# 1969 John Deere 112 no spark. Please help diagnose



## stotzbotz (Feb 1, 2019)

Hello folks. Glad I found this site. I recently purchased a 1969 JD 112 lawn tractor with the Kohler cast iron engine. I bought a new carburetor, spark plug and have been cleaning out the fuel tank vigorously trying to get all of the rust out. This tractor has been sitting inside someones garage unstarted for the past 15 years according to the previous owner. I have the engine turning over fine but am not getting any spark. There is a 12 volt coil like the ones on older cars in the front next to the carb. There are 2 wires coming off of the negative terminal and one coming off of the positive. I'm not sure if this engine has points. There is a finned heat sink looking part with wires connected to it mounted to the left side of the engine. The engine turns over fine but no spark at the plug. I am good with electrical diagnoses procedures in general so I was hoping that someone could tell me the proper way to go about figuring out what's wrong here instead of going out and buying parts I don't need. Appreciate anyone's help as I'm looking forward to bringing this puppy back to life. Many thanks in advance.


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## RC Wells (Dec 26, 2008)

You will want the repair manual for the Kohler K241AS or K301AQS engine, depending on the model engine you have. https://www.kohler-engine-parts.ope..._page=document_general_info&products_id=34596 offeres free manuals.

Or go to a site like this, and select your engine: https://www.partstree.com/parts/kohler-engines/engines-vertical/ and look at the parts involved.

The engine does have points and condenser, and diagnosis is the same as any other point and condenser based ignition system. At the age of the engine I would expect the points and condenser are due for replacement. The coil may be good, but I would test it to know.

The heat sink unit you see is the voltage regulator.


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