Hey all.. I've got an older J.D. lawn tractor here that won't start. It has a Kawasaki FC420v-DSOO, FC420V063972 engine.. It has no spark.. I've covered the basics but the spark seems to be a problem that comes & goes.. I ran fine when it was dropped off, Later wouldn't start, than ran fine.. All the wiring looks good, I'm using a .030 air gap spark tester. Anyone with more experience on these than me have any suggestions, such as how to test the ignitor, coil etc???? Still no spark with the kill wire disconnected..
Thanks, everyone.... Roger

 

Generally I find intermittent problems to be igniter failures on these, but not always.

Your ohmmeter should show from .2 to .7 ohms with the positive lead on the terminal of the igniter and the negative on the case with the meter set on 1k ohms. With the leads reversed, you should show 1 to 5.

 

I finally had a chance to look @ this unit again,, The Igniter has a restience of 1400 ohms both ways with the leads of the multimeter,, I have a new one ordered & will let you know the results,,, Again, Thanks Cheese... Roger

 

The origional igniter has a resistance of 1.352kohms one way & 1.345kohms the other way.. I ordered a OEM Kawasaki igniter & measured it. I have 8.87Mohms one way & 3.006Mohms the other way with the terminals switched & still no spark.. Cheese, these are both WAY out of range from your specs & not even close.. Can you tell from these readings if I have a bad ignitor??? Haven't worked on a lot of Kawasakis,, Sorry.. Thanks,, Roger

 

I'm just going by a spec sheet from kawasaki. This igniter mounts with one screw right? If it mounts with 2, there are different specs, but I don't think I ever saw a fc420 with the 2 screw igniter on it.

 

Cheese, you're right, 1 screw holds it to the fan shroud & 1 terminal plugs into it with 2 white wires in it...I'm using a "Blue-Point" auto ranging multi meter by "Snap-On" if that makes a difference,,, When I check the new one & see "Mohms", to me it's an open circuit.....
Thanks lots,,, Roger

 

I don't know what to tell you, the 2 igniters are showing different specs, neither matching the oem stated specs, and it still doesn't spark. The snap-on meter should be fine. Are you touching the meter leads or the igniter case while measuring resistance? If so, the Mohms may be the resistance of your body, not the igniter (only if the igniter actually has an even higher resistance or is completely open). You might have a bad igniter. You might contact the people you bought it from and tell them you measured it to kawi specs and it is out of range, then find out what you can do. Some places don't allow returns on electrical parts.

 

lets see if this works:
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...gniterTest.jpg

 

Thanks cheese, The Ignitor came from the same Dealer that told me I had no spark from a new iginition coil for a Johnshred saw because I didn't remove the welsh plugs when I replaced the carb kit they supplied.. I'll take the specs you provided, my multimeter & the ignitor to them & I'll let you know what happens.

Thanks again, Roger