Idles but that's all

Eagle103 · Post by **Eagle103** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:03 am

My first post here and of course it's because I have a problem. I got my 79 Spitfire going and it worked great for a couple of days. (I got this sled used in about 1983 and still love it.) The next day I went to use it and it started OK but that was all. It idles but when I give it some throttle it does nothing more. Even at wide open throttle the RPMs don't increase at all but it does smoke a bit more. Fuel pump seems to work OK. I took the carb off (butterfly style) and gave it another thorough cleaning with no change in results so I'm suspecting some type of ignition problem??? Any ideas what else to look for and tests to take would be greatly appreciated.

JDFanPa · Post by **JDFanPa** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:41 am

Did you put new plugs in it? Sounds to me if its only running on 1 cylinder. When you get a new old sled sometimes I end up fouling out plugs on start up until I learn the habits of the sled like how many times to pull it with choke on how long to idel it with choke on etc.

Eagle103 · Post by **Eagle103** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:03 am

Yup. New plugs didn't change anything. I took out a plug and set it on the head to watch the spark. The spark was somewhat intermittent and the strange part is the engine ran the same. If I took out the plug on the other side the result was also the same. A slow and somewhat rough idle and that's it.

smitfire · Post by **smitfire** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:06 am

it should run on 1 side if your engine is good
i had similar problems, turns out i had a bad plug, new one solved it

JDFanPa · Post by **JDFanPa** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 3:08 am

Maybe a bad connection in that plug cap also hows the compresion

MARK · Post by **MARK** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 10:54 am

CDI Is bad

Mark.

Spitfire79 · Post by **Spitfire79** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:07 pm

I had the same situation with my 79 Spit. The CDI is bad. Somwhere I have a paper that tells how to test the CDI with an ohm meter. One of the guys on here was nice enough to send it to me. I'll try to find it. Good luck in finding one. Apparently Pats Small Engine ( look in the suppliers list) has them. They are from overseas but they say they fit. I believe if you go on their web site its listed under Kohler parts. I havn't tried it. Let us know if it works

Jeff

Eagle103 · Post by **Eagle103** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 3:26 pm

Spitfire79 wrote: I had the same situation with my 79 Spit. The CDI is bad. Somwhere I have a paper that tells how to test the CDI with an ohm meter. One of the guys on here was nice enough to send it to me. I'll try to find it. Good luck in finding one. Apparently Pats Small Engine ( look in the suppliers list) has them. They are from overseas but they say they fit. I believe if you go on their web site its listed under Kohler parts. I havn't tried it. Let us know if it works

Jeff

Thanks for the info Jeff. I'll wait and see if you can find the test procedure before I spend money on a new one just to be sure. Any idea what makes them go bad so I don't fry the next one right away? You wouldn't think a solid state electronic part like that would quit for no reason.

big danno 1970 · Post by **big danno 1970** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:33 pm

If you can get your hands on a 77 to 80 cat jag 3000 free air you can switch the internal coil over to the kohler motor and then you can use the cat cdi box and then you should always be able to get parts as cat sold a tonne of those sleds.The timing is done by the stator plate so as long as you mark the location of the stator plate the timing will not change. The only mod is to make one of the holes in the coil a bit longer by using a chainsaw fileThis does work as I have done it to two of these sleds 1978 and 1979 with sucsess.
Hope this helps and good luck

Eagle103 · Post by **Eagle103** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 9:52 pm

Thanks everyone for the info. It looks like I can still get the CDI for about $70.

Spitfire79 · Post by **Spitfire79** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:28 pm

Hi Eagle103
I found the sheet for checking continuitty

Do you have a fax number I can send it to?
Did you find the CDI at Pat's or somewhere else?

Jeff

Eagle103 · Post by **Eagle103** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 2:04 pm

Jeff. PM sent!