Billy Jack
Forum Newbie
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2017
- Threads
- 3
- Messages
- 6
My current mower is a #10523 Gold Series 2-stroke I bought new in 1998.
Last Friday night I went out to cut the grass after dinner and she wouldn't start-no spark. I did a quick continuity check of the kill switch and guessing the coil was done, went to the computer to order a new coil. I don't ever remember replacing the coil on this one, so no shame if it was kaput after 19 years. After finding a NOS coil on eBay and doing a buy-it-now, I went back outside to put the mower away. After drying and re-installing the spark plug, I gave it a few pulls and it fired up. As daylight was quickly fading, I could only get the front yard done and reserved Saturday night for some mid-season maintenance in preparation for the new coil. When I pulled the coil out, I inspected it for any visible cracks in the coating or corrosion. Oddly, I found the spark plug connector terminal had a bit of rust inside the boot. I filled the boot with a few drops of metal-prep acid and after about 15 minutes, flushed it out with water first, then electrical cleaner. With a wire brush in a Dremel, I cleaned all the points of contact with the block, as well as the screw threads, wiped the flywheel clean, mounted the coil and set the gap. Too late to fire it up, so it sat overnight.
Sunday morning the grass was still wet, but I pulled the mower outside for a check and it fired on the second pull and ran fine for a few minutes, so plan "B", temporarily repossessing my other Lawn Boy that my son borrowed two seasons ago, was put on hold. Later in the day when the grass was dry I tried again, it fired on the first pull and ran without a hiccup to finish the rest of my yard, about 40 minutes of runtime total. I normally remove, clean and re-gap the coil every winter, but I don't remember cleaning the inside of the plug boot.
Who knows what next weekend will bring, but at least I'll have my spare coil by then. Has anyone experienced anything like this?
Bill
Last Friday night I went out to cut the grass after dinner and she wouldn't start-no spark. I did a quick continuity check of the kill switch and guessing the coil was done, went to the computer to order a new coil. I don't ever remember replacing the coil on this one, so no shame if it was kaput after 19 years. After finding a NOS coil on eBay and doing a buy-it-now, I went back outside to put the mower away. After drying and re-installing the spark plug, I gave it a few pulls and it fired up. As daylight was quickly fading, I could only get the front yard done and reserved Saturday night for some mid-season maintenance in preparation for the new coil. When I pulled the coil out, I inspected it for any visible cracks in the coating or corrosion. Oddly, I found the spark plug connector terminal had a bit of rust inside the boot. I filled the boot with a few drops of metal-prep acid and after about 15 minutes, flushed it out with water first, then electrical cleaner. With a wire brush in a Dremel, I cleaned all the points of contact with the block, as well as the screw threads, wiped the flywheel clean, mounted the coil and set the gap. Too late to fire it up, so it sat overnight.
Sunday morning the grass was still wet, but I pulled the mower outside for a check and it fired on the second pull and ran fine for a few minutes, so plan "B", temporarily repossessing my other Lawn Boy that my son borrowed two seasons ago, was put on hold. Later in the day when the grass was dry I tried again, it fired on the first pull and ran without a hiccup to finish the rest of my yard, about 40 minutes of runtime total. I normally remove, clean and re-gap the coil every winter, but I don't remember cleaning the inside of the plug boot.
Who knows what next weekend will bring, but at least I'll have my spare coil by then. Has anyone experienced anything like this?
Bill