Why you shouldn’t buy Chinese coils

[Edchris177]

I picked up an immaculate little Johnson, a ‘68 6HP, (CD-25R), a few months ago, for the equivalent of a 24 of GOOD beer. 100PSI each jug, barely even a scratch on the paint or cowl.
Owner said it had no spark, didn’t know how to fix it, & no marinas want to work on them.
I figured it’s the standard cracked coils, & pulled the flywheel. Quel surprise, looked like two new coils.
However, they were not OEM, Sierra, or any of the green made in Germany sets.
They looked nice, flat black, no cracks, but stamped with ZHANG****. They seemed to test OK with a multimeter, but would not create spark. I threw them in the scrap bin, put in two “real” ones, & got good spark.
Yesterday, I decided to waste a few hours with scrap coils, separating the laminations from copper coils for recycling.
The results show the poor quality of these Chinese coils. The outer plastic cannot be cracked off with a hammer, so I burned them dry whilst enjoying some good German beer around the campfire.
As you can see, the top (Chinese), coil has a primary winding that is very thin wire, & very short vs an old OEM coil.(36 measured ft for OEM). The secondary windings are also smaller.
Don’t try to save a few bucks by using these, this is the 2nd little 6HP I’ve come across using these Z***** stamped coils, & both were spark less, despite looking new.

 

[louc]

Seems like it's better to find NOS electrical parts for just about anything!

 

[timguy]

Also no ethanol. Just had this "Fisherman" 6 in for repair.

 

[louc]

They can make good stuff, if paid for it and supervised, but otherwise, it's a crap shoot.

 

[timguy]

Yes I have had trouble with certain items in particularly CDI coils for small engines, chain saws. But yes they can certainly build some good stuff when they want to. Most of it boils down to keeping stuff super cheap and competitive, but their engineers are pretty good overall. I have done extensive repair and work at our home in the Philippines and the China parts and supplies are of more superior quality. They even make knock off Stihl chainsaws which are just awesome. They start with an identical high quality powerhead and then build around it with their own shrouding and controls. These are abused cutting lumber from coconut trees, and even harder wood often with bars of 32 to 40" in temperatures of 90 to 100°. I have one here in my firewood business. Bought new in 2016 for $350 with 36" bar and .404 chain. A comparable OEM Stihl would be the magnum 880 at almost $2,600. The Philippines 08 or 070 "Stihl" is upright cylinder, traditional classic design. Here is an example.