I am trying to convert a late 90's Kaw. FD500V 2 cyl vert. mower from the stock coils to automotive style coils, only 1 wire to coil nothing else, 3+ volts static w/ig. on. Tried to just put the new coils in place of stock (yes it eliminates the magneto bit) and I think this is electronic ignition but no spark. I have heard of this being done by several but everyine I worked with has 2 wires to each and it was simple. Any help?

I haven't gone to the points yet because it had spark when it came in, the thing ran, ran rough but it ran. Was rough and way low on power, this thing has had this problem 3 or 4 times over the past few years and the owner (my neighbor) doesn't really remember what was done other than that every time the fix was something different. She thinks it was the relay on one of the control handles once, coil another time, Something else another... you get the idea, I do know each time the shop who worked on it had the damn thing for over a week so I suspect they just threw parts at it until they got it to run and didn't really know what was happening. I have heard from several posts that the Kawasaki's are notorious for coils failing with these exact symptoms so I took a stab at it. I am an automotive guy so not familiar whith this whole magneto style system. I checked for resistance on coils before I did anything and they seemed ab out right, plugs were almost new, just a little carbon fluff, both looked same. I just hesitate to dig in as I would rather just try this and leave the under flywheel alone, (is where everything else seems to be and I hate having to figure the damn thing out myself. Hell I don't even have the point specs. Just what I see for general settings on B&S and Kohler in a Haynes manual I have. Guessing from there. I haven't gone to the points yet because it had spark when it came in, the thing ran, ran rough but it ran. Was rough and way low on power, this thing has had this problem 3 or 4 times over the past few years and the owner (my neighbor) doesn't really remember what was done other than that every time the fix was something different. She thinks it was the relay on one of the control handles once, coil another time, Something else another... you get the idea, I do know each time the shop who worked on it had the damn thing for over a week so I suspect they just threw parts at it until they got it to run and didn't really know what was happening. I have heard from several posts that the Kawasaki's are notorious for coils failing with these exact symptoms so I took a stab at it. I am an automotive guy so not familiar whith this whole magneto style system. I checked for resistance on coils before I did anything and they seemed ab out right, plugs were almost new, just a little carbon fluff, both looked same. I just hesitate to dig in as I would rather just try this and leave the under flywheel alone, (is where everything else seems to be and I hate having to figure the damn thing out myself. Hell I don't even have the point specs. Just what I see for general settings on B&S and Kohler in a Haynes manual I have. Guessing from there.

I assume you are refering to the center electrode on the plug at the center of the insulator (inside the combustion chamber?) The plug gap is good, I tested the output form the coils and am not really getting anything and because the thing came in running more or less I think it is more likely I am hooking something up wrong. I pulled the coils (just the lead coming form the ignition) and connected that to each coil +, went from - terminal to ground at the old coil body. Seemed the logical thing to do. Would this be correct? There is only one wire coming out to the coils, same wire to each even so they are firing together. If I go under to the electronic ignition etc. I need to understand what is what as I am hesitant to just start hooking things up as I know that module is serious bucks. I assume you are refering to the center electrode on the plug at the center of the insulator (inside the combustion chamber?) The plug gap is good, I tested the output form the coils and am not really getting anything and because the thing came in running more or less I think it is more likely I am hooking something up wrong. I pulled the coils (just the lead coming form the ignition) and connected that to each coil +, went from - terminal to ground at the old coil body. Seemed the logical thing to do. Would this be correct? There is only one wire coming out to the coils, same wire to each even so they are firing together. If I go under to the electronic ignition etc. I need to understand what is what as I am hesitant to just start hooking things up as I know that module is serious bucks.

Mower is Yazoo w/KAW. FD500 2 cyl. Weak spark, thing is running very rough, both plugs showing much carbon. Been repeated issue everytime someone fixes it they do something different. I read the coils are weak spot and fix was to convert to automotive coils, I see no points or ignition, just coils. How do I fix this or can I do the automotive coil deal? Mower is Yazoo w/KAW. FD500 2 cyl. Weak spark, thing is running very rough, both plugs showing much carbon. Been repeated issue everytime someone fixes it they do something different. I read the coils are weak spot and fix was to convert to automotive coils, I see no points or ignition, just coils. How do I fix this or can I do the automotive coil deal?

I am abount to sit down with the chassis wiring diagram. I finally pulled the flywheel to look for points, non there, just the stator? Charging stuff. I finally got enough shrouds off to look at the external wiring and see no ignition anywhere, 1 wire to what looks like the carb and one with a Y going to the two original coils, these have the usual soft iron frame and the magnet on the flywheel. Only one lead to the coils and I think it is 12 volts. I guess at this point what I am wondering is: is the only thing firing the coils the pulsing mag field or am I missing cam/points/pickup and ignition somewhere I haven't found yet? I always thought the magnet/iron core deal was just to intensify the spark by boosting the e field and that something else did the triggering. The thing that makes me think this is that the coils each have 1 lead going to them and nothing else and these are from the same wire so cannot be carrying timing info unless the darn thing is firing both plugs at same time, and just wasting the spark on the exhaust cycle. I am abount to sit down with the chassis wiring diagram. I finally pulled the flywheel to look for points, non there, just the stator? Charging stuff. I finally got enough shrouds off to look at the external wiring and see no ignition anywhere, 1 wire to what looks like the carb and one with a Y going to the two original coils, these have the usual soft iron frame and the magnet on the flywheel. Only one lead to the coils and I think it is 12 volts. I guess at this point what I am wondering is: is the only thing firing the coils the pulsing mag field or am I missing cam/points/pickup and ignition somewhere I haven't found yet? I always thought the magnet/iron core deal was just to intensify the spark by boosting the e field and that something else did the triggering. The thing that makes me think this is that the coils each have 1 lead going to them and nothing else and these are from the same wire so cannot be carrying timing info unless the darn thing is firing both plugs at same time, and just wasting the spark on the exhaust cycle.