Happy Easter, all!
Okay electrical gurus, I need some help. My 107 has always started hard, but this morning it finally quit altogether. The starter won't even get past the compression now. Battery good. Turns over with spark plug removed, but still a bit slower than I would have expected.
I have always figured that the valves were out of adjustment, so I pulled the breather to check them. Sure enough they were way out, as in no gap at all at TDC. So I readjusted them hoping for some success; knowing that it probably wouldn't help since an engine lock usually occurs when the gap is too large. Anyway, no joy.
So then I began to look at the starter. Pulled the belt, and turned the key. Still didn't feel like it was turning fast enough so I decided to remove it. This is where it gets interesting. I pulled the armature and field wires, then removed the bolts on the SG. When I removed the lower bolt which has a ground wire connected to it, I got a spark at the connection between the ground wire and the SG. Hmmm, correct me if I'm wrong, but if there is no positive wire hooked to the SG, I shouldn't get a spark on the ground wire when it touches the SG, should I? Not sure what position the key was in when this happened, but I don't think I should get a short to ground in this area regardless as long as the positive voltage is removed. I am thinking now that I may have a wiring short somewhere that is causing the SG to act lethargic.
Anyone out there to point me in a direction? I hate chasing down wire shorts, but I am afraid that this might be what I have.
Thanks,
Brent