Kohler 8hp k181 no spark

Rltkktlr

Member
Replaced coil, still no spark. I am thinking I probably should have ordered a condenser also. By the way only way for me to find parts is EBay, straight from China of course so just hoping they are good. Anyway in Checking the condenser, I am on 20k ohm setting, Red probe to wire, black too body, meter just stays at 1, should I not see a certain ohm reading? Thanks for any help.........I am adding an edit here because, it turned out it was the coil I just damaged the primary wire installing the new one. The aftermarket coil wires came more out of the bottom then OEM coil and they were hard to not get pinched. Anyway if I would have been better with my ohm meter would have realized right away coil was bad because ohms on secondary winding(spark plug to ground) was something like 37000 ohms. New one was 9800. Anyway hope this helps someone, unfortunately I screwed up and pinched a wire so was a little confusing when I realized I had intermittent ohm readings on primary, which is what led me too the mostly broken wire. Also sorry this is so long. Great site by the way.
 
Last edited:
Checking a condenser with an Ohm meter is not a reliable test. If you replaced the coil, did you set the air gap at .010, unless you have a rare unit which uses an automotive style coil. If the coil is set properly, I would then check to see that the points are set to .018-.020”. If they are I would replace both the points and the condenser. Here is a service manual if you don’t have one.
 
And double check the insulator between the fixed and moving arm on the points.
More than one cheap set had the insulator missing or had a steel washer in there .
 
Thanks guys. This coil is set inside fly wheel and I think is not adjustable. I will try a new points and condenser. Will first look at insulator. Will let you know
 
Here's what the IPL shows for the coil, with 2 lugs + and -
full.png
 
Last edited:
Now somewhat confused, how does an automotive coil relate to my Kohler coil inside the flywheel.
That's what KOHLER diagrams show for the ignition coil for that engine. However, there are 2 ignition diagrams. automotive style Coil is 41 on top diagram, and 7 on the bottom.
1601403694416.png
1601403713909.png
 
Back
Top