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Big Ten Ignition Switch


ken728

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A bit of a mystery here: going through my recently purchased non-running Big Ten and tried to fire it up yesterday. Rebuilt the carb, removed the engine and cleaned out the mouse condo, etc. There is current going to the plug wire (Zap! - Yow!) but there is no spark visible on the sparkplug. It's a new plug, but the dealer said the engine calls for a Champion J19LM instead of a J-8 which I am now doubting and I'm going out to get another plug. Anyway - this spark condition exists with the ignition in the off and/or on position. What's up with that switch? With no spark at the plug am I possibly looking at a weak spark situation?


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first off clean and reclean then gap points starting at .020. first sign of no or weak spark is usually the points or bad wire/connector running to the points. disconnect the ignition shut-off wire to rule that out. and try for spark. also there maybe a bad connection at the tip of the plug wire connector. or bad connection at coil or even a bad/weak coil. with the mice nest you have to check wires and connections real good. and them darn little buggers LOVE nesting on top the coils and ruining them. another solution is convert to a external 12V coil or just hook a 12V coil to test. must have power to a 12V coil at all times. simple toggle switch can be installed to cut power from coil and used to turn engine off. there is also a mega-fire electronic ignition you can by on ebay that eliminates the points. cost about $20 there is many post in the forum that you can do a search for that cover's the 12V conversion and mega-fire .
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Try this. Disconnect wire from key switch. Remove spark plug with wire connected to observe spark quality and points cover. With SG, spin engine over and turn point adjusting screw a tad either way form your set mark to see if spark quality improves. I did that to my 16 HP Briggs and ended up with the best spark around .013 gap. Then connect key switch wire and do it again. If you get healthy spark with switch on and no spark with it off, switch is OK Just a thought.
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Perry/BLT - thanks for the tips, I'll try today and see what I can figure out. I did find moisture in the points cover; cleaned the points and checked the gap but I have to believe the moisture in there has compromised the condenser as a minimum. I just really hope I'll be able to get this figured out sooner than later.
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  • 2 weeks later...
Got it running! Turns out I needed to dress up the points a little better and then all of a sudden I got good spark. Man was I lucky - not only to find this tractor on CL (for $200.00) but the fact that all I had to do was clean out the mouse condo, completely rebuild the carb which was full of crap and corrosion, replace the float and the S/G belt. After almost 10 years of sitting this thing is back. It even drives well in all gears. Next thing will be to replace fluids in the BGB and tranny. After that I'll go through the mower deck. I was so happy to see that spark yesterday - I was anticipating having to replace the coil, points, everything! Even the ignition switch works properly!


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Nine times out of ten that's what I find with most of my finds, mouse nests, dirty points, and nasty carbs! Seems as these tractors tend to get forgotten about mostly because the PO's want something "new". CL is a blast too, missed one on Friday, a 2010 with a hi/lo and some cobbled hydraulics for $150! Never got a chance to call on it! Probably just as well as my garge is already full!:D
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