Husqvarna 268 chainsaw

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country dude

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The ignition coil has been replaced 4 times since last spring. Saw is used only to cut firewood. The saw was purchased new about 15 years back, middle 1990's. Coil number 4 lasted about 30 minutes. Muffler clean. I'm at my wits end. Help!!
 
The ignition coil has been replaced 4 times since last spring. Saw is used only to cut firewood. The saw was purchased new about 15 years back, middle 1990's. Coil number 4 lasted about 30 minutes. Muffler clean. I'm at my wits end. Help!!

Is this the one piece coil or the early two piece system?
 
I agree oem husky coils are quite reliable.That being said,I've seen coils right out of the box that were bad,but not four in a row......

What is the condition of your wiring,particularly your plug wire?
 
The saw is like new and has been very dependable until the current coil problems. Wiring is in like new condition. Coils were purchased from local dealers . Never checked if OEM or after market.
 
I failed to mention that the coil is a one piece unit.

Is it the Ducati unit? Are you replacing the plug wire too? Did it run poorly (skipping) before dying?? The only thing I can think of that might cause that many coil failures in a short time would be a loss of ground on the coil itself. Make sure the coil ground wire has a good clean (no paint, oil, dirt etc,) ground point. The only other thing I can think of of is a bad plug wire allowing the spark no place to go at running speed and that will kill a coil quick.
 
Is the local dealer a Husqvarna dealer, or just an independent guy? Maybe post up a few pics of the most recent coil. I'm guessing they're Chineese, but they should still last longer than 30 mins. What are you setting the air gap at? Have you cleaned the area of the coil mount tabs on the saw? On most electronic coils, it grounds only at the mount point. If there is corrosion there (added resistance), it could fry pretty quick. You might want to ohm it out between the coil laminations and the cylinder casting. There should be essentially no resistance between the two.
 
Is it the Ducati unit? Are you replacing the plug wire too? Did it run poorly (skipping) before dying?? The only thing I can think of that might cause that many coil failures in a short time would be a loss of ground on the coil itself. Make sure the coil ground wire has a good clean (no paint, oil, dirt etc,) ground point. The only other thing I can think of of is a bad plug wire allowing the spark no place to go at running speed and that will kill a coil quick.

:cheers: you beat me
 
:cheers: you beat me

HaHa that's a first!!:cheers: I did have another thought though. To the OP: when these coils have failed, have you isolated the kill switch before replacing the coil?? Those Husky switches from that era failed miserably and frequently. Sometimes they failed open and sometimes they failed closed. In other words you either couldn't start them (no spark) or you couldn't shut them of with the switch. Just another thought.
 
The replacement coils are Ducati brand with attached spark plug wire. The air gap was set at .30 on all replacements and the kill switch is functioning as it should. Coil is grounded to engine case through two mounting screws. The last coil showed a reading of 6.79 on om meter after the saw stopped running. If the carb is set on the lean side would that cause a rise in engine temperature enough to have an adverse effect on the ignition coil??? I'm out of solutions, time for a new saw.
 
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The replacement coils are Ducati brand with attached spark plug wire. The air gap was set at .30 on all replacements and the kill switch is functioning as it should. Coil is grounded to engine case through two mounting screws. The last coil showed a reading of 6.79 on om meter after the saw stopped running. If the carb is set on the lean side would that cause a rise in engine temperature enough to have an adverse effect on the ignition coil??? I'm out of solutions, time for a new saw.


Country dude the air gap is set at .30?? Do you really mean 30 hundredths or 30 thousanths!! The air gap should be set at 0.012" both the center pickup and the side pickup. Perhaps to wide a gap may infact be overheating these coils. Not sure, never heard of that much gap. But also never heard of ruining that many coils in such a short time either!! A lean carb will cause a lot of problems but not of this kind!! What I've seen of the ducati units they are very durable. I think we may have found the problen with the air gap but if you want to get a new saw send me the old one LOL!!!:cheers:
 
The replacement coils are Ducati brand with attached spark plug wire. The air gap was set at .30 on all replacements and the kill switch is functioning as it should. Coil is grounded to engine case through two mounting screws. The last coil showed a reading of 6.79 on om meter after the saw stopped running. If the carb is set on the lean side would that cause a rise in engine temperature enough to have an adverse effect on the ignition coil??? I'm out of solutions, time for a new saw.

Trying setting your coil gap with a standard Business card or match book cover, that is what I have used for years on all kinds of equipment. That will get you out to about 10 thousandths.

The coil off quite a few Husqvarna models will work on your saw. I am positive it is the same coil found on the 51, 55, 268, 272 and several others.
 
Trying setting your coil gap with a standard Business card or match book cover, that is what I have used for years on all kinds of equipment. That will get you out to about 10 thousandths.

The coil off quite a few Husqvarna models will work on your saw. I am positive it is the same coil found on the 51, 55, 268, 272 and several others.

Yep :agree2: also 261,262 and all the later 600 series Jonsered saws too. Business card is close and easy to set both pickups at the same time to the same dimension.
A service bulletin on the 70E Jonsereds stated that the cure for a hard starting 70E was to close up the gap from the standard 0.012" to 0.007" so setting them light a couple thousandths is not a problem.:cheers:
 
stupid question, how clean are the mounts for the coil, i know if there is too munch residence to ground (not the kill wire) it can cause over voltage in the coil thus smoking it..
 
You need to set the air gap (coil legs to flywhee) tol .010-.012". Also I would replace your spark plug with a resistor plug set gap on that ot .020". Sometimes a saw will loose continuity between the coil mount and the cylinder, which will result in no spark.
 
Air gap of .3mm is the same as .012 inches.

Ah OK so it's not a super air gap......Soooo you never did answer my ??? about how it was running up until the coils quit. Did it go through a skipping fit or did it just suddenly die?? The reason I ask is that we are eliminating things as we go. This is leading me back to believing you are having a ground problem as you have the correct air gap, new coil and plug wire, operating kill switch etc. So with a ground problem it can only be in two places; where the coil bolts to the case or the cyl itself is losing ground from the case. I would file/sand the boss where the coil bolts down, bring the magnesium up nice and shiny at both bolt holes. Then pick a cyl base bolt that you can get a file/dremmel/sandpaper to, remove the bolt and polish the deck where the bolt head sits, sand the bottom of the bolt head and reinstall. Check the other three bolts for tightness too by backing them off and re tightening. It's either something like this or it's just plain possessed by evil spirits...:cheers:
 
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