Koherl Breaker-less Igniton

[pfrederi 18,566]

The mind is a terrible thing to lose and I brain hiccup today.  Been working on a K301 with Breakerless ignition.  No spark.  Replaced trigger and coil finally got spark on my tester but it flashed very fast just cranking.  Checked my Charger 12 which has a battery ignition much slower flash at cranking speed.  First though something was amiss... but....  Don't the breakerless systems fire every revolution wasting a spark on the exhaust stroke.  The trigger is the flywheel not the cam shaft...or am I getting senile?

[953 nut 59,337]

54 minutes ago, pfrederi said:

breakerless systems fire every revolution

That is how I remember it being, but I'm old too.  

[JAinVA 4,636]

Paul, just out of curiosity did you upgrade a k301 to an m12 spec?I am planning to do a k321 and am thinking of putting a K 341 crank in a m16 at rebuild to avoid the balance

gears.If this is what you did were there any issues?JAinVA

JimAnderson

Gloucester,Va

[pfrederi 18,566]

41 minutes ago, JAinVA said:

Paul, just out of curiosity did you upgrade a k301 to an m12 spec?I am planning to do a k321 and am thinking of putting a K 341 crank in a m16 at rebuild to avoid the balance

gears.If this is what you did were there any issues?JAinVA

JimAnderson

Gloucester,Va

No upgrade.  This was a very early (if not first) version of a transistorized ignition system.  Interestingly you can still get the parts. sometimes.... Coil $225, Trigger $250, Stator $235

[JAinVA 4,636]

Yikes.That almost sounds like Onan prices.Thanks for the reply.I am going ahead with the marriage of K and M parts and see what happens.Luck,JAinVA

JimAnderson

Gloucester,Va

[tbarnhart 240]

Yea, it should spark every revolution. All flywheel trigger ignitions will spark every turn. As a side note, Tecumseh had a solid state ignition on their big block models earlier than Kohler, but they went through several versions over the years. Early electronics often weren't that great and Kohler opted to go back to points and battery coil. Tecumseh kept improving their system and stayed with solid state through the end. I have a '74 OH160 that the ignition died after 40+ years, but I was able to repair it. It's nice not to need a fully charged battery and functioning points/condensor.

[WheelHorse_of_course 99]

I have the same system on my charger, both the original engine and the replacement and never had any problems. I did read somewhere you can destroy components if you do arc welding on the chassis.

 

And yes, the trigger is on the flywheel so it is indeed a wasted spark system. I also have some Cushmans and the OMC 2 cylinder engines also have wasted spark (they have two coils interestingly).