I have a craftsman lawn tractor with an 18HP Kohler twin, model M18S. Twice now it has failed to start due to no spark. By the time I fiddle with ignition switch and safety switch to see if something is not making contact, it mysteriously starts. I would say in my experience with other engines the spark intensity looks weak.
My question is about the ignition unit. Does anyone know if these are prone to this type of intermittent failure as they get older (13 years)? Is there some way to diagnose this other than stick a screwdriver in the sparkplug wire to see if there's a visible spark? If there's a better forum that specializes in small engine repair please let me know, but I saw a fair number of posts on mower engines on this group. thanks snipped-for-privacy@dls.net