Homelite SXL ignition trouble.....

[Indiana John]

I'm trying to get my Super XL Auto going so I can use it till I get one of my 041's running again. This this was given to me by a buddy who found it laying in his grandma's barn while he was clearing out junk and hauling, and since he knows how much I like messing with stuff he offered it me. I could swear that I checked the spark when I got it and it was okay, which is why I decided to go ahead and get it going again. I had it started for a couple seconds the other evening after rebuilding the carb. but it flooded out (gas dripping from muffler) or at least I thought that's what happened. Now I can only get spark when I connect my inline neon tester and ground it to the saw body. It shows good spark there, but if I connect my clamp-on spark plug style tester, I get nothing. It has the EI coil so I know it's not the points/condensor like my 041's. I have disconnected the kill switch from the coil to remove it from the equation with no improvement. I then trimmed and redid the connections on both ends of the plug wire to no avail. I finally replaced the wire with a new piece of solid core wire. I have even re-set the air gap at the flywheel, and the magnets in the flywheel still feel plenty strong. I'm ready to pull what's left of my hair out! It just seems to me that the coil has somehow gone weak, tho I don't see how.
Opinions? Suggestions? These ignition problems are driving me nuts!

 

[tomdcoker]

homelite SXL ignition trouble

Since it works sometime and not all time, (two different type testers) could possible be fouled plug. Replace plug or if one is not available burn plug tip with propane touchy. I have two of these saws and one had no fire. Cleaned and reset the gap, no more problems. Tom

 

[Indiana John]

Well, the clip-on tester I use is basically a spark plug with a small spring clamp welded to the side to clamp it to the engine. So it has nothing to do with the plug in the engine. And I have two of those testers and tried both of them just to make sure. In fact I don't even have a plug in it right now. And the plug that was in it was brand new. I even tried two other plugs and it made no difference. It just seems to me that the coil is weak.

 

[Mike mandry]

Those electronic coils are pretty pricey if you can even find one.

What I have done in the past is to outfit it with the old points type setup (get a used coil & flywheel from a junker or on ebay) & then put a ATOM module on it to do away with the points.

You will have to use the ATOM module as most of the saws I have seen that have eletronic coils do not have a cam ground on the crank for the points.

 

[Indiana John]

Yeah, I'm watching the 'Bay, but haven't seen anything yet.

 

[Marc1]

Try this guy, you never know.

http://stores.ebay.com.au/RANDYS-ENGINE-REPAIR

 

[smcowboy1974]

Spark plug

I bet it's the spark plug. Try a new one, before, taking apart all that other stuff. Sometimes spark plugs are very finicky, other times not!