| Ignition System Trouble Shooting. | | | | (check) |
| Last time we discussed how magnetic fields cause | | | | Yes I checked it was ON! Also I removed the off wire |
| current to flow in wires. The current flow is then | | | | from the switch near the engine. Still nothing. (check) |
| harnessed to make the spark plugs work. | | | | Pulled the spark plug out and tested for spark: |
| Now we will discuss how to trouble shoot this system. | | | | No Spark: |
| First of all the system consists of: | | | | The possible causes for no spark are: |
| -A flywheel with a magnet | | | | Faulty Spark Plug (ie short circuiting because of ash |
| -A magneto with a main coil and a switching coil | | | | contaiminents, broken insulator, too much gas on plug) |
| -An On/Off wire | | | | Or a faulty ignition mechanism |
| -A spark plug and spark plug wire. | | | | Well I cleaned the plug well. Used a different plug... |
| That's it. | | | | Note: But you know what I should have done first? I |
| {In the olden days you had a switching circuit called | | | | should have taken the plug wire and tried it against the |
| points, but I will not bore you with that. I have several | | | | engine. Well I tried that too: no spark. |
| old motors that have points. (If you are really interested | | | | Not looking good here... What do we do next? |
| in points I will write an article about trouble shooting | | | | This is where stuff starts coming apart. |
| those...but not today.)} | | | | Understand that the system involves the flywheel, so |
| So what's the problem? | | | | we need to access it and see if the flywheel is okay. |
| The problem is that I was riding my go kart... blew the | | | | By "okay" I mean the following: |
| chain... made a massive clunk...engine still ran right up | | | | -Is there a magnet in it anymore? |
| until I shut it off. I replaced the chain and now it won't | | | | -Did it get damaged? (very unlikely) Check with |
| start. | | | | screwdriver: does it stick? (check, yes there is a |
| What do I do? Cry? Uh...No... | | | | magnet) |
| First off all look at the system. So the engine not | | | | The next critical thing is to check the keyway. 8 times |
| running must be symptomatic of | | | | out of 10 the key gets sheared. This can occur from |
| -No Gas | | | | sudden stops of the engine. A sudden stop can occur |
| -Flooded (too much gas) | | | | from various reasons such as a broken chain grabbing |
| -No compression | | | | hold of an activated clutch. An instantaneous shock |
| -No Spark | | | | load can be introduced into the system. |
| -Switch is off! | | | | The other way an engine can be come jammed |
| So yes, I checked.. there is gas. (check!) | | | | suddenly is if the rod blew inside, or the engine ran out |
| The engine has nice resistance and compression (no | | | | of oil (seized up). |
| thrown rods, no loose valves, everything is tight...) | | | | Next time.... What happened to the ignition system? |