When I move my power pack across to the other side I lose spark to a cylinder on that side. So something is frying my power packs, same cylinder. Could a dodgy coil do that or is it something else? Stator maybe?
Start at the beginning........ You state many times that you are losing spark to 1 (one) cylinder... BUT... unless I am overlooking something in the above posts/replies, you do not say exactly which cylinder or if the spark ever changes cylinders... OR... if the missing spark remains at the same cylinder regardless of what you do with the powerpacks.
Standing in back of the engine, facing the spark plugs, the engine cylinders are marked as follows:
2.....1
4.....3
Which cylinder(s) are you speaking of?
The starter solenoid has nothing to do with the ignition system unless you have somehow connected a voltage wire to a wire leading to the ignition system. The ignition system is self contained... any DC battery voltage being fed to the ignition system will destroy it.
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Voltage To Powerpack Failures
(Magneto Capacitance Discharge Systems)
(J. Reeves)
The usual cause of having those type powerpacks fail repeatedly is having a very small of voltage applied to the Black/Yellow wire (Kill Circuit) at the pack. Test as follows.
Disconnect the Black/Yellow wire at the powerpack.
Insert either a ampere meter or a volt meter set to its lowest DC voltage reading between that Black Yellow wire on the wiring harness side, NOT the powerpack side and ground.
With the ignition key in the OFF position, observe the meter reading. Now turn the ignition key to the ON position and again observe the meter reading.
Any reading, movement of the meter needle, even a microvolt, would indicate that battery voltage is being applied to that Black/Yellow wire. If a reading is present, remove the other end of that Black/Yellow from the raised terminal of the ignition switch.
If the reading ceases to exist when the Black/Yellow wire is removed from the ignition switch, replace the switch. If the reading continues to exist, there would be a short of some kind in either the engine or instrument wiring harness.... to determine which, simply unplug the large RED electrical plug at the engine which would eliminate the instrument cable.
Note that the black/yellow wire must not have any other wire attached to it for the following reason!
Keep in mind that any accessory that has 12 volts running to it, especially when turned on, will have voltage flowing thru it and trailering out thru its black ground wire to complete the circuit. If that accessory has it's black ground wire attached to the "M" terminal that the black/yellow wire is attached to.... you will have voltage flowing directly to the powerpack.
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(Stator "35amp" Melt Down)
(J. Reeves)
The usual characteristic or sympton pertaining to an engine that has a stator melting down is that it will have spark when cold, but will have weak or no spark when hot. Many engines will run fine at first, but after being shut down, then attempting to restart 30 minutes or so later will not start. However, after sitting and cooling down, the engine may once more start and run. Eventually the stator will fail altogether resulting in no ignition/spark even when fully cooled.
This pertains mainly to the 35amp charging stator BUT t
his problem has also affected other smaller ampere stators. Make a note that the stator on engines manufactured in and after 1973 are two fold components. There are a series of smaller coils which deliver AC voltage to the rectifier, the rectifier converts that voltage to DC voltage to charge the battery. There are larger coils that deliver AC voltage to the powerpack capacitor in order to energize the ignition.
The 35 ampere stator has two (2) large black coils located (usually) at the rear of the stator. This 35 amp stator runs extremely hot and even though the water cooled voltage regulator/rectifier may be in perfect working order, this type stator will in time have what is called a "Melt Down". This is when those two large black coils start to drip a sticky substance down upon the timer base and the powerhead. The result is that the outgoing AC voltage to the powerpack capacitor drops, and this in turn results in weak ignition and eventually no ignition.
The smaller ampere stators (4 cyl) may have those larger coils... One at the extreme front, the other at the extreme rear of the stator.
If a rectifier on any horsepower engine has failed (keeping it simple), this results in having the voltage back up at the stator causing the stator to overheat, which in turn causes a stator melt down.
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In testing for spark, a air gap type spark tester must be used with the gap on that "Magneto Capacitance Discharge" system being set to 7/16"... the gap setting is important. All spark plugs must be removed so as to obtain the fastest cranking rpm. The rpm must be at least 300 rpm ion order for the stator to supply the appropriate AC voltage to the powerpack capacitor in order to energize the pack. You can pick up a spark tester of this adjustable type or build your own as follows:
(Spark Tester - Home Made)
(J. Reeves)
You can use a medium size philips screwdriver (#2 I believe) inserted into the spark plug boot spring connector, then hold the screwdriver shank approximately 7/16" away from the block to check the spark or build the following:
A spark tester can be made with a piece of 1x4 or 1x6, drive a few finishing nails through it, then bend the pointed ends at a right angle. You can then adjust the gap by simply twisting the nail(s). Solder a spark plug wire to one which you can connect to the spark plug boots, and a ground wire of some kind to the other to connect to the powerhead somewhere. Use small alligator clips on the other end of the wires to connect to ground and to the spark plug connector that exists inside of the rubber plug boot.
Using the above, one could easily build a spark tester whereas they could connect 2, 4, 6, or 8 cylinders all at one time. The ground nail being straight up, the others being bent, aimed at the ground nail. A typical 4 cylinder tester follows:
..........X1..........X2
.................X..(grd)
..........X3..........X4
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