keeps blowing out the condenser

[John c 178]

C101 with a K241 

 

So I transplanted another condenser from a different engine, It fired right up I thought all was good was gonna fine tune the carb as I was putting the machine back together, and a few minutes into it, the engine dies, no spark. Won't run with or without the condenser in the circuit. 

 

I don't have anymore condensers to try at the moment, I have a couple ordered though

 

Now the story that leads up to this is I'd found an out barn find close by and was going to make a grass cutter out of it. I put new spark plug, coil, points and condenser on it as part of the refurbishment project, ran it about an hour, it dies. I bring it back into the shop going over it to try and figure out what happened, cranking the engine I see sparks arcing between the engine block and belt cover right by the PTO, that leads me to finding the chassis ground jumper on the shaker plate mount broken, also decided to replace the rubber mounts while I was in it, I used the machined aluminum style, and also replaced the ground wire. It still wouldn't start, used a transplant condenser and it rans only a few minutes. 

 

Is it possible the engine mount swap somehow effects this, I can't see how, but ? 

 

Or was it the low budget amazon brand X tune up parts releasing gremlins in it ?   

[8ntruck 8,965]

Take a look at the points.  One of the functions of the condenser is to prevent the points from arcing when they open.  A bad condenser encourages the points to burn.

[WHX?? 56,880]

1 hour ago, John c said:

possible the engine mount swap somehow effects this

No but the motor still needs a good ground. Don't rely on solid mounts alone to accomplish that. 

Kudos on the decision to go to solid mounts tho. 

 

Check for spark and go after the coil (make sure it's getting 12 volts) Clean & reset the points and always have a new condenser on the shelf. 

Never hurts to have a spare coil on the shelf either. 

[ri702bill 12,262]

25 minutes ago, WHX?? said:

Never hurts to have a spare coil on the shelf either. 

A known good coil at that....

[WHX?? 56,880]

1 minute ago, ri702bill said:

A known good brand new coil at that....

Course that don't mean much these days. 

[wallfish 20,057]

Guessing that coil does NOT have an internal resistor built into it.  That will burn out the points and or the condenser

[WHX?? 56,880]

12 minutes ago, wallfish said:

does NOT have an internal resistor

Strange thing there 'Fish when I got my 1045 it had a coil on it clearly labeled on it "use external resistor" and it always  started & ran great. I swapped it out for supposedly the internal kind but ever since then hard starting. Runs good just hard to no start. Stock non ACR big block.  

Edited 16 hours ago by WHX??

[Achto 31,923]

26 minutes ago, WHX?? said:

Strange thing there 'Fish when I got my 1045 it had a coil on it clearly labeled on it "use external resistor" and it always  started & ran great. I swapped it out for supposedly the internal kind but ever since then hard starting.

 

On the other hand, remember Busty's first year at Pickett Jim ?? Would run fine for a while & then it would fall on its face. Ran fine with the voltage regulator unplugged. We ran to town & got a new internal resistor coil and it ran perfect even with the regulator plugged in. If I remember right the resistor had failed on the coil that was in it.

[John c 178]

  2 hours ago, ri702bill said:

A known good brand new coil at that....

Course that don't mean much these days. 

 

That's my thought exactly, the points, coil and condenser were all in the same "kit" and now I don't trust any of it. 

 

I've got a rotary brand condenser, and a set of kolher brand points inbound now, I need to find a decent quality coil now.