RV Repair: Onan Genarator, exhaust stroke, compression stroke


Question
OK,Ihave resistance,contenuity,and getting the spark with the ground test.but still no spark to the plugs.Points? I didnt think that newer motors had points.thanks Ken Wells
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Followup To

Question -
I did the ground test and got no spark from the termenal.The coil is brand new,is there a way to test the coil with a meter?Also does this model even have points? Thanks again,Ken Wells
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Followup To

Question -
Emerald Plus 4000 Mod#4bgefa26100k Went to start unit would not start.Seemed like no spark hooked up spark tester and found no spark.Checked hot wire to coil and had power.Installed new coil still no spark.Did not replace condencer but will be doing so next,any help you can give me would be great,Thank You Ken Wells

Answer -
Hi Ken:
If you have a hot, 12 volt power wire to the coil and it does not fire then the intermitent ground signal is missing. You take off the ground side wire from the coil and use a grounded wire to generate the ground signal manually. Touch the ground wire to the ground terminal of the coil. Now when you remove the wire from the coil you should get one spark. If you do not then there still is something wrong with the coil. You can do this test with the coil off the generator. Onan gets away without using a distributor as such by firing both plugs simultaneously. One at the top of the compression stroke while the other spark is wasted on the other cylinder firing at the top of the exhaust stroke. If the ground thing works and you get a spark the the generator signal to the ground side of the coil is missing. The points are a real pain to get to, the generator has to come all the way out so I hope that is not the case. Good luck.
Bill

Answer -
Ken:
You can only test the primary winding in the coil. The secondary, the winding that produces the spark you can't check. You should have continuity when you put an ohm meter accross the coil terminals, some small resistance reading on an ohm meter. The coil has to produce a spark when you do the ground test. When you do this test and hook up the hot and ground wire current flows through the primary winding and builds up a large voltage in the secondary winding. When you remove the ground the electrical field collapses and the voltage in the secondary discharges. It has to work or the coil is bad.
Bill

Answer
Hi Ken:
You have to break the ground to the coil somehow to make it work. I suppose there are other ways to do that than with points. The last time I took one apart the points were behind the front cover. You have to drop the generator all the way out to get to it.
Bill