Generator ignition coil/spark present?

[Coyote machine]

I'm not a small engine guy, but I'm trying to help my tenant with a 'free' Generac 5Kw generator they picked up to use this winter. (Unfortunately, my 7500Watt unit was stolen right out of the house when I was away last summer). It is vintage '95-'99 and sat outside for who knows too long. It has a Tecumseh 10HP engine.:confused3:
I have stripped it down and everything that could rust has. I removed the solid state ignition coil and cleaned up all contact points that could cause it not to get proper grounding. New s. plug, new oil, cleaned carb, etc. dropped some gas in head and installed plug and pulled recoil starter rope looking for signs of life. No sounds of firing, seems like intermittent at best spark, if any, using a spark test pen.
I'm out of ideas, and was wondering if anyone has another way to verify whether spark is present?
I did also clean the contact points on the flywheel which were rusted big time too. Are these ig coils pretty one size fits most or are they pretty engine specific? I can get an OEM for $60 but don't yet know if it is the issue or just one of many to just get the engine started, let alone any output from the genny portion....
Any thoughts, advice, sanity check would be useful.

TIA

CM

 

[jinman]

When doing a spark test, I always pull the plug(s) and ground them by using an alligator clip lead or laying them against a grounded surface. That way I can really spin the engine over with the pull rope and should produce a hot spark that is easily visible. All the other things are mostly just visual checks as you've done. You might check the kill wire lead to ground to make sure it is not grounded out all the time and holding off the spark. That's the best I can do from afar.

If you have a spark, pour a tablespoonful of gas directly into the carb to see if the engine fires or burps. That's the way I check for fuel starvation. If it only fires with the added gas, something is still wrong in the carb.

 

[JRobyn]

I had this problem (unsure about spark quality) on a smaller lawnmower engine, and found, like you, that a replacement solid-state coil/ignition was prohibitively expensive. I found a local mower repair shop that ALWAYS keeps the coil/ignition out of any carcasses they have just for this reason and would sell them for about $30. They are all very similar, but to my understanding there ARE differences, so bring your old one with you to match them up.

I eventually found that the spark plug itself was bad on my mower. At times, it would show a very good spark, at other times, very weak or none at all. I guess that the internal resistor was bad? So trying a known-good plug is a cheap and easy test. --- Nevermind, see you've already done that! ---

Good luck!

- Jay

 

[Coyote machine]

When doing a spark test, I always pull the plug(s) and ground them by using an alligator clip lead or laying them against a grounded surface. That way I can really spin the engine over with the pull rope and should produce a hot spark that is easily visible. All the other things are mostly just visual checks as you've done. You might check the kill wire lead to ground to make sure it is not grounded out all the time and holding off the spark. That's the best I can do from afar.

If you have a spark, pour a tablespoonful of gas directly into the carb to see if the engine fires or burps. That's the way I check for fuel starvation. If it only fires with the added gas, something is still wrong in the carb.

Today I'm going to try to see spark by grounding to head, with a helper to pull the cord. Yesterday I was doing the gas in the plug hole and then inserting the plug and listening for any ignition type noise from the engine. I don't want to add any gas to the carb yet until I verify I have spark. Once I have spark the carb is the next hurdle...
I will try checking it with the plug grounded and gap visible too, now that I have the recoil starter hooked up.

 

[Raspy]

Definitely check for a hot bluish spark with the plug out of the engine and laying on the head. If weak, check for spark with no plug and the wire about 1/4" from the head. If it's weak, make sure the plug wire is dry and clean at the coil. Then check the gap at the flywheel to the coil. This should be clean with no rust that could touch as the flywheel turns.

If you are getting spark, try to start it on ether. Ether won't hurt a gas engine and it will fire if there is spark. If it fires start working on the gas system.