intermitent spark

[hybridv8]

hi,I thought I would get the barford out and get it going after its winter rest ready for the allotment but the villiers mk 15 hs is suffering from a poor and intermittant spark.I,ve cleaned the points and cleaned the inside of the flywheel and derusted the coil wings and the flywheel but after turning it over with a battery drill (which is pretty fast) I am only getting a weak spark every now and again,any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

[vhgmcbuddy]

You could give it a good warm up with hot air gun or something similar, might be bit of damp somewhere. I hope it is that simple.

[darmic1]

The Villiers coils can be a bit fragile. The insulation breaks down and they short to ground causing weak and intermittent spark. Could also be worth checking the condensor?

[andyfrost]

I would say it’s more likely the condensor.

Andy.

[charlie]

As you will need to remove the flywheel and mag back plate to replace the condensor it would be well worth the extra expense of fitting a new coil.

[vhgmcbuddy]

I’ve sent you a PM regarding your Mk15, it worked for me. Owen.

[hybridv8]

Thanks for the message owen I will go through it tomorrow and see if it cures it.

[hybridv8]

Thanks again for the instructions owen,I went through them and still couldn’t get a good spark so I’ve been waiting for a new condenser to arrive,I have now found my multimeter (that mysteriously disappeared) so I checked the coil as per your instructions and on the low tension side your instructions say I should have less than 1 ohm and I have 5.74 and on the high tension side I should have 3 to 5 k ohms and I have zero so it looks like the coil is shot,it just goes to show how fickle these electrics can be as this barford was only used towards the end of last year and as I had nothing to do till the condenser arrived I thought I would get my farmers boy out and give it a dust off as it hasn’t been used for about 2 years and with a bit of fresh fuel it started straight away no bother.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Pity didn’t work, we win some we lose some, as the article was on Villiers seagull I don’t know if the coil readings would be the same for the Mk 15. I will try to find out. Owen.
Had a quick look couldn’t find any thing, but seeing yours read a zero it probably doesn’t matter.

[hybridv8]

Changed the condenser day before yesterday and as a precaution I took charlies advice and changed the coil as well and she has never started so well in the 10 years I have had her,after about 3 start and stops just to make sure everything was right she started bucking back half way through the rope pull (nearly pulled my arm off, it was a good idea to use the rope pull and not the drill as I was previously, could of been nasty ) turned out the flywheel had slipped so she was trying to fire at the wrong time so after a retime and a tighten up everything is good and she starts almost immediately you start pulling.

[charlie]

Great news, well worth the expense.

[Author]

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