Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

I'm getting no spark. I don't know if the ignition module is bad or if I've got something hooked up wrong. This motor is from a chainsaw and the kill switch is removed. To test the engine, I attached a wire between the two wires that come off of the ignition (standard magneto ignition with flywheel. Is there any way to test a standard magneto ignition? What should the gap be between the flywheel and the ignition? If I need a new ignition, where can I get one?

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

The gap should be the space of a business card

get the magnet in line with the coil. Lay the business card there and install the coil against the business card and tighten down.

Remove the card

There should not be any wires attached to the coil except the plug wire going to the plug

You will have to spin the magnet past the coil as fast as you possibly can to see even a weak spark

It is unlikely that you will be able to start the engine by hand

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

MB-27-1 Module - ignition $32.00

http://wem.walbro.com/walbro/compone...7-1&nocrumbs=Y

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

If I am understanding you correctly, you have grounded the ignition and it won't fire. Magnetos are grounded to kill them, and I believe that is what you have done. Unhook those two wires, and try it again. It also takes a few rpms for a mag to spark, so make sure you are giving it a good spin.

AV8TOR

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

I'm spinning the motor with an 18 volt drill and there should be enough for a spark. When facing the front of the engine, there is an electrical post on the left side of the ignition module. There is a clip with a wire coming off of this post. To the right side is another wire that is connected to the screw that holds the ignition module in place. These two wires used to go to a switch on the chainsaw. By connecting a wire between them, was I grounding out the ignition? So, to start the motor, I should just leave them alone? Eventually when I get the motor on a plane, I'll have a kill switch. But for now, I am just trying to check the engine out and see how it does. I tried it both ways yesterday, but couldn't get a spark either way. The plug was taken out, but it was touching the top of the cylinder, so I think if the ignition was working, I would have seen some kind of spark?

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

Yes, that is correct. To KILL the engine you CONNECT those two wires. You might try a new spark plug, and be sure it is well grounded against the engine. The spark may be difficult to see in bright light.

AV8TOR

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

Okay, I reset the gap with a business card, pulled the plug and spun the engine with the drill. As it turns out, I am getting a spark. Trouble is, the drill is not spinning the engine fast enough under compression. What is everyone using to start these engines? I may have to go EI as it would be cheaper than a megatron starter.

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

I use the Dynatron starter

Or you can keep looking at drills, some are faster than others

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

Have spomebody crank the engine over and feel with your hands if there is spark. If you feel nothing..no spark. The higher you jump...the better the spark is!!!! Capt,n:D

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

My dad used to be able to do that, but I hate getting shocked. I would see him pull plug wires on a running car to find a dead cylinder, and he would jerk just a little bit and say "oh, that one bites a bit". The same shock would knock me on my *****!!

AV8TOR

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

My dad would do that too on a lawnmower.

At work I had a maintenance man working on a real small fork lift and a janitor came up bragging that he could grab the plug wires at the spark plugs and stop the engine if it was idling. He lighted up like a hog at the slaughterhouse when he grabbed those plugs. But eventually the engine quit. I don't think he was worth a toot the rest of the day?

The moral to this story is: I don't think it is a very good idea to be holding spark plug wires.

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

Anyone know who does a prop hub with magnet (for EI) for this engine? For my 25cc I used CH ignitions, but they don't make one for the 45 cc.

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

Wow! Got the engine started with a Hobbico 180 starter with 16 volt set up. VERY powerful engine! A couple questions though, I am using the stock carb and the fuel inlet tube faces forward toward the propeller. Also, the throttle is positioned vertically, so I would need a bellcrank to run it on my TF GS P-51. Does anyone make a twister type manifold that will position the carb differently? There is a pulse hole on the crankcase and this is the only way I can position the carb. How does the HDB 6B work with this engine?

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

I FINALLY flew this thing today with the original carb that I rebuilt. Very Happy! Engine is a nice match for this plane.

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

Did the forklift's engine have a coil for each sparkplug?

On my 90 4runner I've been popped and that thing only has one coil feeding 6 spark plugs ala distributor...shocked the everlivingpiss out of me. Tingled for a few minutes but that was it.

I then got smart and used a set of long pliers to goof around -as long as the boot was within about 2" of the end of the plug, the spark would jump from the spark plug boot to the electrode of the plug. Beyond 2" and that electricity REALLY wanted to find a ground and a few times popped me even through the pliers, although not nearly as badly as the first, unadulterated hit....LOL!

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

So the hobbico 180 worked for you?

I've got a 31cc ryobi that I thought a hobbico 90 would be able to turn over - no dice - at all. Even on 14.8v it didn't have the guts to turn over my ryobi. So how hard did the 180 work to get your 45cc running?

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

I was to change a roller in a machine one day and had a pair of Channel Locs in my hand. Suddenly, I slung the Channel Locs and they hit someone's tool box. I couldn't figure out why I did that. Well I found a furnace ignitor wire had broken and dropped down on the roller. Someone had left the ignitor on. It was like getting shocked by a spark plug.

I was disconnecting a 48" magnet from a crane one day and the operator signaled that he had the power off. It was 220V. But as I unplugged the wires I had the daylights knocked out of me. The crane magnets have a reverse power put on them when you turn the power off to kick the metal off the magnet. When I disconnected the wires, the field on the coil callapsed and I got shocked like by a spark plug. I wasn't any good the rest of the day.

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

I started mine with a "90" but I had a big 12V truck battery and that was about all the starter could handle.

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

The Hobbico 180 on 16v worked without any difficulty. I started it yesterday though with a sullivan starter (not dynatron) with the miller reduction gear. Believe it or not, a guy at the field actually hand started it too!

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

As a matter of record for other people reading this . . . .

The Homelite 45 with electronic ignition should be easy enough to hand start.

A friend uses a Hobbico 90 with two gell cell batteries wired for 24v to start his Saito 220 glow engine though I doubt the longevity of the starter?

I tried the same Saito 220 with my Sullivan Dynatron and a garden tractor 12v battery and I thought the Dynatron did very well.

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

My Makita drill works just fine!
motorhd

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

I also have a Sullivan Hi-Torq with the black body and yellow ends. I don't use it on bigger engines but it seems to spin too fast at 5400 rpm.

It needs a 2:1 gear reducer on it just for a trainer engine?

RE: Homelite 45 Ignition Help
 

This one is a Magneto Engine. Never started it by hand before until Monday..