10795 Lawnboy, Honda Engine, Can't start-- appears no spark

Remove the kill wire off the coil and check for spark , if it gives you spark the problem is with the wire if not, it's the coil assembly.
Well Bertrr, I did so, and sure enough it sparked so the wire or switch have to be bad.

Also, had to pull the flywheel to get access to the kill wire and kill switch. I found the wire fine, good continuity.
I had to disassemble the bracket assy to get at the kill switch. It is a simple micro-switch with a lever to actuate. Nice idea for a design but the switch is not enclosed and all the internals were corroding. Testing before removal showed no signs of life-- all 3 contact points tested dead to both positions of the switch arm. It appears I need to buy an entire assembly bracket with this on it; riveted to the bracket.
Will look for a new assembly.
 
kill switch. It is a simple micro-switch with a lever to actuate. Nice idea for a design but the switch is not enclosed and all the internals were corroding.
Cover the new switch in marine grade shrink wrap. Has glue that ooozes out when you shrink it down. Seals both ends from moisture and future corrosion. This is an ultra low amperage slash voltage circuit. No issues of overheating. Just grounds the coil out when killing the key/engine.




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Interesting, you guys apparently don't use the OHMS test to check coils. . . hmmm. Maybe the reason is coil resistance is not specified ?? on many of the small engines and it is not so reliable for some reason.
Most have a fancy circuit chip you can't test with common tools. It either sparks at low, mid and high revs or not. This ain't the space shuttle fella's.
 
Cover the new switch in marine grade shrink wrap. Has glue that ooozes out when you shrink it down. Seals both ends from moisture and future corrosion. This is an ultra low amperage slash voltage circuit. No issues of overheating. Just grounds the coil out when killing the key/engine.
OK guys, thanks for all the info.
I solved the problem. The corroded microswitch was junk, confirmed after I physically opened it up. Probably I completely killed it when spracing in CRC cleaner and WD40 in my attempt to free up the choke lever arm. (It would not start after that bunch of squirts.)

Here is HOW:
-- Removed and trashed the kill switch.
-- wired a simple toggle switch between the kill switch wire from coil and the ground used previously by the old kill switch.
-- mounted the toggle switch on the choke bracket; up to run, Down to kill

I still use the pull back bail on the handle to actuate the choke travel and both the toggle and the rear chute sensor will still both kill the engine.
Basically, I made the controls back to the design 20 years ago; it is both safe and foolproof and won't fail due to a $2 switch made for tinker toys.
 
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