# 2146 Cub Cadet ignition coil



## bnesta34 (5 mo ago)

I have a great 2146 Cub Cadet with 200 hours on it. It appears the ignition coil failed as I get no spark. It ran great yesterday, but when I went to start it today it just turns over. We checked the spark at the plug and there was no spark. We took off the cut off wire on the coil and tried for spark but same thing no spark. I tried to order a new coil but cannot find one. It appears that Cub Cadet does not carry many parts for their older tractors anymore. Does anyone have a coil for sale ME 166-0832? Is there a substitute that will work? The tractor is in really nice shape and was running great until this happened. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## harry16 (Dec 8, 2011)

Hello bnesta34, welcome to the forum.

The engine in your mower is a 14HP Linamar 388cc unit. I never heard of Linamar. They no longer provide ignition coils for your engine. You can try Messick's (see link below). They say they have resources that they can check, but I doubt it.

For $150, which is a huge overcharge, I would think you could readily find this coil. 









Cub Cadet: COIL, IGNITION, Part # ME-166-0832


Cub Cadet: COIL, IGNITION, Part # ME-166-0832 Buy Online & Save. COIL, IGNITION



www.messicks.com


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## 2billt (Aug 7, 2011)

I think Linamar bought Onan back around 2000 and the OEM coils are available as NOS, hence the price tag. 

Worst case scenario.... 
A lot of single fire fly/mag coils could work (2500 / 5000 ohms). 
You'd need to match mounting holes and mag-position via minor drilling or die grind, I've farm-fitted a few.


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## bnesta34 (5 mo ago)

harry16 said:


> Hello bnesta34, welcome to the forum.
> 
> The engine in your mower is a 14HP Linamar 388cc unit. I never heard of Linamar. They no longer provide ignition coils for your engine. You can try Messick's (see link below). They say they have resources that they can check, but I doubt it.
> 
> ...


I tried Messick's and they said they could not locate any. Their price for one was over $150, if they had them. I continued to look and found one that will fit. The substitute part # ME 166-0866. The body of this one is the same the only difference is the high voltage lead is a little longer. The price from rvpartsexpress.com was $99.95 plus shipping. If Messick's had done their job, they would have found these and could have made some extra bucks. RVExpress has two left in stock. Getting to the ignition coil was a hassle but being mechanical I was able to get to it and have plenty of room to get the defective one out. It took me about two hours to figure out what needed to be disassembled. The new ignition coil should get here Saturday.


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## bnesta34 (5 mo ago)

2billt said:


> I think Linamar bought Onan back around 2000 and the OEM coils are available as NOS, hence the price tag.
> 
> Worst case scenario....
> A lot of single fire fly/mag coils could work (2500 / 5000 ohms).
> You'd need to match mounting holes and mag-position via minor drilling or die grind, I've farm-fitted a few.


 I continued to look and found one that will fit. The substitute part # ME 166-0866. The body of this one is the same the only difference is the high voltage lead is a little longer. The price from rvpartsexpress.com was $99.95 plus shipping. RVExpress has two left in stock. Getting to the ignition coil was a hassle but being mechanical, I was able to get to it and have plenty of room to get the defective one out. It took me about two hours to figure out what needed to be disassembled. The new ignition coil should get here Saturday.


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## wcnesta (5 mo ago)

I installed the new coil and got everything back together. The new coils ignition wire was about 5 inches longer than the original coil, it did not present any problem. Will fire it up tomorrow. I am confident that it will work fine again for another 20 years. I have a reconditioned 42-inch mower deck to install as the original 38 inch is rusting out.


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## wcnesta (5 mo ago)

Fired up the Cub Cadet today and it runs like a charm. The other part that may fail is the fuel pump. It appears to be OK for now. If it does fail it is pretty easy to change. I will be changing the deck soon. The old one is rusted but the parts on it are good. I think the reason the deck rusted was, I used the mulching plug most of the time which caused the grass to cover the inside by the Shute.


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## 2billt (Aug 7, 2011)

Glad it worked out for you, lawn tractors certainly like continuous affection


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