Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - 8 HP Briggs-No Spark

Hello,
Well it seems each season I have questions and now it is time to split wood so here we go. 8 HP Briggs Model-190402 Type-0724-01 Code-7111241 I put fresh gas in and a new rope and spring. I am not getting any spark. I guess I want to know how to tell if my ignition is bad? Should I switch it to electronic ignition and do away with the points? Can I do this without pulling the flywheel? All I know is this motor is old or at least looks it. Also it sit outside for a long time. I went to the Briggs web page in trying to figure out what year this is. Also there is a random wire just hanging there, is that the cut off wire? There isn't any throttle/off on switch on this thing. Any help as usual is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I'd say yes, switch it to electronic ignition. You can do it without pulling the flywheel. Just replace the coil (new one comes with electronic module and you can just leave the points under the flywheel). There will be a spade terminal on the new coil. This is where the kill wire will connect. Ground it to kill the engine. The electronic ignition will be easier, more reliable, and accurate than the points and you shouldn't ever have to worry about it again.

Your engine was made in 1971, so I am sure it has points unless someone has already upgraded it to electronic.

Thanks for the reply Cheese. It is ice and raining here in MO so haven't been able to do any thing yet except I did pull a coil with electronic ignition off a Briggs I had laying around. These questions now will be real basic but, I don't want to screw this up. I got two wires on the old one. One is a long one that comes from underneath the flywheel which I am guessing is the cut off. The other is a shorter one that was bolted on to the old coil bracket-points wire maybe?. When I pulled the EI coil off I just pulled the plastic wire connector off the coil as well. I did not leave it attached and cut the wires. Should I do that and then tie/solder them to other wires? I am assuming that what the plastic EI wire connector connects to is the spade terminal and is what I connect the kill wire to. Is that all I need to do? Just bolt the EI coil up and attach the kill wire and plug and go? I hope this is somewhat clear! Thanks again.

The long wire on the old coil can be cut and discarded as this comes from the condenser under the flywheel. The other shorter wire went to the kill switch. All you have to do is mount the new coil and hook up the spade terminal to the kill switch. The gap between the flywheel and the coil must be .009". If you dont have a feeler gauge, the thickness of 3 pieces of notebook paper will give you the proper gap.

Hey Legal-
So basically I can now cut the two wires that go under the flywheel? That would make sense to me since I am doing away with points and condenser. Is one a ground wire that I should keep hooked up? Does the way it bolts up act as a ground so no wire needed? Thanks for the info.

Any wires (some models have 2 wires) going behind the flywheel are not used with electronic ignition. Cut them but make sure the remnants dont get caught in the flywheel. You need to hook the wire going to the spade terminal up to a kill switch - otherwise your engine will not shut off. The coil does ground against the engine block, but this is only to complete the circuit. The kill wire going to the spade terminal grounds the spark out to stop the engine. If your engine has the throttle controls on the engine itself there should be a tab that you press down and stick that wire through the hole.

The only wire you need is one going from the clip on the new coil to a kill switch. Clip the others and forget em.

I assume you're using a coil from the same model engine? There are a lot of briggs coils that look the same, but they are not the same and don't interchange.

Well, the weather finally turned decent again. THE SPARK PROBLEM IS SOLVED! Took an EI coil off an old Briggs and then sanded down the flywheel and coil. Works great. THANKS! My problem now is that the motor won't start. It coughs and sputters but, no go. Leaks gas out the bottom. Took carb apart and cleaned everything. Float is fine as far as no leaks. Still coughs with no start. I got a new needle and seat today that I haven't put in yet-could that be my problem? Should there be a spring hooked up to throttle or choke? Is the throttle just manual or should it operate on its own? Right now the choke and throttle are just levers that I adjust. There is a hole on the stem? of the air breather that looks like it should be there but, doesn't make sense to me. Am I getting too much air? This thing is so close to running I feel like it is something simple I am missing.

The only place the carb should be able to get air from is through the air filter. If it is open to the atmosphere anywhere else, it is a problem.

The throttle can be arranged several different ways. Hard to tell without knowing what you've got for a throttle assembly.

I will try and explain the throttle assembly...it consists of a rod that connects to a lever at the bottom of the motor and the other end works the flap on the carb. It faces North/south. No spring, lever, cable, etc. Just me moving it by hand up or down in trying to get it to start. Choke is the same way only the rod faces east/west. Any ideas why gas is leaking out the bottom of carb where the bracket bolts on at? I am obviously getting overflow from the bowl for some reason.

I did read where that if the carb vent is plugged then it will overflow every time. I am pretty sure that I got it all cleaned but, could be missing something. Where is the carb vent at? Cheese, I read on a very old post about a "white ball" in the 190402 carb. I thought the same thing when I first looked into it!