Hi ArcticChat people. I am in need of some help, I inherited a 93 Panther Delx. 440 f/c, single carb. It ran for about a half hr. this year then nothing, dead no sign of even wanting to start. Here's what I did, top end rebuild new Pistons, rings, gaskets, leak down test no significant loss of psi. compression is 125 psi fan side and 122 pto side. Carb cleaned 4 times jets soaked in acetone, carb body cleaned with carb cleaner and compressed air through ports. Spark seems good from both sides fresh plugs changed nothing. Gas down plug holes doesn't even try to start. Does anybody have any ideas? Could the points gap be off or the points dirty? Why would it run for half an hr then die. Any help would be greatly appreciated, maybe I'll get to ride it before the snows all gone.


That's a stumper. Spark,fuel,compression means booom hmm

 

It's weird. Fuel pump rebuild too, disconnected fuel line from carb. cranked and gas comes out so it's working. Timing maybe?

 

If you didn't touch the timing during the rebuild, then it should be ok. Unless it cam loose. You wont know unless you check. At this point, I don't know what else. There isn't anything blocking the exhaust, is there?

I'm pretty sure there are no points on that sled, it has CDI.

Yeah that is a stumper...you'd think it would at least fire on the fuel you put down the spark plug hole.

 

I figured the same when he forced fuel in the hole it would bust off. At least in some way shape or form.

 

I did an ohms test on the ignition coil the resistance between the primary connectors is low 0.7 ohms manual says should be 0.91ohms and the secondary connectors should be 4,100 ohms and I get no reading between them, could my ignition coil be bad and still show spark?

 

What's the sparks color?

 

You're right gammer there are no points. I should've checked the manual first. I'm thinking the spark is visible because I'm inside a dark garage but the spark is just too weak to ignite the fuel. it just sucks after all the work I put into it waiting for parts to be delivered and now I gotta order more parts. I just hope I get to ride it this year! LOL! Winter 2017 is getting long in the tooth.

 

I'd say spark is blue but I guess not very bright.

 

Check and clean all grounds? Check the plug wires? The ends look at really good where the boot is

 

Yeah I even cut an inch or so off the plug wires and reinstalled the ends. Thank you. I'll get back at it tomorrow.

 

Well thanks for the input guys but I'm gonna go to bed. I'm posting wrong info like the ohms specs, I was looking at the wrong ones although they are still off correction is: primary should be .30 ohm secondary 6,100 ohm I've had enough for today.

 

Geez I gotta read more carefully. Concerning the ignition coil the repair manual says resistance for the primary connections should be 0.30 ohms +/- 15% so between 0.345 to 0.255ohms resistance my coil reads 0.6 almost double, the secondary coil (spark plug wires) using r x 1000 ohms reads 5.6 the well within the specs of 6.3 +/- 20% which is 7.26 to 5.16 ohms(x1000). My question is would the high reading of the primary coil cause a weak enough spark to see but not ignite the fuel? I guess I'll find out when the new one gets here. Or should I cancel the order?

 

I now after removing the the plug caps found that one of them has no continuity they are marked 5k ohms the other reads 5.3 k ohms is this my problem? How come spark still comes out of the plug with the bad cap/ cover?

 

I would recommend you buy a spark tester to evaluate your ign. coil.
There is a specific spark tester I highly recommend, and it is inexpensive as well. You hook up your plug boot to one end, and there is a large clamp that you hook up to a ground. This tool has an adjustable, visable gap that shows spark. You adjust the gap about three times the spark plug gap [to stress test the system] and turn over the engine. This tool is quite helpful in diagnosing weak ignition systems under load. Look into it. -Ernie

 

So I got the spark tester, installed the new boots on old coil, first I set the gap on the tester to same as plug gap or pretty close by eye and nothing. I set it at 10 for small engine it says, still nothing. So I guess the coil is bad but I also tested my snowblower which starts with one pull and nothing from that either wtf? I used the same procedure as mentioned for the sled. One end in plug boot the other grounded to the sled. I also tried to put the gator clip on the plug head still nothing. Am I doing something wrong?

 

My bad duh. The spark tester works on the snowblower I forgot when you throttle it down it grounds also so it is my coil on the sled that's bad. Thank you Ernie.