Old Echo experts chime in

[struggle]

Here is the saw. I have taken the coil off it and the module/pick-up is still attached to the engine. It is quite grimmy but I have seen way worse. I will clean it up nice and run it to make sure it shuts down before throwing any parts at it.

The saw is really in nice shape excapt for the missing/broken hand guard.

 

[struggle]

OK today I cleaned everything up electrical I could by removing the coil and pick up coil/CDI unit and fueled the saw and it fires and imediately loses spark. Sets for a minute and then will refire and then loses spark again.

Is this the symptom of the coil being bad or the flywheel pick-up unit

The one thing I didn't do was disconnect the on/off switch which I will do tomorrow

 

[Dan_IN_MN]

That saw look very similar to the John Deere 55v I used as a kid. Wish I still had it! I believe Echo made JD's saws.????

 

[a. palmer jr.]

My uncle has a an Echo saw that he does not have in front of him (out of town) that does not run. It was mentioned that he should give it to me to have.

I contacted him and he said a repair that shop one of the two coils is bad:msp_confused:

Did Echo make a model with two coils? Any value in getting this saw. I would have to pay shipping to get.

Echo made many saws that had a module and a coil. I have a John Deere 80 EV, made by Echo that also has a bad coil and maybe a bad module also. I'm sitting around waiting for a parts saw or the correct coils to put on it.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I would not go by the book as to a good coil bad coil. At least that is what i have figured out on 750evl ignition systems. It ohm`s was right on with the book on primary and secondary and it blew out 3 of my rebuilt cdi`s till i tried a different coil with the same ohm`s and it is OK now with the 4 th rebuilt cdi. I have not worked on a 500evl to know how close they are alike but that is the way the 750evl was.

Dave

What kind of ohms reading did you get across that coil primary and secondary?

 

[struggle]

Across the secondary side of the coil it fluctuates around 30 ohms 0.2 ohms on the primary side. The saw has very week spark. I disconnected the on/off switch and no change. In order to get spark I have to spin the saw with a drill on the flywheel

On the run CAD victim with a phone smarter than me

 

[struggle]

Also will add I am only getting .26 volts coming out of the CDI box for output

On the run CAD victim with a phone smarter than me

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Across the secondary side of the coil it fluctuates around 30 ohms 0.2 ohms on the primary side. The saw has very week spark. I disconnected the on/off switch and no change. In order to get spark I have to spin the saw with a drill on the flywheel

On the run CAD victim with a phone smarter than me

The secondary side is taken from ground to the end of the plug wire..should be in the 30K vicinity. Primary taken from ground to the black wire terminal on the coil with it disconnected should be about 10 ohms or so, maybe a little less.
If you're on the ohmsX1000 it would be about right to read 30. I've found it easier to use an analog meter for this kinda stuff rather than a digital meter. If it has electronic ignition it's better to just change the module if the on/off switch is ok. You can also run the air gap down to about 10 thousandths and see if it's any better.

 

[struggle]

The secondary side is taken from ground to the end of the plug wire..should be in the 30K vicinity. Primary taken from ground to the black wire terminal on the coil with it disconnected should be about 10 ohms or so, maybe a little less.
If you're on the ohmsX1000 it would be about right to read 30. I've found it easier to use an analog meter for this kinda stuff rather than a digital meter. If it has electronic ignition it's better to just change the module if the on/off switch is ok. You can also run the air gap down to about 10 thousandths and see if it's any better.

I tightened the gap on the coil and it made no difference. THe module appears to just not generate enough voltage to put a large spark out of the coil. IT is a really weak spark.

I wonder what in the module goes bad as if it were possible to take it apart somehow to see what is behind the hard plastic poured in plastic:msp_confused:

 

[struggle]

Another observation I half way rigged a regular coil from a poulan and spun the flywheel and I still have a weak spark. Do the flywheels lose magnetic abilities?

On the run CAD victim with a phone smarter than me

 

[bcsizemo]

Another observation I half way rigged a regular coil from a poulan and spun the flywheel and I still have a weak spark. Do the flywheels lose magnetic abilities?

On the run CAD victim with a phone smarter than me

The distance from the flywheel to the coil would impact the spark strength on a standard coil setup...(don't know how close you have it rigged.)

Repairing the module would really depend on how it is built. If it is just a circuit board in a box then there is a possibility.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

The distance from the flywheel to the coil would impact the spark strength on a standard coil setup...(don't know how close you have it rigged.)

Repairing the module would really depend on how it is built. If it is just a circuit board in a box then there is a possibility.

It sure would be nice if the companies provided an electrical schematic for those modules, but as far as I know they don't, at least I've never seen one.

 

[bcsizemo]

It sure would be nice if the companies provided an electrical schematic for those modules, but as far as I know they don't, at least I've never seen one.

Well since it seems like a possibility that you may need a new one can that one be opened or is it pretty much a sealed unit?
And then the next obvious question is if it comes apart can you take pictures?

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Well since it seems like a possibility that you may need a new one can that one be opened or is it pretty much a sealed unit?
And then the next obvious question is if it comes apart can you take pictures?

The one I have is a sealed unit with a separate coil, also sealed up. I guess you could bust it open but you might not learn too much unless you were really careful when you broke it open. I think our problem is just finding the parts, I know they're out there, just hidden. Believe it or not, there's still a lot of people, mostly older, that still don't have a computer and I know of one in my general area that has a lot of parts but no computer so I'm sure there's hundreds of them out there. Just have to be patient.

 

[NORMZILLA44]

Just caught your thread Shane, hope you get it. Always loved Echo stuff, and been impressed by the quality. No expert at working on them, have not done that much. But run quite a few.