"nick" wrote in message
ups.com...
about 4 years ago the throttle cable on my 87 model lawn boy broke.
It would still run fine but no throttle. So this year I put on a new
trottle cable. Now I am getting no spark. I gained access to the
magneto, to it out and buffed the rust off the contacts. There is a
wire that runs from the magneto to something in from that seems
inaccessable, but conceveably could be a part of the magneto. I still
get no spark, if I disconnect the wired I still get no spark. I
assume it was part of the kill system as that is where the kill cable
goes to. This is a 20 year old mower with little use. But after
purchase of the cable I have almost 30 more dollars in it and am
relectant to spend more with out know what is wrong. Is there a
proper gapping on the magneto? Is there a way to bypass the kill
system?


I agree with what tksirius said. I generally use a folded sheet of copy
paper to set the air gap. The thinner wire, if disconnected, will disable
the kill switch. Check for spark. It is probably a bad ignition
coil/module. Sometimes the spark will be intermittant on the electronic
ignition coils if they are bad. If you have good spark it's time to check
the carburator. Do you leave old gas in it for long periods of time? When
you say you took out the magneto does that mean you removed the flywheel?
Did you use a puller or a hammer? Banging on those things can cause a loss
of magnetism and hence no spark. $30 seems like an awful lot for a throttle
cable.