Groundsmaster 52 runs 10 minutes, then dies

[Richard001]

Good that you got your Groundmaster going. Hope it keeps going.

You said that the mechanic did not have experience with this engine. Did he charge you for his education ?

I ran a small engine repair business out of my garage for some 30 years. If I came across an engine or machine that I have not worked on before, I was careful to not actually charge for all the hours I put into it. Didn't seem fair to the customer to pay extra just because I was not familiar with that equipment.

Richard

 

[Volvoman]

Good that you got your Groundmaster going. Hope it keeps going.

You said that the mechanic did not have experience with this engine. Did he charge you for his education ?

I ran a small engine repair business out of my garage for some 30 years. If I came across an engine or machine that I have not worked on before, I was careful to not actually charge for all the hours I put into it. Didn't seem fair to the customer to pay extra just because I was not familiar with that equipment.

Richard

Richard, glad you mentioned that, about whether or not he charged for his education. No, he did not charge one cent for that portion. Only for his labor of 3 hours for everything. I furnished the parts. I felt that more than reasonable, and tipped him well for his dedication to getting the job done right, not to mention his periodic phone calls to update me on how he was doing. His approach was to fill available time between other jobs with his work on the GM 52. He said it gave him more time to assess how anything he did may have affected the outcome. Now that is an amazing attitude and seems to be somewhat rare in 2022. Whatever the case, I will be a repeat customer and will be recommending him whenever I have the opportunity!

 

[BeezFun]

Was the old coil tested?

 

[Volvoman]

He didn’t say he tested it, but through the process of elimination (didn’t run correctly with old coil, but did once new coil was installed) arrived at the conclusion it was faulty. All other components in the ignition system were tested or replaced prior to the coil, which was left until last due to it’s location and the need to remove the engine from the tractor to access it.

 

[Richard001]

He didn’t say he tested it, but through the process of elimination (didn’t run correctly with old coil, but did once new coil was installed) arrived at the conclusion it was faulty. All other components in the ignition system were tested or replaced prior to the coil, which was left until last due to it’s location and the need to remove the engine from the tractor to access it.

I assume that as this is such an elderly engine, that is has points and a condenser, were those parts replaced ?

Richard

 

[BeezFun]

He didn’t say he tested it, but through the process of elimination (didn’t run correctly with old coil, but did once new coil was installed) arrived at the conclusion it was faulty. All other components in the ignition system were tested or replaced prior to the coil, which was left until last due to it’s location and the need to remove the engine from the tractor to access it.

Your earlier narrative indicates the new coil was replaced but did not work until he removed the engine again and reassembled it more carefully. That would indicate the problem may not have been the coil, it may have been whatever he did more carefully after the fourth and final assembly process. Did he give you back the old coil, or is it possible he still has it? This is from your earlier description:

"The third time out, he replaced the coil, but after putting everything back together, he had no spark at all. Totally dead. Soooooo, out the engine came again and this time he took more time, a whole lot more time, to check for faulty grounds, etc. Upshot of his slowing down was that once reassembled, it started and ran perfectly. "

 

[Volvoman]

I assume that as this is such an elderly engine, that is has points and a condenser, were those parts replaced ?

Richard

yes, new points and condenser.

 

[Volvoman]

Your earlier narrative indicates the new coil was replaced but did not work until he removed the engine again and reassembled it more carefully. That would indicate the problem may not have been the coil, it may have been whatever he did more carefully after the fourth and final assembly process. Did he give you back the old coil, or is it possible he still has it? This is from your earlier description:

"The third time out, he replaced the coil, but after putting everything back together, he had no spark at all. Totally dead. Soooooo, out the engine came again and this time he took more time, a whole lot more time, to check for faulty grounds, etc. Upshot of his slowing down was that once reassembled, it started and ran perfectly. "

I asked him about that again as well. He attributed it to possibly being the new points not being properly adjusted. Certainly possible. As for the coil being not faulty and the problem having been something else….I am inclined to say the problem was a faulty coil from the outset of the intermittent stalling problems. Coils have a finite life, and this one was well beyond the typical lifespan. The original problem of the engine shutting down after a few minutes is known to be an indicator of a faulty coil, as was mentioned upthread. Start up the engine, let it warm up until a coil component expands enough to malfunction. Shut the engine down, let the coil cool and contract to original and it works again until hot. Rinse and repeat as this one did consistently. If coils were not known to fail but rarely, then more suspicion would be warranted for other ignition components. But, as also said, they checked out or were replaced.

All I know is that now the engine runs very well again, perhaps better than in the past year or more.

I doubt a faulty ground was the problem, as this was his initial guess, too, so he did take care to be sure grounds were clean and secure.