What are the symptoms of a bad coil on a small engine?

What are the symptoms of a bad coil on a small engine?

One of the symptoms of a bad lawn mower ignition coil appears when you are mowing the lawn and the mower gets hot and literally shuts off. The mower must cool down over a period of time and will start and run for awhile until it gets hot again, at which time it will shut off again.

How do small engine ignition coils work?

When you start your lawn mower or small engine, you turn the flywheel and its magnets pass the coil (or armature). This creates a spark. Once the engine is running, the flywheel keeps rotating, the magnets keep passing the coil and the spark plug keep firing based on a specific timing.

What does the coil do on a lawn mower?

The starter coil – more commonly referred to as the ignition coil – in a lawn mower is an essential component because it is responsible for transferring voltage from the battery to the spark plug, which results in the spark that starts the mower.

What causes a small engine ignition coil to go bad?

The leading cause of premature failure of an ignition coil is due to a worn or bad spark plug ignition cable. A bad spark plug ignition cable will have a much higher than normal resistance. This high resistance causes a very high amount of voltage to be generated from your ignition coil’s secondary winding.

Why do small engine ignition coils fail?

Can an ignition coil go bad from sitting?

12 volts would kill them in short order but even at 7 they are becoming damaged every time the coil fires. It may seem odd to lead off with a short tutorial like that but when a car sits, that arcing damage on the point faces start to corrode. When the corrosion builds up the gap closes and the car won’t run.

How does the ignition system work on a lawn mower?

Whether you start the engine with a pull rope or the turn of a key on an electric start motor, you’re relying on the ignition system to produce a spark inside the combustion chamber. When you start your lawn mower or small engine, you turn the flywheel and its magnets pass the coil (or armature). This creates a spark.

How to test the ignition coil in a small engine?

How To Test the Ignition Coil in Your Small Engine. The coil is probably the easiest thing to check and therefore the first thing to check when embarking upon ignition system troubleshooting. Clip one end of the spark tester (service part number 19368) to the ignition cable and the other grounded to the cylinder head.

What’s the problem with timing on a lawn mower?

Lawn mower timing is rather unique in the small engine world, which poses some special challenges when troubleshooting an engine that refuses to start. Have you ever accidentally run over something while mowing the lawn? If the object was small enough ( like a small doggie toy) one of two things happen:

What causes a spark on a riding lawn mower?

The lawn mower timing has been affected! Remember,a spark will be produced anytime the magnets pass by the magneto coil, especially if the engine has a solid state ignition system. If the flywheel key has been sheared in half ( or even partially sheared) the spark may occur when the piston is no where near the completion of the compression stroke.