Hey all, I pulled the plug on my older 550xp to check for carbon build up. When I pulled the plug boot off, the spring stuck to the plug. I pried it off with a screwdriver and pushed it back down into the boot with a marker. I may have gone a bit far when I pushed it back down in there and I'm a little concerned it isn't making contact as it should. As you look down into the plug boot, you can see a rubber lip. Is the spring supposed to sit flush behind that lip in the very back of the boot? I took a pic but it didn't turn out very well.
Thanks for the pics and input! I didn't want to start it because it's fairly late and my neighbors are elderly. I got too curious and fired it up in the garage anyway. It pizz revved just fine so I believe I'm good to go. It's not missing or anything.
It's likely arcing inside the wire across the broken spring, which makes your ignition coil work harder and will eventually destroy the end of the wire. Also with the arm broken off the spring, the boot is held in the plug only with friction. You are likely to have trouble with it in the woods. Good news is the part(s) to fix it are dirt cheap and easy to install.
The wire didn't come out of the boot and it is still attached. When you seat the boot on the plug you can hear and feel the spring slip over the metal end of the plug. Think its good to go?
The spring slips over the plug but is attached to..... nothing. I think the boot is likely to pop off the plug while it's running. At the very least you have a poor electrical connection that the spark is arcing across. That creates heat and physical wear on the wire. We're talking about MAYBE $5 worth of parts here. The boot should just pull off the wire and you can replace the spring terminal. You can then install a new boot or re-use the old one if it's in good shape. Your local Husky dealer likely has the OEM parts in stock or you could use any of the aftermarket options available as well. Any small engine shop worth it's salt is going have the spring terminal in stock.
Ok I'll pull this one apart today just to make sure. I do think it is still attached as the spring is under tension from the rear of the boot. The spring is not loose in the boot at all. Would it be better to push the boot down onto the wire to work on it or just pull it off the end ?
Hold the phone, is the arm still connected to the spring? I was under the impression that the spring coil had broken off of the arm and come out with the plug.
I can't see the arm itself because of that rubber lip. As the end of the plug boot was clearing the plug terminal, I could see the spring coils still on the terminal. I took a screwdriver and popped them off and the spring retracted down into the boot. It was sitting in the area of the lip kinda cockeyed. I used a marker to push it so it would be straight and in line with the terminal when I pushed it back on. It pushed it back behind the rubber lip when I did. The spring was under tension from the plug wire and or rear of the boot while I was prying it off of the spark plug terminal. Kinda hard to explain!
I'm thinking that if it retracted when I popped it off it is still connected. I don't see how it could do it if it wasn't. I don't know much about it though as you can see Being mildly ocd and not knowing what you're doing is a bad combo.
Looking down into the plug boot, pull just a bit on the wire. If you see the spring wire move you are still good. Push the wire back in place.
Super is right on. You can actually pull the boot off and inspect the connection without hurting anything. Just use a little (keyword: little!) dielectric grease to make reassembling things easy. You want to make sure the sharp point of the arm has pierced the wire near the center.
Well it looks like its good to go. Its pierced through one side, runs through the whole wire, and is clamped around the back side. I don't have any dielectric grease to put it back together.. I have some white lithium, cooking oil, and perhaps some water based stuff. I'm thinking the water based stuff would probably be fine as it would dry up quickly and leave no residue, but would it make the spring rust?
The spring won't rust with a little bit of water. If it doesn't go on easily, just use some saliva or a dab of dish detergent like Dawn.
I picked up some dielectric grease from the auto parts store and its all fixed. Thanks all for your input I do appreciate it.
