No Start

[Chris Tewell]

I have a 1992 Montgomery Wards Tractor, it has a 18hp Briggs and Stratton twin engine on it. It will not start, so I took the plugs out, and there is no spark, what should I do. I took the magneto off and I took a wire brush and wiped it off, and then I took the wire brush and held it against the engine and cranked it. I put the magneto back on it, I cranked it and there was still no spark, I have got to get this running because there is snow to plow.

 

[Anonymous-0]

unplug stop wire that goes to the mag and then ck for spark.if still no spark,replace the mag.

 

[El Toro]

You need to take that Magnetron coil and see if they can test it. I think on that engine it doesn't have any points. I think these have been a problem on these engines. You may need to buy a new one. Touch that magnet on the flywheel with a flat blade screwdriver to see if there's good magnetism. If there's no magnetism
or very weak that's probably why you're not getting any fire since they need a strong magnet to make the magnetron fire. I would do this first. Hal

 

[Chris Tewell]

I am not sure what stop wire that you are talking about, and if I take the stop wire off and there is spark what should I do. Thanks

 

[old]

There should be a wire going from the mag some place to the throttle control or on/off switch. Remove that wire from the mag and see if you have spark. If you do then you have a short in the wire or the switch if it has a switch. If its old enough to have points I would say the points are bad or dirty and being it is what it is I would think it would have points unless the engine is an up dated engine or the point have been done away with with a spark module
Hobby farm

 

[El Toro]

The switch used to stop the engine grounds out the magnetron (armature). The switch may be bad if it will start with wire disconnected. To stop the engine pull the plug wires with a pair of insulated pliers. Hal

 

[Kentb of SWMO]

The kill wire is the Black wire on a push-on terminal on the back of the coil. Remove this black wire and check for fire. Still no fire, replace Magnetron coil. When you are checking for fire by cranking with a battery check the black wire to be sure there IS NOT 12 volts on this wire when the ingnition switch is in the run or cranking position. The ignition switch can fail internally putting 12 volts on this wire which is INSTANT DEATH to a Magnetron coil. If you now has fire, you have a Ignition Switch/ Safety Switch/ Wiring Harness Problem

Kent

 

[Trailer Trash Tractors]

My guess is kill wire circut, I can't see * both * coils failing. I assume this is a Vanguard type engine, with 2 seperate magnetron coils ? The tip about testing kill for 12 vt makes sense, a fubar there would take both coils out.

 

[Kentb of SWMO]

The poster did not state which 18 HP B&S engine he had but being a 1992 I was assuming a 18 HP Flat-Twin L-head engine. Rhis engine has only one Magnetron coil.

Kent