Wico XH1113 What Would Happen If?

[Cj7jeepoffroad]

OK, a little background: I resonantly purchased a 1959 Oliver (early) OC4 Crawler with a Hercules IXB3 4cyl engine and Wico 1113 Mag. The Crawler has weak spark and difficult to start.

I removed the Mag and to my delight, its a basically new unit. The first thing I found is the metal strap that connects the points to the shutdown strap is burned off, I traced back the shutdown wire to the key which had been converted to switch 12v Positive. So it looks like 12v was applied to the Mag shutdown lug, I'm replacing the points, condenser, and the coil but i've read that applying power to the shutdown lug can also demagnetize the rotor? I have no way of testing the magnets but my screw driver still sticks to them lol. Can anyone describe how much magnetize the rotor magnets should have?

Thanks for your help.

[Mitch Malcolm]

Unless the inside of the mag stunk so bad you wanted to throw it out you should be fine!! When one gets fried well done by 12 volt they really stink!

[Cj7jeepoffroad]

No burned smell at all, the only symptom is lazy spark which would be caused by damaged primary side of the coil I assume?

[Kirk Taylor]

Originally Posted by Cj7jeepoffroad

OK, a little background: I resonantly purchased a 1959 Oliver (early) OC4 Crawler with a Hercules IXB3 4cyl engine and Wico 1113 Mag. The Crawler has weak spark and difficult to start.

I removed the Mag and to my delight, its a basically new unit. The first thing I found is the metal strap that connects the points to the shutdown strap is burned off, I traced back the shutdown wire to the key which had been converted to switch 12v Positive. So it looks like 12v was applied to the Mag shutdown lug, I'm replacing the points, condenser, and the coil but i've read that applying power to the shutdown lug can also demagnetize the rotor? I have no way of testing the magnets but my screw driver still sticks to them lol. Can anyone describe how much magnetize the rotor magnets should have?

Thanks for your help.

A WICO mag was brought to me several years ago that had a "lazy" spark. I gave it the usual tune-up including testing the coil. I noticed by turning the rotor that the magnet seemed a bit lame. It was on a hand-start John Deere, so I am pretty sure it didn't get connected to a battery. I already had a set of pole pieces to fit the WICO rotor; a quick rap with the magnet charger put the snap back into the spark.
It is possible that the magnet in your magneto was already weak before it got hit with battery current.
At any rate, if a replacement of parts doesn't solve your problem, have the magnet charged. It does require a good magnet charger and the proper pole pieces to mate up to the rotor.

[Cj7jeepoffroad]

I had a chance to dig into the mag, I cleaned everything up and quickly setup the points to “cigarette package” gap, spark looks good now? The gap on the wire is at least 1/4” or more. Let me know what you think.

Impulse: https://youtu.be/-UQKkYWDUQ4

Full speed: https://youtu.be/qfOA7AVS6sA

---------- Post added at 06:26:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:24:14 PM ----------

I have no idea why the impulse video linked to that sorry, here’s the correct link: https://youtu.be/JEVlwtpvpUM

[cobbadog]

The spark on the bottom link of your post with it sending a spark with a single rotation is good enough to run your engine. Thje one that sent and ongoing spark is not just a magneto. There has to be a battery and electronics involved with that. The 'impulse' video doesn't bare commenting on ther than being foolish to himself.

[Cj7jeepoffroad]

Originally Posted by cobbadog

The spark on the bottom link of your post with it sending a spark with a single rotation is good enough to run your engine. Thje one that sent and ongoing spark is not just a magneto. There has to be a battery and electronics involved with that. The 'impulse' video doesn't bare commenting on ther than being foolish to himself.

I was spinning the magneto with my drill for the “ongoing spark” video, no other electronics involved

---------- Post added at 06:54:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:48:19 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Cj7jeepoffroad

I was spinning the magneto with my drill for the “ongoing spark” video, no other electronics involved

Sorry again for the first video, something messed up when linking from YouTube, I wish I could edit my posts. I was spinning the mag by hand in the last video to show the impulse spark