Hello, I have an 89 Carver 38 Santego with a 4 cylinder Kohler generator which has a magneto. It was running fine last season, when all of a sudden it just shut down, as though it ran out of gas while under normal light load. The starter turns over just as fast as normal, but the engine won’t even “cough” as though it’s not even trying to start up... just spins. The battery is new.

I disconnected the white kill wire to the magneto, but engine won’t start. I assume that means I’m dealing with an engine issue, not a control panel issue right? From there I have tried spraying starter fluid in the carb to see if it will “cough” - nothing, but should indicate for me to look at compression and spark. The spark plugs are new. I removed them and they are not wet and the cylinders are dry. I use my thumb to verify best I can that compression is ok when spinning. Feels ok to me anyways. Next I put an inline spark tester bulb between the plug wires and each spark plug. The bulb has a very faint and quite intermittent spark. It’s not repetitive and mechanically timed on a cadence like I would expect. It seems like a weak spark compared to how bright the bulb would be on a typical coil based engine. So, this is leading me to the dreaded magneto. I’m not real sure what to inspect, clean, how to set gaps, etc... on that thing. All advice welcome please! If y’all need the model number, I’m not sure where to find it. I looked and couldn’t readily find one.