ignition coil failure

[Roger1960]

I have three Poulan weed whackers and not a single one has spark.

It seems odd to me that all 3 would have buggered coils unless the brand has a week point. Anyone have a clue as to why these modules are dropping like flies? I have never had a coil failure in all of my 4 cycle equipment, anyone noticed this?

 

[SuperDave456]

Sorry to tell you this but I have never had good luck with Poulan.
Weird bearing issues, wonky throttle issues, the inability to restart after the engine seizes... stuff like that.

It is worth 2x the money just for the benefits to my mental health to buy better equipment.

My Echo is lighter and more powerful than any other weed wacker I have ever purchased, at 3 years old and running strong!

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: SuperDave456

It is worth 2x the money just for the benefits to my mental health to buy better equipment.


That's a good one.......I like that.

 

[RS700L]

I have not had good luck with Poulan/Weedeater stuff either. I seized up a chainsaw and lost an ignition coil in a Weedeater. I was also once on a mission trip where we bought two brand new Poulan chainsaws which became temperamental within their first few hours of use.

 

[Roger1960]

OK I understand that completely.

My investment in these three weed eaters $0 (Zero) All appear to have enough compression, and do not show much sign of abuse.

I would be happy to have paid double or even triple that for a high end trimmer! :>)

I have cleaned the carb on one, the other looks clean and has no old gas in the tank.

But not a one of these had any spark I tested them after I pulled the kill wire from the coil and checked the air gap.

In my experience with cars and mowers it has never been the coil, yet three wead eaters in a row all with dead coils? curious to know why.

 

[yeehaw1960]

The coils go bad for the same reason the rope hangs out of my Weedeater blower when I pull it and for the same reason most new Poulan stuff goes downhill very quickly. It's cheap junk. 6 or 7 years ago, it was a cheap (decent, though needed upkeep) alternative to more expensive (better) brands. Now, it's so cheaply made out of parts imported from China that they're good for a year or two and then ready for the trash. Echo for trimmers and blowers, Stihl for chainsaws and (at least) anything but Chondas for mowers.

 

[01rangerxl]

We don't see too many coil failures on trimmers, but the company I work for doesn't service many Poulan products. Most of the trimmers we get are manufactured by TTI (Homelite/Ryobi) or Echo, and coil failures are not common. Usually it's something we see more on equipment where a lot of grass or other debris can build up around the coil (push mowers mostly).

Check to see if the coils are clean and free of rust. If the trimmers were left out in the elements, the coils may be so corroded they won't spark.

If the coils appear to be clean, I would search around online to see if there is a recall or some kind of service bulletin for them.

 

[hate2work]

Originally Posted By: SuperDave456
the inability to restart after the engine seizes... stuff like that.