My new , to me, mystery John Deere Model 50 (?) riding mower , according to the seller ran as good as new at times then not at all at other times.
I pre-diagnosed it as either a coil going bad or possibly the coil to flywheel air gap a bit too close, which I always check first. I believe a lot of good coils have been replaced due to the gap simply being too little. Anyway when I removed the flywheel cover/fan shroud I found that a soft magnet (softer than the fins on the flywheel at least) has desintegrated under the cover. Small pieces of said magnet were everywhere inside the cover, on the iron part of the flywheel, down in the fins of the block, and everywhere they could lodge. The largest pieces are about the size of a pencil eraser, with most much smaller, many just specks. I think these specks could have been coming and going in the aforementioned gap and causing the problem. We will soon know. Why would someone leave a magnet inside a flywheel cover? Is there a practical reason that I am unaware of? Thanks.
I pre-diagnosed it as either a coil going bad or possibly the coil to flywheel air gap a bit too close, which I always check first. I believe a lot of good coils have been replaced due to the gap simply being too little. Anyway when I removed the flywheel cover/fan shroud I found that a soft magnet (softer than the fins on the flywheel at least) has desintegrated under the cover. Small pieces of said magnet were everywhere inside the cover, on the iron part of the flywheel, down in the fins of the block, and everywhere they could lodge. The largest pieces are about the size of a pencil eraser, with most much smaller, many just specks. I think these specks could have been coming and going in the aforementioned gap and causing the problem. We will soon know. Why would someone leave a magnet inside a flywheel cover? Is there a practical reason that I am unaware of? Thanks.
