I have a hand-start lawnmower that stopped running recently. It is a Briggs & Stratton, about 5 yrs old, and gets medium usage. It has given me no problems until now.
The cylinder appears to be getting a fuel/oil mix delivered but is not getting spark. I have pulled the plug, checked it for fouling and proper gap, and grounded out the 'outer' terminal of the plug while connected to the plug wire and not seen a spark when cranking the engine. Finally, I wound up jamming the tip of my little finger in the plug boot and while my thumb was grounded to the motor head cranked the engine. No pulses into my hand so unless somebody tells me otherwise, I am confident my primary issue is the 'spark'.
I removed the engine covers and see an electronic device similar to the device in the following link:
2) I have very lightly sanded the track of the flywheel the travels under the coil poles(?) to remove some light rust on the flywheel and be sure the gap between the flywheel and coil was consistent.
Sooooo, unless you think otherwise, my guess is that the condenser/cap of the magneto/coil is bad. (It seems like I might still feel a little jolt at the plug wire - just not as much as normal - unless the cap is shorted out, but then wouldn't I read a short to ground from the plug wire?)
Anyway, thanks for your time if you have read this.