Kohler M12S Intermittent/No Spark (again)

[Influencer88 3]

Here we go again. At the start of the season the WH started perfect and ran great. Then slowly went downhill getting harder to start and now finally nothing.

 

I noticed the terminal was loose on the spark plug so I removed the spring type terminal and put a good solid crimp terminal on and new boot. Now I know I'm getting a good connection there. Bought a new spark plug even though the other one was only used for a few months.

 

I reset the coil gap to the flywheel making sure it was at .011, cleaned off the magnets and laminations to make sure they were rust free.

 

Still no spark or very weak spark. If I remove the plug and use a screwdriver to jump to ground if I get it really close...like almost touching, I get a constant spark. But if I replace the spark plug and jump to ground I get nothing except occasionally I'll get one spark and then nothing again. This was with the two old spark plugs and the new one I bought today so I don't think its a faulty plug.

 

Can someone walk me through exactly how to test the coil? I thought I remembered to get the ohm meter out, set it on 200 (lowest it has), put one end on the spark plug terminal and the other end on the lamination that would pass by the magnet. Doing that I get infinite. To make sure it wasn't just a crappy connection from when I replaced the terminal I pierced the plug wire to contact the wires directly. Same issue.

 

If I'm testing that right, then finally (and the answer I got last year when the coil still tested good), I need to replace the coil, correct?

 

[Save Old Iron 1,563]

if you confirm the mag kill wire is not grounded, then the coil is suspect.

[Influencer88 3]

Removed the kill wire from the equation and same thing. Guess over 20 years of service is good enough. Will replace the coil and hope that's It. Can't think of anything else it could be.