People who don't work on motors don't understand how we can get excited when we bring an engine back to life. It's just something satisfying knowing that what you did mattered. A lot of times when I'm working on an engine I will take the time to clean the coil and the flywheel. I never trust having a lot of rust on parts that depend on one another to work. I'm glad you were able to get it started without having to put any money out. Great job look forward to watching your next video.
I just did on a 450 dollar AWD mower. The guy got frustrated with it and just wanted it gone. All I did was adjust the gap and clean out the carb. It's surprising how many people don't wanna do simple maintenance on a small engine.
@@RCGshakenbake The bad thing is in this country we have become a throwaway society. It's cheaper now to buy something new then it is to take it somewhere and have it fixed. If I didn't know how to fix things I would be in big trouble. I get a lot of brand new things that people used once did not store it the proper way and now it won't start. I always look out for those type of items. I always fix them back up and as long as it did not cost me a lot of money I normally give them away to friends and family who need a lawn mower or a weed wacker. I'm retired it just gives me something to do.
Bugs me when I see people start an old engine up and have to whoop and yell, me I’m trying to hear if anything is knocking or squealing. Shut the hell up
It's strange to hear and see those old Briggs and Stratton engines coming back to life for the first time in many years, they always seem to struggle for the first 30 seconds or so to barely keep running and then suddenly burst into life, and the person makes the effort to make it happen gets a big smile on there face. Priceless!
I seized one solid on a Cement mixer back in the 1980 ‘s it had an oil leak & ran dry .I let it cool down filled it with oil & levered the fly wheel rope pull forward & back a few times with a crow bar ,Fired her up & away she went & is still mixing cement & concrete to this day .That though was a proper Briggs & Stratton side valve not a Chinese clone .
@@andrewcarter504 What are you flapping about ,this is You tube not an English grammar class .You sound like an old frustrated school mistress that’s got her knickers in a twist 😎
David Schwartz. I'm on my daughter's UA-cam account. A lot of these old briggs make it to the dump before their time. I have found a lot of these briggs won't start for people. They have spark, you can dump gas down the carb, and they have compression...or so they seem to have compression. Nobody takes the time to put a compression guage on them. They go by, "I can feel the compression by pulling the rope." In most cases the intake valve clearance is too tight. I've found a lot with zero clearance. The "compression" the people feel from the rope I believe is the piston is trying to suck vacuum on the power stroke. The compression stroke didn't produce any compression because of the intake valve lash being too tight so then the power/ignition stroke now becomes a vacuum. Anyway, most of the intake valve lash on these old flat heads are supposed to be between. 005" to .007". I set all mine at .010". Sometimes you here the valve lash and sometimes you don't. Most of my machines start on the first or second pull. Very seldom I have to pull a third time. None of my machines backfire, pop, or whatever. They all sing smoothly at any rpm. The reason I set the intake valve lash at .010" is because my machines get a lot of use. And for some reason these old flat head briggs seem to tighten the intake valve lash and widen the exhaust valve lash.
Fantastic info! Thanks so much for sharing this. Not enough people like you doing small engine repair anymore, so we all need more & more of this kind of knowledge in our backyards.
Thanks Mower Medic for the video. Super info! I'm working on a Husqvarna 143 weed eater with no spark. I live in Peru, South America and I check with your channel, the Chickanic, and Steve's Small Engine all the time for answers to my problems. I live some distance for any town and you guys have saved me on many occasions. People like you and Bre and Steve are my heroes and have saved me a lot of heartache over the years. I headed to the shop to give it a try! God Bless
Awesome dude, mine had a weak spark , i adjusted the gap and the spark went altogether, assumed the coil was busted, took it off cleaned it replaced reset the gap, works perfectly :) the new coil cost as much as i paid for the blower, ty mate :)
Thank You for sharing knowledge like this a lot of people obviously didn’t grow up like me and you did working on everything and passing on the knowledge is somthing a lot of people don’t do or don’t have the chance to do
Krovinorez stál 6 rokov na povale, lebo pôvodný majiteľ nemohol nájsť, prečo nejde. Napriek tomu som kúpil Husqvarna, už som bol zúfalý, lebo pri oprave som zistil závadu zapaľovania. Takmer som kúpil nové zapaľovanie za 80€, ale som natrafil na toto úžasné video. Podľa tohto videa som robil všetko a ušetril som veľa peňazí. Ďakujem za tip, dole klobúkom! Dúfam, že budú aj ďalšie zaujímavosti videá! S pozdravom, Erik zo Slovenska
There was a tool rental place near my friends house when I was a kid. They had a scrap box full of Briggs 8hp engines. We asked the guy if we could have a few for parts? He asked what for? We were building a go kart and he said sure take anything you want. We took four 8 hp Briggs. One had a hole in the side by the crank but good valves. One the block was perfect but the piston had a hole in it. We took all the best parts and make one good engine out of it. The Briggs carbs back then sucked so we grabbed a few Tecumseh carbs and made one good one. We drilled out the holes and with some liquid gasket it worked great on the Briggs. We beat on that engine for years with no governor. It was in my friend's shed for years but as we got older we got jobs, married and all that stuff. Those were fun days. To take a pile of junk and make it scream again through the woods. That track we ran on is now a Ford dealership, rental place is gone and my fiend passed away at 31 of CF. Love to spend a summer in those simple times when mom and dad paid all the bills and we got a goof off all summer. Now kids spend all their time on their phone or in video games. I am about to try this coil trick on my Ariens tractor with a super weak spark. See if I lost my mojo.
I learned how to check for spark many years ago from an old guy I worked with , he had me hold the spark plug while he pulled the cord . When I jumped and called him names he laughed and said you got spark. That ain’t your problem
Lightweight is good and what did I use it for it’s a lawnmower ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxTPN04aT-Qdjr_KS3ql7ng8wnU3wwsCqk also recommend Yes it is lightweight so hence not as robust as our old one. But if you take care it does the job really well.
Mowermedic1, A very well executed video for us in the youtube classroom. Good to learn something new every day, and you most certainly provided us with that. Just loved the term 'Garden scratcher" and I will incorporate it into my vocabulary. 554 thumbs up verses 0 down, and you deserve it. Thank you for this production.
I used to do the same, but the high-voltage spark won't be thwarted by the minimal resistance caused by the corrosion. It's just a matter of ensuring that the coil is properly grounded
Great video. I'm working on a small gas chainsaw with a bad coil wire. I think it got hot over so many years of use and went bad. I had to order a new coil but when I put it back together I'll be sure to clean the contact area like you showed. Also, in your video, when you loosened the coil screws the entire coil dropped, meaning the gap was bad which is another reason why it wouldn't start. That gap seems to widen over time and years of use. GREAT video Mower Medic and thanks for doing such a good job making this video and posting it to UA-cam. I'm sure it helped out a lot of garage mechanics and you did it with a smile on your face which we don't get much of around here, just a lot of cussin, coughin and spittin. It takes me at least two beers to calm down.
I love my old Briggs Quantum flathead engine mower. Starts on first pull every time. I have always run it dry at the end of the season. Never have done any major repairs, just changed oil and air filters every year.
I have been restoring two old tillers and never realized there was a needed ground connection through the bolt & body. One has no spark and one has a weak spark. Hopefully you saved me replacing the coils. Regardless this is valuable information. Thanks a heap!
Thank you so much for pointing out an issue I had been overlooking. I had been struggling for several hours testing individual components and finding all to be good but the combination failed. It was due to, as you illustrated, corrosion between the coil and engine block. I still have further issues to address before my project is completed but you helped me get passed a very perplexing issue by pointing out what should have been obvious but was overlooked nonetheless. Thank you.
Nice. Agree on the Briggs & Stratton. Been playing with them my whole life. I got free 5hp roll around leaf blower and ended up siezing the motor before I realized it was leaking oil. Solid. Couldn't even turn it. I checked it following spring and it MOVED! STP and oil and I've gotten a whole other season so far. Kan't Killem! Thanks for this video!
Good video. Well done. I like your COMPLETE 3/8 socket set in the case. Maybe if you labeled the sockets slots with a sharpie it would save you from spinning them to find the size. Just a thought. Keep up the good work. 😊
Thank you for an outstanding quality video! It is extremely hot outside with a heat index of 116 degrees and seeing this video will eliminate wasting time and diagnosing the discrepancy for no spark. Other videos did not focus on the cleaning of the coil mounting block and the mounting area for the coil. Your outstanding work ethic made me click on the like and the subscribe button including the bell! ⭐👍
Excellent video about a simple fix but generally not considered . I been in the xar game all my life and started to service my own garden mower motors . I also clean the flywheel and coil metal surface with at touch of contact spray . Good man and keep well. 🍻
I,ve been fixing little engines like this in england since I was 14 , I,m now 60 , & had never seen this done before , & it worked , logical when you think about it , as the magneto laminations must make earth contact to function , thanks , great vid . ( Briggs & Stratton make the most serviceable engines , many copies out there , but never equalled ! )
That's the part of my high school small engine repair class I was goofing off for, thanks for the info. But now that I'm 53, whenever I'm dealing with electrical connections (especially grounds to steel or iron) I always spluge it with dielectric grease.
If it's just a ground, any grease will work. Dielectric grease, being non-conductive, is only necessary when the grease would bridge multiple electrical circuits causing a short, such as in a harness.
I personally, until recently, used dielectric grease on connections. It actually caused an open circuit and my project wouldn't run. I researched dielectric grease and realized it is not conductive, contrary to my assumptions. I now use bearing grease for connections. And a small amount of dielectric on spark plug boots and such. I suppose I overlooked tue prefix "die".?
@@douglasadcock4295 The point I think I'm trying to make is to protect bare metals (in a circuit) from corrosion to prevent poor conductivity issues, grease does that. For me, if in say an electrical connector, where I don't want electricity to flow beyond its intended circuit dielectric seems the proper choice. I agree that using a conductive grease makes more sense for grounds and single circuits but I've never had an issue, as long as the connections are tight, but maybe I'm wrong, im just a shade tree mechanic/DIY guy.
Thanks for the video man. I'm really going to miss these old gassers soon as they are slowly phasing out of existence and the dawn of the cordless battery powered equipment is upon us.
Thanks-- cleaning the coil contacts restored my coil to a proper Ohm range. The puzzle is why the engine worked well enough last week, but suddenly went to zero Ohms on my VOM. Of course, rust never sleeps, and the additional oxidation-- however slight-- was probably enough to shut it down. In any case, the coil is now back to a healthy 4.64 Ohms, and its contacts are a shiny silver, again.
Amazing, I was working on my own mower . No spark . Thought I ordered another but out of the six I found one for my mower . I thought of doing that today as well but I’m to clean up the coil and fly wheel and see. I heard that years ago. 😊😊
Great video! Keep up the great work! What type of pad were you using on your grinder, and where did you get the gapping tool that you used.? Thanks for your help and keep those old school tips coming!
I picked a nice little Echo weed eater for my son in law and after rebuilding the carb it would not start. It had always been rather hard to start which I attributed to the carb. Hence a while in my ultra sonic and new diaphragms and needle. However that was not it - it was weak or non existent spark. When it would not start I put my spark checker on it and it had no spark. The next morning, I disconnected the kill wire from the on-off switch and it cranked with one pull. Hoping it was a shorted kill wire or bad switch I checked both of then and they were not the problem. I also reset the air gap but spark still kept coming and going, so it is time to replace the coil. They are pretty cheap and easy to install. I use a 6mm spark checker, too. I look for a blue/white spark all the way across the checker window. On chainsaws or other two cycle equipment this is very important. What I hate is intermittent conditions, whether spark or carb. I think the coil on this particular weed eater disappears when it gets hot, because it will die after a few minutes of run time. Replacement is the only answer to this problem.
You can sometimes cure an intermittent/ weak spark situation by baking the coil. But, you stated that, upon disconnecting the kill switch wire, the motor fired right up. I'd be inclined to recheck the wiring and the switch.
I will do that, I had a runaway Starter, once i turn the key as usual, Key appeared to spring back, but kept cranking, fiddle with key in hope I could turn it off, and FAILED.......paniced and dis coonnected battery cables. Initially I believe it was the Key ignition, but the fly wheel and starter may have caused the magneto to off set some how it it makes any sense. any way glad to see this video, doing a complete front to back maint. on it.....
Spot on video. Got troubles with an eBay Stihl FS130, ordered new magneto, and new flywheel. I reckon its probably just t he corrosion. Gonna give this a try, hopefully I will be sending them back!
I would have sworn cleaning the spots was a waste of time because I've seen worse without it being a problem. Attaboy for thorough analysis and avoiding false assumptions .
I’m going to do what you did on my 2hp briggs edger with points and condenser setup. I cleaned the flywheel and sanded the points. I get a weak spark but not a good one.
Great video! I just bought an old Ariens Rocket V with the 5HP Tecumseh engine. I tore it down today, same issue no spark. It had a massive nest on the flywheel also and several more on the cooling fins on the head. I checked points, point gap, kill switch wire for shorts, cleaned the rust off of the flywheel and magnets, etc. Did not think to check the coil for rust. So I'll tear it back down tomorrow and check for corrosion under the coil, everything looked good except for the dirt dobber nest. I'll also have my multi meter to check the condensor, and coil. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.
My snowblower ran fine till I changed fuel line and now I have no spark. Makes no sense,no pinched wire. Will try this tonight. Wouldn't it be great if they would have had a hex nut on outside of pull start so you could put impact gun on? It would save thousands of pulls especially for guys like you that work on them all the time. Thanks for video
Cheers. I've got a strimmer I need to try that on. What I usually do first when the flywheel is rusty is use some emery cloth and shine up the magnetic part and the coil where it is closest to the flywheel. Forgot the name of it.
I got a older echo weedeater that acts up every once in a while.. take ground / kill wire off and it gets spark again.. might help get your trimmer going again
Yes, that is good tip with Cleanning the base of the coil! I watched one of your prior videos where you did it! I tried on B/S Eng and it worked! Thanks!
My Hero! I was going nuts trying to get my Stihil blower going again . This method worked for me. Thank God for guys as yourself passing the knowledge.
Well, my X300R JD with twin cyl Kawasaki is doing this. I replaced the coils 4-5 years ago, but maybe they just need cleaning.. will try this 1st..!! Thanks..
I have one like that, though the belt guard disappeared well before I bought it from a friend 27 years ago. I put a solid state ignition coil on it about 15 years ago. Starts every time.
Pretty nifty air gap gauge there. Although you didn't say, I'm assuming that it's .17 thousands thick. Learned that on my 71 Ford breaker points. Also the same gap as motorcycle pick up coil air gap. I'd have probably run a redundant ground wire to the coil bolt as well, but then I learned that for jet ski starter grounds.
Good video be more careful with those bolts they snap off pretty easy. Uzi when I get them down that far I usually just clean the gas tank out and and take the carburetor apart usually don't have to use any gaskets and I've been using apple cider vinegar to clean rust out.
I had a MAC Tools die grinder that used to do the same as yours - But would start turning with a little encouragement. Those 5hp Briggs & Stratton engines are smooth running for sure.
I have also noticed that cleaning the coil face towards the flywheel and the magnet on the flywheel from rust also helped when as I had weak spark after cleaning the mounting points so I then cleaned the flywheel magnets and the coil and I had good spark after
Thank you again for more good old mechanics tricks! I am having a heck of a time trying to get spark on a GCV190. I will try that trick tomorrow! Keep it up!
Im having problem with my minibike, Its not making spark too. It was in Garage for 5 years And the spark was ONLY for 10 minutes. Then it stopped doing spark And i Will try What You did. Amazing video!😊
Man! Thanks so much for this lesson. I have the same exact briggs 5hp on my old Huskee tiller. I'm trying to figure out where the kill wire on the magneto/coil terminates to .
Just did this very same thing on a briggs ohv (31P777) Was off a Craftsman DLT3000 that spent too many years parked outside. Cleaning up the coil got it running again, which showed me why it was parked and why I got it for free. I didn't know rings could have such a huge end gap but still have the compression to run the thing. Nor have I ever seen a piston rock that much inside a cylinder hahahha All that blow by blew out the fuel pump too. These Intek OHV engines are garbage compared to the old flatheads. They drop valve seats, bend push rods, you can't find oversized pistons or rings anymore, and lets not forget about those awesome decompression levers that require a new cam shaft. They all break, maybe tomorrow, maybe it already has. I have a pair of 2 hp ('74 and '85) an 8 hp ('73), and a mini bike with a 5 hp from '93 and they're practically indestructible.
Dang buddy I wish I would have seen this video before I ordered my coil for my Craftsman lawn mower that crapped out on me☹☹ I took it completely apart and came to the conclusion that it is a bad coil😋😋 I am definitely saving this video as one of my favorites by the way you have some awesome content sir👌👌👌😁😁🙏🙏
I’ve seen so many times that small engine mechanics just throw coils at a no spark or weak spark without verifying if the coil/coils are properly grounded to the engine. They don’t take into consideration the at corrosion between the morning points will make it much harder for the spark to return back to ground especially in a tuning engine where you need to jump the gap which already just dropped a considerable amount of voltage.
People who don't work on motors don't understand how we can get excited when we bring an engine back to life. It's just something satisfying knowing that what you did mattered. A lot of times when I'm working on an engine I will take the time to clean the coil and the flywheel. I never trust having a lot of rust on parts that depend on one another to work.
I'm glad you were able to get it started without having to put any money out. Great job look forward to watching your next video.
I just did on a 450 dollar AWD mower. The guy got frustrated with it and just wanted it gone. All I did was adjust the gap and clean out the carb. It's surprising how many people don't wanna do simple maintenance on a small engine.
@@RCGshakenbake The bad thing is in this country we have become a throwaway society. It's cheaper now to buy something new then it is to take it somewhere and have it fixed. If I didn't know how to fix things I would be in big trouble. I get a lot of brand new things that people used once did not store it the proper way and now it won't start. I always look out for those type of items. I always fix them back up and as long as it did not cost me a lot of money I normally give them away to friends and family who need a lawn mower or a weed wacker. I'm retired it just gives me something to do.
I love fixing things
Bugs me when I see people start an old engine up and have to whoop and yell, me I’m trying to hear if anything is knocking or squealing.
Shut the hell up
@@jimhoover4060i hate diagnosing, but i love replacing stuff lol. I guess working automotive electrical shop really exhausted my passion
I worked on my lawnmower for 2 hours and was ready to give up, untill I watched your video. Thank you!
Your suggestion to use the old mechanic’s trick worked like a charm! Got my old gas edger running after 5 plus years of non running. Thank you!
It's strange to hear and see those old Briggs and Stratton engines coming back to life for the first time in many years, they always seem to struggle for the first 30 seconds or so to barely keep running and then suddenly burst into life, and the person makes the effort to make it happen gets a big smile on there face. Priceless!
I seized one solid on a Cement mixer back in the 1980 ‘s it had an oil leak & ran dry .I let it cool down filled it with oil & levered the fly wheel rope pull forward & back a few times with a crow bar ,Fired her up & away she went & is still mixing cement & concrete to this day .That though was a proper Briggs & Stratton side valve not a Chinese clone .
Their as in belonging to not there as in over there!
@@andrewcarter504 What are you flapping about ,this is You tube not an English grammar class .You sound like an old frustrated school mistress that’s got her knickers in a twist 😎
David Schwartz. I'm on my daughter's UA-cam account. A lot of these old briggs make it to the dump before their time. I have found a lot of these briggs won't start for people. They have spark, you can dump gas down the carb, and they have compression...or so they seem to have compression. Nobody takes the time to put a compression guage on them. They go by, "I can feel the compression by pulling the rope." In most cases the intake valve clearance is too tight. I've found a lot with zero clearance. The "compression" the people feel from the rope I believe is the piston is trying to suck vacuum on the power stroke. The compression stroke didn't produce any compression because of the intake valve lash being too tight so then the power/ignition stroke now becomes a vacuum. Anyway, most of the intake valve lash on these old flat heads are supposed to be between. 005" to .007". I set all mine at .010". Sometimes you here the valve lash and sometimes you don't. Most of my machines start on the first or second pull. Very seldom I have to pull a third time. None of my machines backfire, pop, or whatever. They all sing smoothly at any rpm. The reason I set the intake valve lash at .010" is because my machines get a lot of use. And for some reason these old flat head briggs seem to tighten the intake valve lash and widen the exhaust valve lash.
@@nickigilbert7295 Thanks Nicki for the extensive explanation, I bet I have two Ole Briggs suffering from that problem right now.
Fantastic info! Thanks so much for sharing this. Not enough people like you doing small engine repair anymore, so we all need more & more of this kind of knowledge in our backyards.
Thanks Mower Medic for the video. Super info! I'm working on a Husqvarna 143 weed eater with no spark. I live in Peru, South America and I check with your channel, the Chickanic, and Steve's Small Engine all the time for answers to my problems. I live some distance for any town and you guys have saved me on many occasions. People like you and Bre and Steve are my heroes and have saved me a lot of heartache over the years. I headed to the shop to give it a try! God Bless
I owe you a beer! I followed the suggestion on my no spark 3.5 B+S and goddamit spark came back hot as can be. You seriously ROCK!
Awesome dude, mine had a weak spark , i adjusted the gap and the spark went altogether, assumed the coil was busted, took it off cleaned it replaced reset the gap, works perfectly :) the new coil cost as much as i paid for the blower, ty mate :)
Gotta love it when a little effort leads to a "no parts repair".
Thank You for sharing knowledge like this a lot of people obviously didn’t grow up like me and you did working on everything and passing on the knowledge is somthing a lot of people don’t do or don’t have the chance to do
Krovinorez stál 6 rokov na povale, lebo pôvodný majiteľ nemohol nájsť, prečo nejde. Napriek tomu som kúpil Husqvarna, už som bol zúfalý, lebo pri oprave som zistil závadu zapaľovania. Takmer som kúpil nové zapaľovanie za 80€, ale som natrafil na toto úžasné video. Podľa tohto videa som robil všetko a ušetril som veľa peňazí. Ďakujem za tip, dole klobúkom! Dúfam, že budú aj ďalšie zaujímavosti videá! S pozdravom, Erik zo Slovenska
There was a tool rental place near my friends house when I was a kid. They had a scrap box full of Briggs 8hp engines. We asked the guy if we could have a few for parts? He asked what for? We were building a go kart and he said sure take anything you want. We took four 8 hp Briggs. One had a hole in the side by the crank but good valves. One the block was perfect but the piston had a hole in it. We took all the best parts and make one good engine out of it. The Briggs carbs back then sucked so we grabbed a few Tecumseh carbs and made one good one. We drilled out the holes and with some liquid gasket it worked great on the Briggs. We beat on that engine for years with no governor. It was in my friend's shed for years but as we got older we got jobs, married and all that stuff. Those were fun days. To take a pile of junk and make it scream again through the woods. That track we ran on is now a Ford dealership, rental place is gone and my fiend passed away at 31 of CF. Love to spend a summer in those simple times when mom and dad paid all the bills and we got a goof off all summer. Now kids spend all their time on their phone or in video games. I am about to try this coil trick on my Ariens tractor with a super weak spark. See if I lost my mojo.
Good one brother sorry about your friend tho bro
Thanks for helping me fix my lawnmower for $0!
Thank you for showing me what you did. That’s what my problem was with my motor on my lawnmower
I learned how to check for spark many years ago from an old guy I worked with , he had me hold the spark plug while he pulled the cord . When I jumped and called him names he laughed and said you got spark. That ain’t your problem
Wrong. Coils can have spark all day but fire at the wrong time.
Yep. Me too
LMAO 😂😂😂
I like cool wahip
I guess were both ol skool cuz thatz how i learned it
Need that coil gap tool ..
Nice Test .. 👍
Does anyone know where to find that gapping tool? So cool.
@@billstoikos9775 I've heard a standard business card does the trick
Lightweight is good and what did I use it for it’s a lawnmower ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxTPN04aT-Qdjr_KS3ql7ng8wnU3wwsCqk also recommend Yes it is lightweight so hence not as robust as our old one. But if you take care it does the job really well.
You saved me a trip to town and the cash to buy a new coil.
Thank you
Awesome advice on the rust removal on the flywheel and coil surface.... great help!! Thank you very much!
I didn't think your method would work! I'm impressed! Just cleaning the ground points!
I like that sanding or cleaning pad on your air grinder , the one you used to clean the coil with . Also like your coil gap tool nice handy .
"roloc" style discs can achieve the same outcome if you're looking for some. They look sorta like scotch-brite material.
I just used a pocket knife to do the same thing...
@@AM-hf9kk erry noice mate
Mowermedic1,
A very well executed video for us in the youtube classroom. Good to learn something new every day, and you most certainly provided us with that. Just loved the term 'Garden scratcher" and I will incorporate it into my vocabulary. 554 thumbs up verses 0 down, and you deserve it. Thank you for this production.
I always start with the flywheel clean up ,sanding the magnets.
I used to do the same, but the high-voltage spark won't be thwarted by the minimal resistance caused by the corrosion.
It's just a matter of ensuring that the coil is properly grounded
Great video. I'm working on a small gas chainsaw with a bad coil wire. I think it got hot over so many years of use and went bad. I had to order a new coil but when I put it back together I'll be sure to clean the contact area like you showed. Also, in your video, when you loosened the coil screws the entire coil dropped, meaning the gap was bad which is another reason why it wouldn't start. That gap seems to widen over time and years of use. GREAT video Mower Medic and thanks for doing such a good job making this video and posting it to UA-cam. I'm sure it helped out a lot of garage mechanics and you did it with a smile on your face which we don't get much of around here, just a lot of cussin, coughin and spittin. It takes me at least two beers to calm down.
I love my old Briggs Quantum flathead engine mower. Starts on first pull every time. I have always run it dry at the end of the season. Never have done any major repairs, just changed oil and air filters every year.
I have learned that simple stuff keeps the hard fixes away
I have done that several times and it works great!!
Thanks for the tip, picked up an old shredder with the exact engine, no spark last night, now it runs like a champ.
I have been restoring two old tillers and never realized there was a needed ground connection through the bolt & body. One has no spark and one has a weak spark. Hopefully you saved me replacing the coils. Regardless this is valuable information. Thanks a heap!
I so appreciate this video. I was about to order a new coil and will definitely give this a try first.
Thank you so much for pointing out an issue I had been overlooking.
I had been struggling for several hours testing individual components and finding all to be good but the combination failed.
It was due to, as you illustrated, corrosion between the coil and engine block.
I still have further issues to address before my project is completed but you helped me get passed a very perplexing issue by pointing out what should have been obvious but was overlooked nonetheless.
Thank you.
YEP ME TOO... COIL TO ENGINE BLOCK CORROSION...
Nice. Agree on the Briggs & Stratton. Been playing with them my whole life. I got free 5hp roll around leaf blower and ended up siezing the motor before I realized it was leaking oil. Solid. Couldn't even turn it. I checked it following spring and it MOVED! STP and oil and I've gotten a whole other season so far. Kan't Killem! Thanks for this video!
Good video. Well done. I like your COMPLETE 3/8 socket set in the case. Maybe if you labeled the sockets slots with a sharpie it would save you from spinning them to find the size. Just a thought.
Keep up the good work. 😊
Thank you for an outstanding quality video! It is extremely hot outside with a heat index of 116 degrees and seeing this video will eliminate wasting time and diagnosing the discrepancy for no spark. Other videos did not focus on the cleaning of the coil mounting block and the mounting area for the coil. Your outstanding work ethic made me click on the like and the subscribe button including the bell! ⭐👍
I love this thanks for watching
Thanks brother... I got 3 I need to check out now. My hope is back...👍
Great video....I also cleaned the flywheel surface....ordering one of those spark testers today.....thanks
Excellent video about a simple fix but generally not considered . I been in the xar game all my life and started to service my own garden mower motors . I also clean the flywheel and coil metal surface with at touch of contact spray . Good man and keep well. 🍻
I,ve been fixing little engines like this in england since I was 14 , I,m now 60 , & had never seen this done before , & it worked , logical when you think about it , as the magneto laminations must make earth contact to function , thanks , great vid . ( Briggs & Stratton make the most serviceable engines , many copies out there , but never equalled ! )
How many times you replaced good coils in then 46 years lol
It's not often I learn a new trick and you sir, have pulled it off! Thank you.
That's the part of my high school small engine repair class I was goofing off for, thanks for the info. But now that I'm 53, whenever I'm dealing with electrical connections (especially grounds to steel or iron) I always spluge it with dielectric grease.
Use RTV Over your ground connections. They will never get corroded.
If it's just a ground, any grease will work. Dielectric grease, being non-conductive, is only necessary when the grease would bridge multiple electrical circuits causing a short, such as in a harness.
@@ProleDaddy true, i just know, bare grounds corrode, and need protection.
I personally, until recently, used dielectric grease on connections. It actually caused an open circuit and my project wouldn't run. I researched dielectric grease and realized it is not conductive, contrary to my assumptions. I now use bearing grease for connections. And a small amount of dielectric on spark plug boots and such. I suppose I overlooked tue prefix "die".?
@@douglasadcock4295 The point I think I'm trying to make is to protect bare metals (in a circuit) from corrosion to prevent poor conductivity issues, grease does that. For me, if in say an electrical connector, where I don't want electricity to flow beyond its intended circuit dielectric seems the proper choice. I agree that using a conductive grease makes more sense for grounds and single circuits but I've never had an issue, as long as the connections are tight, but maybe I'm wrong, im just a shade tree mechanic/DIY guy.
Thanks - didn't know that about cleaning the coil mounting area.
Thanks for the video man. I'm really going to miss these old gassers soon as they are slowly phasing out of existence and the dawn of the cordless battery powered equipment is upon us.
Thanks-- cleaning the coil contacts restored my coil to a proper Ohm range. The puzzle is why the engine worked well enough last week, but suddenly went to zero Ohms on my VOM. Of course, rust never sleeps, and the additional oxidation-- however slight-- was probably enough to shut it down. In any case, the coil is now back to a healthy 4.64 Ohms, and its contacts are a shiny silver, again.
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Amazing, I was working on my own mower . No spark . Thought I ordered another but out of the six I found one for my mower . I thought of doing that today as well but I’m to clean up the coil and fly wheel and see. I heard that years ago. 😊😊
Going to diagnose my 5 hp B & S wood chipper as per your instruction. Thank you.
Love all the roosters crowing in the background!
Great video! Keep up the great work! What type of pad were you using on your grinder, and where did you get the gapping tool that you used.? Thanks for your help and keep those old school tips coming!
I picked a nice little Echo weed eater for my son in law and after rebuilding the carb it would not start. It had always been rather hard to start which I attributed to the carb. Hence a while in my ultra sonic and new diaphragms and needle. However that was not it - it was weak or non existent spark. When it would not start I put my spark checker on it and it had no spark. The next morning, I disconnected the kill wire from the on-off switch and it cranked with one pull. Hoping it was a shorted kill wire or bad switch I checked both of then and they were not the problem. I also reset the air gap but spark still kept coming and going, so it is time to replace the coil. They are pretty cheap and easy to install. I use a 6mm spark checker, too. I look for a blue/white spark all the way across the checker window. On chainsaws or other two cycle equipment this is very important. What I hate is intermittent conditions, whether spark or carb. I think the coil on this particular weed eater disappears when it gets hot, because it will die after a few minutes of run time. Replacement is the only answer to this problem.
You can sometimes cure an intermittent/ weak spark situation by baking the coil.
But, you stated that, upon disconnecting the kill switch wire, the motor fired right up.
I'd be inclined to recheck the wiring and the switch.
I will do that, I had a runaway Starter, once i turn the key as usual, Key appeared to spring back, but kept cranking, fiddle with key in hope I could turn it off, and FAILED.......paniced and dis coonnected battery cables. Initially I believe it was the Key ignition, but the fly wheel and starter may have caused the magneto to off set some how it it makes any sense. any way glad to see this video, doing a complete front to back maint. on it.....
Great video. I hope you remembered to clean the dirt out of the fylwheel!
Spot on video. Got troubles with an eBay Stihl FS130, ordered new magneto, and new flywheel. I reckon its probably just t he corrosion. Gonna give this a try, hopefully I will be sending them back!
I would have sworn cleaning the spots was a waste of time because I've seen worse without it being a problem. Attaboy for thorough analysis and avoiding false assumptions .
I’m going to do what you did on my 2hp briggs edger with points and condenser setup. I cleaned the flywheel and sanded the points. I get a weak spark but not a good one.
Great video! I just bought an old Ariens Rocket V with the 5HP Tecumseh engine. I tore it down today, same issue no spark. It had a massive nest on the flywheel also and several more on the cooling fins on the head. I checked points, point gap, kill switch wire for shorts, cleaned the rust off of the flywheel and magnets, etc. Did not think to check the coil for rust. So I'll tear it back down tomorrow and check for corrosion under the coil, everything looked good except for the dirt dobber nest. I'll also have my multi meter to check the condensor, and coil. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.
I like your tools
My snowblower ran fine till I changed fuel line and now I have no spark. Makes no sense,no pinched wire. Will try this tonight. Wouldn't it be great if they would have had a hex nut on outside of pull start so you could put impact gun on? It would save thousands of pulls especially for guys like you that work on them all the time. Thanks for video
If servicing the coil, you're going to have to remove the recoil starter anyhow, which gives access to the flywheel hex nut.
thank you, no spark on the weed eater, sanded off a little bit of rust on the coil and I got the spark back, thank you
Hey man , you’re the best!! I did what you did in the video and my little tecumseh engine roared back to life!!! Thanks!😊
Thanks to your video you saved me a lot of money thank you so much
Once again. A great tip and video
Thank you
Nanny Boo Boo? You crack me up........lol. Excellent information brother! Thanks for putting this out there. Keep it up!
Thanks for the video shoutout! That was great!!!
W0W THANK YOU THAT WAS THE BIG PROBLEM IS THE COIL TO THE CYLINDER HEAD DIRTY BAD CONTACT, SAND IT CLEAN STARTED RIGHT UP ALMOST BOUGHT COIL...
Cheers. I've got a strimmer I need to try that on. What I usually do first when the flywheel is rusty is use some emery cloth and shine up the magnetic part and the coil where it is closest to the flywheel. Forgot the name of it.
I got a older echo weedeater that acts up every once in a while.. take ground / kill wire off and it gets spark again.. might help get your trimmer going again
Unbelievable, I have that same wrench but never thought to use it on my smaller machine
S
Thank you
Ive learned to spray seafoam topend cleaner in small engines. Works great.
Yes, that is good tip with Cleanning the base of the coil! I watched one of your prior videos where you did it! I tried on B/S Eng and it worked! Thanks!
Thanks for the video. It really helped me to understand the ignition system and diagnose my log splitter. thanks agaiin!
Your the man bro.
My Hero! I was going nuts trying to get my Stihil blower going again . This method worked for me. Thank God for guys as yourself passing the knowledge.
Did this on my mower fired right up, Thank you 👍.
Awesome job, great information easy to understand 😊
Well, my X300R JD with twin cyl Kawasaki is doing this. I replaced the coils 4-5 years ago, but maybe they just need cleaning.. will try this 1st..!! Thanks..
I have one like that, though the belt guard disappeared well before I bought it from a friend 27 years ago. I put a solid state ignition coil on it about 15 years ago. Starts every time.
Original engine, by the way
Funny you put this video out... I did that on a briggs earlier today. It's amazing how often that solves the issue. 😎
Pretty nifty air gap gauge there. Although you didn't say, I'm assuming that it's .17 thousands thick. Learned that on my 71 Ford breaker points. Also the same gap as motorcycle pick up coil air gap. I'd have probably run a redundant ground wire to the coil bolt as well, but then I learned that for jet ski starter grounds.
Good video be more careful with those bolts they snap off pretty easy. Uzi when I get them down that far I usually just clean the gas tank out and and take the carburetor apart usually don't have to use any gaskets and I've been using apple cider vinegar to clean rust out.
Good tip for sure, I do this on dirt bikes aswell ! Those are definitely a nice engine and my favourite on a rototiller.
Brilliant and done with good old common sense
Thanks for the video. I'll go give it a try. Oh, and nice to see that you and I buy our safety boots in the same place.....
Thank you .so much.it is good to learn.everyday.
Hey that was fun. Like to have seen you scratch that old mud dauber's nest out, but I guess I can't have everything.
Outstanding video.....Going to give this a try tomorrow morning before my grass grows 6 more inches over night
lol Mine seems to do that too!
Great little diag on that tiller….👍👍
HOLY SHIT!! I clicked on this, and right off it was OMG!! "it's the sling blade guy"!
Ain’t no gas in it uh huh
Hell yeah get this man a beer.
I had a MAC Tools die grinder that used to do the same as yours - But would start turning with a little encouragement. Those 5hp Briggs & Stratton engines are smooth running for sure.
I think I had that same engine on my minibike as a kid. 😂🤨
I have also noticed that cleaning the coil face towards the flywheel and the magnet on the flywheel from rust also helped when as I had weak spark after cleaning the mounting points so I then cleaned the flywheel magnets and the coil and I had good spark after
Surface rust on the flywheel and on the coil has nothing to do with the production of
Spark. Only the mounting surfaces.
@@THEMOWERMEDIC1 wrong!
I waited patiently to see if you were going to remove the dirt dobber nest on the flywheel but I guess it is there for counter weight.
GOOD VIDEO ideally wish you would name the type of tools to use while making the repairs
Thank you again for more good old mechanics tricks! I am having a heck of a time trying to get spark on a GCV190. I will try that trick tomorrow! Keep it up!
Wow I'm new with this type of machines and this video was very informative!!!
Great video. And don't forget to clean the rust of the front of the coil too where it asks at the magnets on the motor spinner thingy. 😉
Im having problem with my minibike, Its not making spark too. It was in Garage for 5 years And the spark was ONLY for 10 minutes. Then it stopped doing spark And i Will try What You did. Amazing video!😊
Should you not also clean the flywheel magnet and the corresponding pickup points on the armature?
Nice! 💯😎 I’m Working On A Craftsman 20hp, Cleaned The Coil & Still No Spark But I Think Mice Chewed Up The Cable Too Bad
Man! Thanks so much for this lesson. I have the same exact briggs 5hp on my old Huskee tiller. I'm trying to figure out where the kill wire on the magneto/coil terminates to .
I have zillion of these B&S engines...even Koler engines which are rare to find in a 12 hp....they all start right up like champs.
Just did this very same thing on a briggs ohv (31P777) Was off a Craftsman DLT3000 that spent too many years parked outside. Cleaning up the coil got it running again, which showed me why it was parked and why I got it for free.
I didn't know rings could have such a huge end gap but still have the compression to run the thing. Nor have I ever seen a piston rock that much inside a cylinder hahahha All that blow by blew out the fuel pump too. These Intek OHV engines are garbage compared to the old flatheads. They drop valve seats, bend push rods, you can't find oversized pistons or rings anymore, and lets not forget about those awesome decompression levers that require a new cam shaft. They all break, maybe tomorrow, maybe it already has.
I have a pair of 2 hp ('74 and '85) an 8 hp ('73), and a mini bike with a 5 hp from '93 and they're practically indestructible.
I wouldn’t mind having that cornwell socket set at 1:46 I don’t see that stuff around. Those are high end tools.
Great video, with a good recommendation. Well done!
Dang buddy I wish I would have seen this video before I ordered my coil for my Craftsman lawn mower that crapped out on me☹☹ I took it completely apart and came to the conclusion that it is a bad coil😋😋 I am definitely saving this video as one of my favorites by the way you have some awesome content sir👌👌👌😁😁🙏🙏
I’ve seen so many times that small engine mechanics just throw coils at a no spark or weak spark without verifying if the coil/coils are properly grounded to the engine. They don’t take into consideration the at corrosion between the morning points will make it much harder for the spark to return back to ground especially in a tuning engine where you need to jump the gap which already just dropped a considerable amount of voltage.