Ms460 is no spark...

[Jason628]

So I got a ms460 project that was a basket case. I ordered all the parts to get her back together. Saw came with several different coils. I cleaned up the saw and put it mostly back together but, can't seem to get spark. Threw a farmertec coil on it to get weak spark. The poly flywheel looked kinda wavy in the magnet area so I thought it may be bad. Ordered a new aftermarket flywheel and still weak spark. Tried plugs and coil from my good running 034 with no improvement. Disconnecting the ground wire makes no difference either so it's not the switch or wiring. Only thing that may be sketch is the business card air gap between coil and flywheel but, 034 I used the same card and that saw has good spark and will fire first pull almost every time. So.... I'm at a bit of a loss... Tried 3 different coils... One stihl coil that was on it and looked new and two different farmertec ones. Going to use a feeler gauge for the air gap but, I don't think it will make a difference. Idk.. Anyone have any ideas or know the resistance specs for the coil on these things?

 

[Wonkydonkey]

it seems odd your 034 coil & plug only give a weak spark on the 460
I'd try all the 460 coils on the 034, if they fit. And make sure they are clean.

i had little or no spark on a 026 even with the earth lead off.
It was earthing throu the crud, sawdust oil etc. as soon as I cleaned it with brake cleaner it was good.

 

[Jason628]

I'm at a loss. Everything has been cleaned or is new. Bout ready to burn this one as it is clearly possessed. The stihl coil that came on the 460 is a little different shaped but, supposedly they have some timing retard function on this saw. That coil was open when I hooked the meter to it. Someone messed up the spark plug connection so I got that fixed and ohmed out at 15k. Figured that was the problem but, nope. No spark. Tried an aftermarket coil and got some weak, intermittent spark. Thought maybe the poly flywheel was possibly messed up so, I ordered an aluminum flywheel for it and still kinda weak intermittent spark. I put it all back together and got it to fire a few times but will not run. I vacuum and pressure tested it with no issue and has 165psi compression. I have one more coil that came in the bucket of parts that came with it (someone messed up the plug connection on as well) or my 066 coil (if it's the same) to try.. I'm about ready to tell this dude he is not allowed to bring me anymore things to fix as the last saw he brought me was an ms192t and that thing gave me a lot of trouble as well. I'm just going to go through all the parts combinations I can come up with and hopefully something will work... I'm pretty close to $200 in parts into this thing.

 

[qurotro]

Maybe you can try bolt your coil to your 034 and see. The bolt pattern is a bit different but..

 

[Duce]

Is your coil to case grounding, clean. Did you paint case?

 

[Woodslasher]

So I got a ms460 project that was a basket case. I ordered all the parts to get her back together. Saw came with several different coils. I cleaned up the saw and put it mostly back together but, can't seem to get spark. Threw a farmertec coil on it to get weak spark. The poly flywheel looked kinda wavy in the magnet area so I thought it may be bad. Ordered a new aftermarket flywheel and still weak spark. Tried plugs and coil from my good running 034 with no improvement. Disconnecting the ground wire makes no difference either so it's not the switch or wiring. Only thing that may be sketch is the business card air gap between coil and flywheel but, 034 I used the same card and that saw has good spark and will fire first pull almost every time. So.... I'm at a bit of a loss... Tried 3 different coils... One stihl coil that was on it and looked new and two different farmertec ones. Going to use a feeler gauge for the air gap but, I don't think it will make a difference. Idk.. Anyone have any ideas or know the resistance specs for the coil on these things?

I'd make sure the coil gap is .008 I had a 461 that had a no-spark deal, I set the gap to those specs and it fired on the very next pull. Like @Duce mentioned the grounding points need to be clean as well. You can also disconnect the kill switch wires to make sure your problem only lies with the coil.

 

[Jason628]

So I got her to run with the farmertec coil and flywheel. It has pretty weak spark compared to the 034. Going to check the air gap again and see if that helps but, at least she runs. Grounding points for the coil are clean and I did isolate it from the switch and wiring. I've seen multiple different specs for the air gap. 008, 010, 011... I imagine anything within that range is probably OK but, I'll shoot for. 008" first time the business card has let me down haha. It appears that I was not the first person that had issues with this saw as it appears someone gave up on it and started robbing parts off of it.

 

[Jason628]

So... My air gap was . 016 and reduced it down to . 008" and now it has decent spark. Apparently the business card doesn't work on the Ms460 haha. Thanks guys. I knew it had to be something dumb.

 

[Michael Rupley]

I knew it had to be something dumb.

 

[redline4]

I always use the cardboard that my new spark plug came in to set my coil gap.
I don't recall the thickness anymore, but I checked it with a feeler guage and it puts it right in spec. so that's what I've always done.