LX188 no spark

[Pipeline]

Pulled an old LX188 that's been sitting idle for years out of my father's garage. Went through the basics and got it running again (plugs, oil, battery, etc). Drove it for ~20 minutes and everything was fine. When I went to use it a day or so later, the key had been left on. Put the charger on it but it still wouldn't fire up. Put a spark tester on and there's 1 small, faint orange spark when I first turn the key, then nothing.

From what I've been able to find online about these, it's usually one of three things that's failed: the regulator, the ignitor, or the coils. The problem is that I've tested resistance on all three, along with the pulser and the stator coil terminals, and they're all off from what the Kawasaki charts specify. I don't know if everything got fried when charging or if I may have gave it too much battery with the new one I put on. Or maybe the specs from Kawasaki are just off? The battery is putting out ~11V so it leads me to think it's most likely one of those three items.

Anyone been down this road with the LX188? I'd like to figure out what caused the issue before I just start throwing parts at it, and the one I'm leaning towards (ignitor) is the most expensive of the three. The Tech Manual just doesn't interest me @ $125!!

Thanks for any input!

 

[bertsmobile1]

There is no way jumping with a 12 V battery can hurt your ignition circuit.
This is regardless of the size of the battery provided you did not reverse the poles or hook it up in series with the old battery thus giving it 24 Volts and een that should not haf blown anything.
So first thigs first,
Check that you have 12V going into the igniter from the ignition switch.
Because this is a Kettering ignition , not a normal magneto type ignition well to be truthful it is a hall effect ignition but we will leave all that crud ou.
Any way the safety circuits on this mower will interupt the 12 V feed to the igniter box so your first port of call is to do a voltage check at the 8 pin connector looking for 12 V with the ignition turn on.
That should be the Orange/ White wire. While you are there check the Black/Whit wire for continuity to earth , just in case I got it wrong ( Me never ) and the safetys interupt the earth of the igniter box.

If you do not get 12 V ( or there abouts ) at the Inductor connector make up a jumper with an inline fuse ( about 5 A should be fine 1 A if you are really worried about frying it ) to go from the battery + to the O/W wire on the box.
Remove the O/W wire by shoving a small screwdriver into the plug & depressing the barb on the spade terminal.
I have a few special tools for doing this made up from old feeler gauge leaves that never get used like 0.080" ground down to be about 1/16" so they can slip into the plug & depress the barb.

Any way with your now guaranteed 12 V try again and see if you get a spark.
If no joy then do the same with the B/W wire to earth so you have now isolated all of the mowers safety switches , but not the engines . try again for a spark.


To test the coils use a 9V transistor battery the white tracers are + the yellow tracers are -
Do not hook up the coils to the cranking battery if they are AC you will fry them with too much current.

 

[Pipeline]

Thanks for the reply bert!

The safety switches were the first things I suspected initially. The seat switch had a jumper wire already, so I made sure it was connected and it seems fine. The only other switch I found runs along the underside of the right side of the frame and appears to be the PTO switch, except that the wire colors are a blue and a black, no Yel/Blk and no Purple and there's only 1 switch. Anyways, that one appeared to be a little frayed and worn, but I put a jumper wire on and no luck still. The diagram I'm reading shows that there is also a brake switch but I only see the one (PTO I assume). I'll try to attach some pictures.









All that aside, I tested the Orange/White wire for voltage at the connector from the ignitor and it read fine. The Black/White ground tested out at 0 ohms with the key off and then moved to negative with the key on. Could it possibly be that connection on the PTO switch that's become worn?

 

[Pipeline]

To test the coils use a 9V transistor battery the white tracers are + the yellow tracers are -
Do not hook up the coils to the cranking battery if they are AC you will fry them with too much current.

Can you elaborate on this part? Do you mean running a couple jumper wires from a 9V to the coil terminals to see of they'll fire the plug?

 

[Pipeline]

UPDATE

Figured I'd post the fix here for anyone else that's dealing with the same issue. Went ahead and bought a new ignitor. Found one on JEGS for $89, quite a bit cheaper than from the JD dealer.
Denso 131800-0131, Denso Ignitor | Denso