Easy way to check an ignition module?

[Dan Forsh]

Let me start out by saying that chainsaws are still my first love, but I've been doing a lot with Stihl TS 350/360 cut-off saws recently.

They really are nicer to work on without the complication of bar oil all over everything.

One thing I could do with a tip on if anyone has one though. I find alot of the saws I get have ignition failures. I recently bought a couple job lots of parts which included a few used modules. It is a fair bit of work to strip one out - mounted behind the flywheel - and change to another one, then put the saw back together enough to be able to pull it over to check for a spark.

Anyone know how I can test one off the saw maybe?

Cheers,

Dan

 

[lawnmaniac883]

Can't be done.

 

[retoocs555]

There is a device that will tell you if an ignition is good or bad when you put the coil on it. Mostly they are expensive, brand specific, hard to find tools.

 

[thompson1600]

Klickitatsackett had a good idea. He used an old crankcase and crankshaft. Put them together with a flywheel on. then hooked an electric drill to the other side to spin the crankshaft. Used a regular tester on the coil from there.

Tom

 

[DanMan1]

Can't be done.

B.S.

 

[Dan Forsh]

Klickitatsackett had a good idea. He used an old crankcase and crankshaft. Put them together with a flywheel on. then hooked an electric drill to the other side to spin the crankshaft. Used a regular tester on the coil from there.

Tom

That sounds do-able I could probably rig something like that up.

 

[Lakeside53]

That sounds do-able I could probably rig something like that up.

It works well... best test you can do. if you want to get serious, build a timing light into your fixture, and, a heat gun. Many module will fail with temperature. If you measure the flywheels, you find there are only a few sizes (In Stihl these are mostly Bosch standards), and as absolute "timing" doesn't matter, many coils and systems can be pieced to together.


Every time I get frustrated with a bunch of bad coils/systems, I think about making a real test jig, but that passes in a day or so.. and I usually end up doing it the hard way.