No spark on 6.5 hp Craftsman lawnmower

Hey everyone,

Whenever I'm out somewhere and see a lawnmower at the curb in someone's trash pile, I stop and grab it. Sometimes it's worthwhile, and others end up in my own trash pile and passed on.

The other day, I grabbed what looked like a nice Craftsman mower. It has a 6.5 hp tecumseh engine, self-propulsion and key start. The key start battery is drained and I don't have a charger. Battery and charger are kinda pricey, and the recoil starter is functional. The Sears model # is 917.377574 if that makes a difference.

I took the carb apart, gave it a good cleaning and replaced the split primer bulb. Then, I put fresh oil in. When I tried to start it, I figured out that it wasn't getting any spark, and the plug was clean.

After removing the flywheel, I'm beginning to think that this mower doesn't have points the way other mowers I've worked on have. They're usually in a structure under the flywheel, but there's nothing there.

Does this mower have some kind of electronic ignition module? If so, is it worth tracking down and replacing?

Also, either the flywheel key was already sheared, or my removal sheared it. Either way, I can't get the piece of it out of the groove on the shaft. Any ideas on how to do that?

Advice and suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you,
-Bill

igntion is solid state no points to fix change ignition system as a whole assembly it set its own timming passing through the two flying magnets enbeded in flywheel make sure you set the air gap between flywheel a new parts.also change plug too this is the cause of the failure the plug shorted to ground burnt out the ignition coils and transistors inside can not be taken apart to fix.epoxied.

Post edited by: hobbist, at: 2008/05/09 20:34