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Hello Everyone. I had posted before for my John Deere LX 176 mower not having spark. The rider has been trouble free for years when I bought it used from my local New Holland dealer. I'll give a run down on what I have done to the tractor to get advice on a possible solution. Prior to the tractor stopping completely I noticed at times it cranked awhile before starting. I got the tractor out to mow the lawn and once I got started and ran a couple passes it stopped suddenly as if it were out of gas. I knew the gas was full because I had just filled it prior to mowing. I ran to the store and bought a new in line fuel filter and spark plug. I returned home changing both and it still would not start. I grabbed the New Holland and forks scooping her up to the garage. Once there I checked the tractor finding no spark at the plug. I figured it was a coil issue and went back to my New Holland dealer to order a coil since their sister store is a John Deere dealer. Once at the dealer they needed my tractor info which is as follows (1993 John Deere LX 176 - 14 hp K series - code FC420V-AS10 - e/no FC420VA63547 Kawasaki). The coil arrived (AM121820) $95.16 and I replaced same with no spark still. I then figured the ignitor may have went bad and went to the local NAPA store and had them cross the ignitor $75.00. I picked up the ignitor and put it on still having no spark. I then read where someone said its best to put factory parts, so I returned to the dealer to buy the John Deere ignitor (AM132770) $78.15. The ignitor arrived and I put it on with no spark still. I then went back to Deere for an ignition switch (AM121084) $104.03. Put it on and nothing. Thought unlikely, but I returned to Deere thinking maybe a bad coil. I made the purchase of another coil (AM121820) for a mere $95.16 with the same results of no spark. Well now that I'm $447.50 in this bad boy and love the tractor I can't convince myself to buy a new one. Last year I replaced all the Hydro pulleys, arms, and belt instead of buying a new one because it ran so good. I replaced and bought a new spark plug boot. I pulled the flywheel to check for a sheared key which it was fine. Under the flywheel was packed with grass and dirt. I cleaned the flywheel and inspected the magnets which were like new. I cleaned the the stator and checked the wiring for cracks which may be grounding out and all were fine. I've been everywhere on this tractor and can't find the source of the no spark issue. After cleaning under the flywheel I did notice when I cranked the tractor over, when I released the key I got a couple crisp blue snaps from the spark plug. I placed a spark plug tester in line and cranked it over with the tester showing a very dim pulse and when I released the key the bulb went bright for a pulse or two. Same thing every time I tried it. After I went into the house I began to check the John Deere web site on line. After doing a parts comparison I noticed that every part matched my model of tractor except one, the coil. The coil that was sold to me by the dealer was (AM121820) for $95.16. This coil seemed to go with the (FC420V-DS10, ES10) tractors. After looking it over I noticed my tractor called for (AM109209) for $64.57 on (FC420V-AS10, BS10). Could this be my whole problem, I was given the wrong coil from the start ? The next day after work I rushed home and picked up a coil and receipt. I returned to the dealer to see if they could get the other coil in so that I could try to see if it solved my ongoing problem. A service tech was there and when I explained to them what I had found, he asked if I placed the coil on the correct way. I told him that the coil only has enough wire to go one way. He told me that its either the coil or the stator. The tech asked if I checked the the stator for its condition and the magnets under the flywheel. I told him I cleaned and checked the both the stator and flywheel were both fine. The magnets were solid and intact and the stator showed no signs of cracks or wear really. The dealership told me they would contact me when the other coil arrived. I hope the coil is the answer to my problem so I can get this mower back on the lawn. What do you guys think about the coil being the possible issue. Also if not the coil do you think the stator could be the problem. It doesn't seem to have any charging issues and always kept the battery up. I even replaced and put a new battery.

"K&T Parts House Lawn Mower Parts and Chain Saw & Trimmer Parts" Click on your manual & download at bottom left of screen, page 8.

I have a JD 185 with a Kawasaki 17hp FC540V engine that sounds like the same issue. New coil this spring and has run great all summer, but has recently started just cutting out, and is losing spark sporadically. Sometimes it immediately will fire back up, and sometimes it doesn't. So I was thinking that maybe it was overheating somehow, until it recently did it after 10 minutes of running, so Im kinda ruling that out. It has been more humid lately, so Im thinking that may be playing a role with something electronic. All safety switches seem to be working. What else is there aside from the coil and ignitor that could be causing this? A simple search of this issue seems to net a lot of people reporting the same issue, with little to no answers, seems odd to me. Would the stator cause an issue like this? To the original poster of this thread, I also was given a coil that didn't match up per the book as well, but was told that the Part numbers had changed. That, and the coil has worked like a champ for 4-5 months now and did at least look identical to the old one.

cummins600seriesdiesel said:

After cleaning under the flywheel I did notice when I cranked the tractor over, when I released the key I got a couple crisp blue snaps from the spark plug. I placed a spark plug tester in line and cranked it over with the tester showing a very dim pulse and when I released the key the bulb went bright for a pulse or two. Same thing every time I tried it.

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I think the key is here somewhere...... Can you turn the key to the on position, then with an old screwdriver/wire, jump your starter directly, crank over your engine that way and see what happens?

Also, take a voltmeter and check for voltage at the small terminal on the coil with the key turned to all of its positions, you should not read any.

JD185 said:

I have a JD 185 with a Kawasaki 17hp FC540V engine that sounds like the same issue. New coil this spring and has run great all summer, but has recently started just cutting out, and is losing spark sporadically. Sometimes it immediately will fire back up, and sometimes it doesn't. So I was thinking that maybe it was overheating somehow, until it recently did it after 10 minutes of running, so Im kinda ruling that out. It has been more humid lately, so Im thinking that may be playing a role with something electronic. All safety switches seem to be working. What else is there aside from the coil and ignitor that could be causing this? A simple search of this issue seems to net a lot of people reporting the same issue, with little to no answers, seems odd to me. Would the stator cause an issue like this? To the original poster of this thread, I also was given a coil that didn't match up per the book as well, but was told that the Part numbers had changed. That, and the coil has worked like a champ for 4-5 months now and did at least look identical to the old one.

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Yeah, my problem seemed 100% coil related to me when it happened. No real warning other than at times when it was warm after running it wouldn't start after shutting off. If I came back later and hit the key it fired up. I did go to the local repair shop the other day and spoke with the owner who I worked with at another job back in the day. I told him what it was doing and that I received two wrong coils from Deere that went to another tractor. I know the coil mine calls for is still a current number and part. After explaining it to him he stated he has had that happen in his shop before and said that is what the problem is. So I'm going today to see if it arrived so I can install it tonight and try it. Nice thing about it was he checked his inventory to see if he already had one on the shelf to let me take home to try. He asked me why I never just brought him the tractor to repair in the first place. I told him that I have diesel trucks, tractors, and build emergency vehicles with all that wiring and couldn't bring myself to accept I've been beaten by a lawn tractor. Haha

Fish said:

I think the key is here somewhere...... Can you turn the key to the on position, then with an old screwdriver/wire, jump your starter directly, crank over your engine that way and see what happens?

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Would this be to bypass the key/switch to make sure that isn't the issue? If that was bad or going bad, would that cause the engine to quit during midmowing? Its worth a shot, I will try this, but think its best to try it once the engine does actually cut out and not want to refire when there is no spark present.

Update for me. Today, It started right up, and I mowed the front with no issues whatsoever. Let it set for a while, and then mowed the back. It cut out at 3 different points. Never refired immediately, but all 3 times, refired withing 4-5 different key turns trying. Its a pretty obvious sound when its turning over and there is no spark. Then all of the sudden, it fires right up. Today was dry and hot. The previous times with the issue of it not restarting for hours, it was quite humid out.

Has the LX176 ever run without issue with these "new coils"? I would be Steaming if I had spent @$500 in coils that I assume are non returnable, just to find out they were selling me the wrong one. I know my John Deere store would not take them back, as with my previous issue, it was more of a guess that buying a new coil would do the trick and they said absolutely no returns if it didn't. Please keep this updated with anything you find out! Im at a loss as of now.

Do the voltage reading test I mentioned earlier, if you find any voltage, that is likely the culprit. DC voltage.

Fish said:

Do the voltage reading test I mentioned earlier, if you find any voltage, that is likely the culprit. DC voltage.

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Ok, will give it a shot hopefully tomorrow. If I need another coil again, It might be time for me to just buy a new mower. Im not into buying new coils every couple of months. Could there be a deeper issue that would cause a new coil to go bad within months???

I must admit, I have not worked on that many Kawasakis, but they are pretty much the same as Briggs and Tecumsehs. I have worked on a few pull start models that had the coil and the "igniter", no alt, stator. or anything else, so I must assume that it is
just like the Briggs. So if that is the case, disconnect the igniter from everything but the coil, and everything else from the coil,
and if the coil and igniter and flywheel are fine, you will have a spark every time the flywheel makes a revolution, if not, then one of those components is bad.

But the bad thing that comes with all of this news, is that if somehow voltage reaches the coil/igniter, it will destroy them, which
makes me think that the original keyswitch may be the bad actor, and has destroyed the old and new ignition parts, or some
variation of that scenario....

On these systems, when you turn the key to "off", it "grounds" out the coil and shuts the engine down. So the bad news is, that you may have destroyed good, new ignition parts buy just buying and plugging stuff in. But to figure this out, you need to step back and take 1 step at a time. Your local JD Dealer should step up and help snce they have been taking a lot of your money and giving pist/poor advice....

I went to the dealer Friday after work and no coil yet. Down side to ordering it at the New Holland dealer beside me is they have to order it from their sister store. When they don't have it in stock they got to order it themselves, get it, and ship it to my store. I change my igniter, coil, and key ignition switch. Have you looked at your ignition switch? I know mine has a circuit board on it. I've done and replaced everything I could on mine and believe the stator is just charging related, which I've never had and issue with it not charging. I know I've read to check your wiring harness to make sure you don't have a spot worn through which may be grounding out at times. I know I've taken the grounding / kill wire off my coil and cranked to never really having any spark from the wrong coils. I too have looked for a solution to my problem, not to find any. It wasn't till I sat down and started matching part for part on the Deere web site to find the issues with the wrong coil. The coils given to me as well looked the same as the one I took off originally. There has to be something in the coils different. I don't know. When I get the coil I'll try it to see where I'm at I guess. I really don't want to take it to the shop for repair. I'll give you the heads up when I get it to try. I know I'm excited to get that 38" deck with bagger back on the front lawn instead of the 6' rear discharge deck on the New Holland.

Okay. The dealer called today and the coil has arrived. I had to do some running around after picking it up and it was killing me to know if this was the issue. When I picked the coil up I asked the parts counter if this is the issue, what am I to do with the first two coils that I bought that were wrong. He told me that electrical parts are non-returnable, but if that was the issue we would work something out. I told him that I didn't even care if it was a store credit just as long as I didn't have to eat the two coils for $200 total. I got up to the garage later this evening and opened the door to see my John Deere in pieces as it's been the last year and a half. I cranked it with the wrong coil to see what it was doing. With the kill wire off, I cranked it to see a weak pulse and two bright pulses after key release. With the kill wire attached there was nothing at all. I removed the coil and installed the new one setting the gap. I put the spark tester in line and cranked it over. The spark tester didn't even light up. I was in dismay and pretty jacked. I looked over and seen the kill wire off and put it on. I cranked it a couple revolutions and it fired up scaring the crap out of me to be honest because I wasn't expecting it to start at that point. It sat there and just purred all smooth and quiet. My 5 year old son was in the garage and said " wow dad, that stinks". Here it was burning out some of the old gas that was in the line since I flushed cleaned the carb and flushed the tank. I shut it down and reassembled the motor. I hit the key and it started immediately. I pulled it outside and let it run a bit. Turned it off and hit the key again with it firing right up. VICTORY IS MINE. I figured now before I put it back together with the hood and body I would get the steamer and wash it down. So yes my whole problem was replacing a series of parts that weren't needed because of a wrong coil received followed up by another wrong coil. Even though it's been a long road I am still happy. The tractor runs great since I've replaced nearly every electrical part, cleaned the carb, fuel tank, adjusted the valves, replaced the battery, pulled the flywheel cleaning it up, along with the stator. Also knowing I've replaced the whole hydro drive system due to pulleys, arms, and belt showing wear. I've got a mower that I'll hang onto for another 10 years opposed to buying a new one, because I got a new one. Thanks everybody for your help. The whole key for me was to sit down at the John Deere site matching part for part that I purchased to find the issue. If not for that the coils look nearly identical and someone wouldn't know the difference.

cummins600seriesdiesel said:

Okay. The dealer called today and the coil has arrived. I had to do some running around after picking it up and it was killing me to know if this was the issue. When I picked the coil up I asked the parts counter if this is the issue, what am I to do with the first two coils that I bought that were wrong. He told me that electrical parts are non-returnable, but if that was the issue we would work something out. I told him that I didn't even care if it was a store credit just as long as I didn't have to eat the two coils for $200 total. I got up to the garage later this evening and opened the door to see my John Deere in pieces as it's been the last year and a half. I cranked it with the wrong coil to see what it was doing. With the kill wire off, I cranked it to see a weak pulse and two bright pulses after key release. With the kill wire attached there was nothing at all. I removed the coil and installed the new one setting the gap. I put the spark tester in line and cranked it over. The spark tester didn't even light up. I was in dismay and pretty jacked. I looked over and seen the kill wire off and put it on. I cranked it a couple revolutions and it fired up scaring the crap out of me to be honest because I wasn't expecting it to start at that point. It sat there and just purred all smooth and quiet. My 5 year old son was in the garage and said " wow dad, that stinks". Here it was burning out some of the old gas that was in the line since I flushed cleaned the carb and flushed the tank. I shut it down and reassembled the motor. I hit the key and it started immediately. I pulled it outside and let it run a bit. Turned it off and hit the key again with it firing right up. VICTORY IS MINE. I figured now before I put it back together with the hood and body I would get the steamer and wash it down. So yes my whole problem was replacing a series of parts that weren't needed because of a wrong coil received followed up by another wrong coil. Even though it's been a long road I am still happy. The tractor runs great since I've replaced nearly every electrical part, cleaned the carb, fuel tank, adjusted the valves, replaced the battery, pulled the flywheel cleaning it up, along with the stator. Also knowing I've replaced the whole hydro drive system due to pulleys, arms, and belt showing wear. I've got a mower that I'll hang onto for another 10 years opposed to buying a new one, because I got a new one. Thanks everybody for your help. The whole key for me was to sit down at the John Deere site matching part for part that I purchased to find the issue. If not for that the coils look nearly identical and someone wouldn't know the difference.

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Awesome, great news!

Unplug the coil from the ignition, then see if it starts. It could be the ignition switch.

dennis morris said:

Unplug the coil from the ignition, then see if it starts. It could be the ignition switch.

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I tried yesterday after it cut out. cranked the same and didn't fire. Also tried unplugging the voltage regulator, it fired up, ran for 10 minutes, then quit again. Tapping the ignitor and or/moving the wires while cranking seemed to get it started for the rest of the mowing time yesterday. So Im going to go and try to get a new ignitor from the dealer. I will post results when I can.

My 175 with the FC420 is did the same thing...Do yourself a favor...See the flywheel magnet? Pull the one or two phillips head screws off the magnet and remove it's metal cover and look at the magnet itself...see a crack in it? Even a hairline crack? It could have all the magnetism in the world but if it's cracked, instead of having a North and South Pole you now have 2 North and 2 South Poles, which can act a number of ways, erratic spark, no spark...no spark when hot...

That is a good idea too. Thanks for the suggestion, I will check it out. However, I am 99% sure now that my issue is in fact the Ignitor. Though I have still yet to buy one, I have finally figured out that if or once the engine cuts out, if I tap the ignitor with a screwdriver or something, while cranking, the engine starts right up. I called the dealer, and they would have to order it, and it is in the @upper $80's. I found a brand new one on ebay for $60. So, I want to mow another time or 2, and simply tap it to get it re started if need be, then I will feel a lot more comfortable knowing that I am sure this is the issue before spending the money in just a guess. It all makes sense though, and is the first time I have been this sure I am right about the issue.

hi folks, just joined the site today and the first thing i ran across was your ignition nightmares on the
fc420. Did the same hair pulling, buying overpriced, wrong, no refund parts from the dealer. My problem turned out to be the igniter, which i'm told controls the timing.
It seems finding spec info on JD, Kubota, and a few others is like finding chicken teeth. I'm beginning to understand why shop manuals are priced like they are.
Glad you got 'er goin'. ED :thumbsup:

My mower is JD LX 176, code-FC420V-AS10, E/N FC420 VB13498. Have had the mower since 1997. No engine problems until lately. Always started good before. Recently started OK, then quit when warm. Did this about 2 times, then failed to start at all. No spark. This was clearly an indication of a coil problem, to me, based on my old knowledge of point condenser small engines. However, electronics have apparently complicated a correct diagnosis. Ordered thru JD online Green Parts Store coil AM 109209 and replaced but still no spark. I believe I have the correct new coil. Removed and cleaned the ignition switch contact areas as best I could. Reinstalled. No spark. I am inclined to order an ignitor next. Assuming my problem is either the ignitor or the ignition switch, which of these two is it most likely to be? Secondly, do you have any suggestions regarding other things I might check before ordering either of these two parts or any more new parts?

Well the first suggeion is to start a new thread, not tack you ploblems onto the end of a 2 year old one.
Your tractor has 2 safety circuits.
One prevnts your starter motor from cranking.
The other kills the spark stone dead
So the very first thing to do is check that the cut out wire to the coil is not earthing