Husky 254 professional, please help I don't wanna throw this old girl out!

[Dutchy]

Hello all, new user to the site, have lurked some forums. What a great place. Lots of helpful advice and tips. Little back ground. Husqvarna 254 professional serial number 8180663, I seem to have a dead coil. Saw is ancient but I love it. It rips! Compression check 130 psi cold 145ish warm(piston skirt and top along with cylinder walls look great!). Crank case holds a vacuum. It starts great when cold(nice blue spark). Once hot. Horrible to stay running and spark is weak/sporadic once saw is warm. With the two checks I've done. Sounds like a coil to me.(having a hard time getting the coil replaced under huskys lifetime warranty on all coils. Told it has lifetime when bought brand new) recently picked up a blown up husky 55 serial number 05 1200104 with some weird number above the serial being 967 05 29-00 got it for helping some neighbors. I'm wondering if you guys would have any knowledge about wether or not these saws have some interchangable parts. Mainly the coil. But from my understanding the 254 is a 2mm longer stroke on the crank,if the 55 is a 45mm piston. Any and all help/input is greatly appreciated!
Thanks! Dutchy.
New homeowner trying to clean up after Hurricane Dorian!

 

[cuinrearview]

That coil should work. Pop it in and give it a shot. It's not running right right now, so what do you have to lose?

 

[Dutchy]

Just went and physically picked up the 55, side by side it visually it seems like the 55 I have has switched to a newer style case, pull cord case, choke, carb size, angle of the carb,brake case, muffler support, cylinder head(jug).

 

[cuinrearview]

Just went and physically picked up the 55, side by side it visually it seems like the 55 I have has switched to a newer style case, pull cord case, choke, carb size, angle of the carb,brake case, muffler support, cylinder head(jug).

They are not the same series or chassis but I'm pretty sure I put a 55 coil from @cus_deluxe on a 261(same chassis) this year.

 

[Huskvarna hotellgäst]

Just went and physically picked up the 55, side by side it visually it seems like the 55 I have has switched to a newer style case, pull cord case, choke, carb size, angle of the carb,brake case, muffler support, cylinder head(jug).

Coils might be different spec in regard to triggering RPM but are nonetheless interchangeable.
254 bore & stroke is 45x34, 55 is 46x32 (unless its a closed-port 45x32)
Tank, front handle, clutch, main bearings are the same on both (possibly muffler & clutch drum too depending on version). Everything else is not (apart from some bolts).

 

[HiOctane]

55 coil gonna work on the 254.

 

[cus_deluxe]

coil is same part number as far as i know. same coil for like 15 different saws

 

[cus_deluxe]

serial number 05 1200104 with some weird number above the serial being 967 05 29-00

second number is the part number for the complete powerhead.

 

[Huskvarna hotellgäst]

If in doubt, 0.3mm air gap.

 

[Dutchy]

Hey guys i'm not sure what i'm doing wrong! After swapping coils and setting airgap to 0.3mm i have no spark! The coil i am trying to replace had a wire coming out of it then just grounded right back to a bolt that holds the coil down. meanwhile the 'new' one from the 55 didnt have this wire. It seems that i dont have a good ground to the case. i didnt shine up the case where the coil seats because i figured the bolt would provide a good enough ground. I am stumped!

 

[Huskvarna hotellgäst]

My expertise with variants of the Electrolux ignition in the 254, 55, 40, 268 - and heaps of other saws - stops at 1989.
I can see that the ground wire was still pictured in the 1998 55 IPL (see pic) but has gone in the 2008 IPL.
Very unlikely to be significant electrical resistance between a bolt in the crankcase and the spark plug thread. Do you have a multimeter/ohmmeter to check when cold and hot?
If you have a length of thin stiff wire, you can try wrapping it a couple of times round the cylinder fins and running one end down and under the head of an ignition mounting screw.

Apologies if some of theses are obvious.
Has the flywheel been hit or dropped?
Any sign of arcing between the HT lead and the cylinder fins on the original ignition?
Have you tried,
-swapping the HT cable and connector with the one from old unit to see if you at least get spark when cold then?
-removing the kill switch wire
-changing the spark plug.

It is possible you just have 2 faulty ignition modules

 

[pioneerguy600]

The chassis mounting surfaces need to be really clean and shiny on the models that have the wireless grounding of the module laminations so I have encountered. Possibly a bad switch or bad connections at either end of the high tension plug wire as already mentioned.

 

[Huskvarna hotellgäst]

Surely the surface of the laminations is punched or knurled where the mounting bolts go No?

 

[pioneerguy600]

Don`t know about everywhere else but here we have a salt air climate, a white fuzzy surface soon replaces a shiny mag or aluminum surface if its not protected, have seen chainsaw chassis completely eaten through and the saw never touched water.

 

[Huskvarna hotellgäst]

Don`t know about everywhere else but here we have a salt air climate, a white fuzzy surface soon replaces a shiny mag or aluminum surface if its not protected, have seen chainsaw chassis completely eaten through and the saw never touched water.

I see. I didn't suggest scraping paint off the crankcase under the ignition because I already have an aversion to removing powder coating from magnesium alloy under any circumstances, let alone when the air has a high salt level.

 

[Cantdog]

Did you verify that the coil had spark on the blown up 55 before putting it in the 254?

 

[pioneerguy600]

Under many module laminations on saws I have worked over there was no paint or powdercoat from the factory so the bare mag gets fuzzy and even the laminations rust along with the machine screws that attach the module to the saw chassis. I see the OP of this thread is sort of a neighbor to me, one province away and totally surrounded by salt water. It may not be totally necessary to have clean mating surfaces between the metals but the engine fitter/machinist in me makes me do it and it has worked for me in the past. Maybe the machine screws alone can cut through the deteriorated metals and provide ground on their own but for me I like to have shiny new metal on all surfaces and give them a light coat of grease or Rust Stop before sending them back out on their way.