EZGO ST 480 16 HP Vanguard Lost Spark

[TVAN]

Was cleaning the engine on a EZGO ST 480 16 HP Vanguard with a rag and poking around the front of it and now it lost spark. I may have seen a spark but am not sure. All the sudden it would turn over but no fire. Verified no spark both cylinders. Verified compression at 152 and 158. Seem like pretty good numbers. All wiring looks as it should, or as it did before loosing spark. Any ideas? Ran like a scalded cat earlier tonight.

 

[Nubs]

I would start by removing the ground/kill wire on the side of the fan shroud and see if it has spark, if not you will need to remove the fan shroud to get at the coils/magnetos. If that ground/kill wire had got a shot of 12 volts somehow the coils are most likely shot. There is a chance the wire that connects the two coils came off on one side, but you would still have spark to one cylinder.

 

[Nubs]

Did ya look at it yet

 

[TVAN]

Thank you Nubs. I will look at it tonight. I wonder how the kill wire would have been energized, I didn’t change anything.

 

[Nubs]

 

[TVAN]

 

[Nubs]

So is it running, what was the deal with it

 

[TVAN]

Not yet. I was working on the plow. I will let you know what I find.

 

[TVAN]

Removed the shroud and found the grounding wire for the coils was linked and pretty oily and ty looking so I cleaned it up a bit and spark came back and it fired. Pretty happy I don’t have to dunk with the coils at this point. Thanks for the quick reply Nubs and hope you enjoyed the popcorn.

 

[TVAN]

Any opinions about maximum “safe” rpms under load for the 16hp 480 vanguard? I am running about 4300 at 26 mph with 22” tall tires. I put a stock txt driven clutch (36 degree cam) on it since it had way too much torque with the 28 degree it came with. I did zip tie the governor and installed a tach to know the revs. It plows snow like a 2500hd.

Nubs, it has not missed a beat since I unkinked the wire that connects the coils together and added a new connector with heat shrink. All seems good.