[B0neyard]

Hello to all. New here and new to owning an old Gravely. I have an 8162B with the 16h Briggs. It had a fried coil when I got it, which I replaced the other day. The machine fired up after the new coil was installed. It ran rough but it ran. Next day it would barely start but finally did with a hit of the dreaded ether. Went on to adjust the points but to no avail. I seem to be back to square one with no spark again. Checked every lead to make sure the coil is not grounded. I pulled the hot lead from the coil to the points and detect a weak spark when turning the engine over. No spark at the plug when everything is back in place. Bad condenser? Not rocket science here but my weak point has always been the electrical side of things. It seems unlikely a coil would go bad so quickly.
I did pull the grounding wire from the magneto just to be sure but no luck...

 

[Bolens 1000]

Hello do you know the model of this B&S engine, it could be very likely you have some dirty worn points or a bad condenser

 

[devans]

I'm with Bolens 1000. First check the points, if they're pitted real bad then replace them. If they're just dirty then cleaning them up with some fine emery cloth will usually fix them, it's the easiest thing to do. If it still persists then replace the condenser. You also mentioned having to use ether and it running rough, this could be a dirty carb issue.

Get the points and condenser squared away first though and then report back.