A shocking experience

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OK, I've got your attention now. What could cause an old 041 FB to shock the operator? The only think I can figure is a short in the spark plug wire. This in my BILs saw that he got from my FIL and has had it since new. I recently had it all apart to clean it up and didn't notice anything. I figure I'll put a new plug wire in it. But I didn't know if there was any for for anything else to shock you.
 
It was lightning from the ancient saw gods, obviously. Did you make the proper ablutions before running the venerable beast?

Is there a way of detecting a short from the coil, points or condenser to the case? Seems like that would keep it from running, but some old insulation on a coil wire......and of course omitting the necessary ablutions, well.....:chainsaw:

If my saw were to bite me, I'd rather it be a shock than a shave..
 
I dont think a short in any of the primary side of ignition would shock you. The juice would go to ground just like flipping shutoff switch. The secondary side,high voltage side, will keep shocking until you shut off saw.
Wasnt there a thread about having your wife check for spark last week?
 
Ouch. That isn't any fun. I remember my 3 1/2 hp B&S powered mini-bike from when I was a kid. I accidentally shut it off because I laid my thumb on the sparkplug instead of the thin metal tab that was supposed to do it. How many revolutions of the motor does it take to come to a dead stop from idle?
 
I have been shocked so many times by engines I think I have "Drain Bamage".

I worked for a fellow that showed my how to find which cylinder was missing on multi-cylinder engines by pulling spark plug wires one at a time while the engine was running. When you pulled a wire and the engine speed didn't change.....that was the cylinder that was missing. The trick was to be able to grab the wire and pull it off the plug without getting shocked and it did work succesfully most of the time.....but every once in a while you would grab the wire and pull and get shocked big time.......the engine would not stop as the other cylinders would keep everything running......you had to find a way to let go of the wire quickly while it kept shocking you!

Brad: It has to be a fault in the plug wire or casing of the coil that is letting the high energy spark out. Funny thing is why it would pass through you instead of just grounding itself out.....it must be somehow the shock mounts (no pun intended) or buffers are letting the shock travel through the handle in one hand and across your body to be grounded to the saw with the other hand. You may have discovered the first gasoline powered "defribulator"!
 
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He wasn't cutting under high-transmission power lines, was he? I've been stood on end just brushing up against plants or riding my quad under them due to induced current from the half-million-plus volts overhead. Because it doesn't make much sense for the electricity to hit him instead of just grounding out on the case. The only other thing I can think of is maybe if it's shorting into an AV handle, the handlebar might be isolated enough that you might get a shock. But you didn't specify an AV model, so who knows. My 090 was shorting through the plugwire onto the air filter cover but I never got shocked until I (stupidly) tried moving the wire by hand while the saw was running.
 
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Would lean towards hairline crack in coil 1st, then plug wire 2nd. Epoxy on coil if crack is found will stop shock, otherwise a good heat shrink tube on secondary plug lead will repair that well. Don't even bother with electricla tape, will eventually break down, and you'll repairing a second time. Bruce:clap:
 
Well I'm glad to hear that!!!!!!!!

Yeah, it's an oil thread now. It'll attract Gary like a magnet. :)



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This story has very little to do with the original post but I need to share it as it is a "shocking" story.

Years are years ago my best friend was the kid next door, say we were about 12. Now, we didn't have a lot of money but the Bumpuses (yes, their real name) had a lot less money than we did. My buddy used to have to cut the grass with a 4hp snapper HI-Vac that was worn out when they got it in 1985, it used an old Texas licesce plate as a grass deflector. Their weedeater was literally a weedeater brand electric plug in weedeater that my family had thrown in the garbage when we got a gas powered one. So one day in the July heat of a Texas summer I go next door to see if my buddy can come play video games, "he's in the backyard" says his mom. I look out the kitchen window and there is Brett weedeating the backyard with about 150' of duct taped extension cords. He reaches down to move the power cord and he starts dancing around like a drunken samba dancer shaking a fist full of extension cord and moaning real loud. I'm staring out the window with no clue as to why he's acting like that, "whats wrong with him?" I'm asking his mom- "OH CENSORED" she yells, "DON, unplug the cord, he's getting shocked AGAIN!" Yes, again. So later poor Brett says yep, "that cord shocks me every other time I use it." I don't think they even paid him to mow that yard either! I don't know who was dumber, the parents that let their kid get shocked or the kid that kept doind it for free....

Oh, and I forgot to mention- around that time we wanted to start a lawn mowing business but my parents said it would only be fair if we both used our own equipment but his parents didn't want their stuff to get "tore up". The Honda HR214 mower my parents bought that year and I used to mow yards alone still runs. I think it is a 1986-1987 model.... So much for "tore up".....
 
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