# Briggs Ignition tester question, 19051 or 19368



## dawgpile (Apr 28, 2008)

Simple question...

Does anyone know what the 'other' terminal on the older 19051 ignition tester is used for? Similar side 'appendage' coming out of the newer 19368.

While there are some great pics in the service manuals of the tester showing this third terminal has a 0.008" gap between it and the terminal you connect the plug wire to, I can find no reference of any type of ignition test that utilizes this 0.008" gap for anything. I electronically searched all 7 of the various single and twin cylinder Briggs service manuals I have and got a big nothing!

Not a big deal. I've been using my 19051 for what seems like an eternity for the usual ignition tests utilizing the 0.166" gap and it works famously! The engineer in me just wondered what the heck I've been missing!

Thanks in advance for your consideration!


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

That's a good question, I too have never used the other terminal and often wondered what it's for.


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## dawgpile (Apr 28, 2008)

30yr, I'm glad you responded. I figured if anybody knew it would be one of you gents in the business for a while! In parallel with posting the question here, I contacted B&S support and received the following 'laughable' response:

"The second terminal is not used for anything. It is where the working components of the tester are."

As an engineer who has been involved in product development for 25+ years, I'm pretty confident that terminal was included for a particular reason. Duh! The fact that it was carried over from the old design to the new one is equally fascinating! If it's not used for anything, they could certainly cost reduce the product significantly by eliminating it!

If it were located next to the terminal on the other side of the tester(next to the clip lead terminal, as opposed to the plug lead terminal), I could see it as a convenient means of grounding the ignition while testing twin cylinder engine ignitions.

I responded back to B&S and asked them to contact their engineering department for a 'better' answer. I'll keep you posted.


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## Waynes World (Jul 20, 2014)

*other post on tester*

Could it be to set gap for coil?


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## dawgpile (Apr 28, 2008)

FWIW, I never got a second response back from B&S. It remains a mystery!

I'm not sure how it could be used to set coil gap. That's traditionally done with 0.010" thick piece of card stock, like a business card or manilla folder.

It would have been nice to hear directly from "the horse's mouth" (B&S)what the intended use was.

Enjoy!....


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