Long winter, now she won't start!

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Bartruff1

Full tank of non ethanol fuel with Stabill and a blast of starting fluid has worked for me for 10 years ....

I hear ya... but, you can't even buy non-ethanol gas around my area, and, I am reluctant to instruct a newb to start spraying ether down his carb -- all the while dragging on a Lucky Strike. In fact, I can't even remember the last time I used it myself.

[kyleb]

This is all ya need!!

[Trubble]

Originally Posted by kyleb

This is all ya need!!

LOL!

Don't think we can get that brand up here. Several of my gas fired mowers, tillers etc. have been referred to in that manner.

[snapier]

I had a similar problem a few years ago. No spark, turned out that I had a both failed ignition module and the magnetic pickup in the MSD distributor at the same time.

[Trubble]

Originally Posted by snapier

I had a similar problem a few years ago. No spark, turned out that I had a both failed ignition module and the magnetic pickup in the MSD distributor at the same time.

snapier
Was that tough to track down and solve? Did you have clues from the engine before it failed? How do we test for that?

Spark was fine (although I am gonna take some crocus cloth to the contacts in the cap), it was just low fuel level in the bowl. Patrickt's advice (see above) solved my problem.

Now on to wrestling with other minor issues.
Bill

[patrickt]

First, you ask your neighbor to come over and tell him "here, hold the tip of this plug wire while I crank it." If he screams and jumps when you crank it, then you have spark. If you have no spark, then you manually test the MSD unit by first physically closing and opening the connection by jumping the wire leads to the pickup. if that fails, then the problem is upstream at the MSD box or coil. If you get spark by shorting the wires, then you know it's downstream at the distributor. A "no spark" condition is very easy to diagnose. An "intermittent" electrical misfire/dropped-spark/weak-spark condition can be a heckuva lot trickier.

[Trubble]

Originally Posted by patrickt

First, you ask your neighbor to come over and tell him "here, hold the tip of this plug wire while I crank it." If he screams and jumps when you crank it, then you have spark. If you have no spark, then you manually test the MSD unit by first physically closing and opening the connection by jumping the wire leads to the pickup. if that fails, then the problem is upstream at the MSD box or coil. If you get spark by shorting the wires, then you know it's downstream at the distributor. A "no spark" condition is very easy to diagnose. An "intermittent" electrical misfire/dropped-spark/weak-spark condition can be a heckuva lot trickier.

Thanks Patrick!
I'd try the 1st suggestion, but my neighbors are all wise to me now.
Will keep this troubleshooting advice in mind (and in my read file) for future reference.