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Wico Magneto question

J

JRSutton

Well-known Member
ok - so it's not IH - it's the magneto on the wisconsin egnine on a new holland baler - but the brand shouldn't matter, just more of a general magneto question.

I'm trying to get the engine started - it sat for 15 years.

2 cylinder engine. I HAD spark on both plugs this morning before I started going over the engine...

Stuck valves - crusty carburetor - old oil - etc etc. At some point I opened the mag to clean the points (foolishly I guess - should have left well enough alone).

In no longer have spark.

Nothing - neither plug - totally dead.

Now - I also, rather foolishly, turned the engine over for a while using the electric starter - with the plug wires disconnected by mistake.

Not a mag expert here - I've heard running a mag ungrounded like that can be a real bad thing - but I'm not sure HOW it's a bad thing - what goes wrong if you do that?

I'm thinking I either messed up the points in cleaning them - or I burned something out in the mag by running it with no plugs...

Thoughts?
 
the mag will have built in protection when plug wires are off. the spark will ground out in the mag. may need to recheck and gap points and condenser may be at fault, check contact conections for grounding out also.
 
I almost bet you messed with the points just enough to get some dirt/oil on them so no spark. Clean the points and try again. Now then would you believe you might get better answers on that mag over in the JD forum since many of the old Johnny poppers used that same mag
 
Take a dollar bill, fold in in half lengthways, and put it in between the points. Work it back and forth several times. Paper money is both a tad bit abrasive and absorbant. It will clean a set of points up surprisingly well.
 
Thanks guys -

I panicked before. It was sparking, then all I did was clean the points real quickly, didn't think that'd cause any trouble. I thought for sure I messed something up cranking it so much with the plug wires hanging.

After I posted, I went out, cleaned the points real carefully, gapped them - got a spark.

Engine fired right up and blew 15 years of debris out.

Of course - it doesn't stay running - the fuel pump's shot - but I expected that. One step at a time...

thanks again
 
actually I learned something new with these engines - both plugs fire together.

the intake/exhaust stroke is 180 degrees off as you'd expect between the two cylinders so one is firing and one is exhausting - but apparently the plugs fire twice in each cylinder - once on compression, once on exhaust.

The firing on the exhaust stroke doesn't doing anything - just makes the magneto simpler.

There is no rotor.

Probably common knowledge to this crowd - but I've never seen it before (or at least I never knew what I was looking at if I did see it).
 
Where is there a built in protection on a Wico mag? The IHC F4 mag is the only one I know of with the safety gap.
 
If I'm not mistaken - I believe the shut off "switch" on the side of the mag is suppose to arc to the body if it needs to.

It's just a peice of bent metal (isolated through the body of the mag) with a button on the end of it. You just push it to contact the body and it grounds out.

But I THINK that's whre it's supposed to arc if it's not grounded. But what made me nervous on this one is that gap is very large, and I didn't think it'd work.

But - moot point anyways, the mag's working fine now.
 
That is on the primary circuit of the coil. Not enough voltage to jump there. It is the secondary that needs a safety gap so the spark has a place to go or it will jump inside the coil itself.
 
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