kawis, they were both older engines. Kawasaki has replaced the coils several times over the years, not sure if this is your problem. The customer with the 17 HP had a service manual and in it were the specs for testing the coils. The new coils had different primary and secondary resistance specs. The original coils on both engines had readings within the specs per the original service manual, however when hot they broke down. Both engines had rust on the magnet faces that I cleaned up before setting the gap which I use brass shim material of the correct thickness to set.
When I used my spark checkers on these engines, the coils put out an orange colored spark across the gap of the testers. After replacing the coils, I got a nice blue spark on the testers and it would jump a much larger gap. Both of these customers had run the batteries dead attempting to start the engines, so I had to have them charge the batteries and come back the next day to troubleshoot the engines. Of course they both had spark with a cold engine and a hot battery!!
Both of these engines were very dirty under the flywheels where the charging stator is located. I also had to clean the cooling fins. I suspect that these engines were running too hot during operation and possibly slowly overheating, both customers have 3-4 acres of lawn.
I have also had to replace the fuel hoses on older machines as the interior of the hose will deteriorate more quickly with the use of gasoline with ethanol. I also have had to replace the fuel selector valves as the "O" rings in the valves can deteriorate due to the same fuel problems.
It is difficult at best to troubleshoot someone's problems over the internet!!
A fairly quick method to determine if a fuel delivery problem exists by pulling in a little choke at the time the engine starts to falter. If it clears up, then it may be a fuel problem, particularly if it happens repeatedly when some choke is applied.
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:
The weather finally improved and I've been busy!
I have replaced the coils on a 17 and 19 Kawis, they were both older engines. Kawasaki has replaced the coils several times over the years, not sure if this is your problem. The customer with the 17 HP had a service manual and in it were the specs for testing the coils. The new coils had different primary and secondary resistance specs. The original coils on both engines had readings within the specs per the original service manual, however when hot they broke down. Both engines had rust on the magnet faces that I cleaned up before setting the gap which I use brass shim material of the correct thickness to set.
When I used my spark checkers on these engines, the coils put out an orange colored spark across the gap of the testers. After replacing the coils, I got a nice blue spark on the testers and it would jump a much larger gap. Both of these customers had run the batteries dead attempting to start the engines, so I had to have them charge the batteries and come back the next day to troubleshoot the engines. Of course they both had spark with a cold engine and a hot battery!!
Both of these engines were very dirty under the flywheels where the charging stator is located. I also had to clean the cooling fins. I suspect that these engines were running too hot during operation and possibly slowly overheating, both customers have 3-4 acres of lawn.
I have also had to replace the fuel hoses on older machines as the interior of the hose will deteriorate more quickly with the use of gasoline with ethanol. I also have had to replace the fuel selector valves as the "O" rings in the valves can deteriorate due to the same fuel problems.
It is difficult at best to troubleshoot someone's problems over the internet!!
A fairly quick method to determine if a fuel delivery problem exists by pulling in a little choke at the time the engine starts to falter. If it clears up, then it may be a fuel problem, particularly if it happens repeatedly when some choke is applied.
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:
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