my briggs&stratton 8 h.p. gas engine is not getting any fire to the spark plug is it the magneto?

Answer 1

Most likely the points gap is set incorrectly. Without the proper equipment the best way to check it is to turn the engine manually until the points are all the way open, then check the gap. It is usually 18 - 20 thousandths of an inch. If you don't have feeler guages, it's about the thickness of a hacksaw blade. Using the set screws, (one to lock the adjustment, the other to adjust the gap) set the gap to the correct opening.

It may also require you to reset the timing. The shadetree trick for this is to remove the spark plug and put a stiff piece of wire in to rest on top of the piston, rotate the engine so that the piston is on the way up on the compression stroke (if it's a four stroke engine) or just on the way up if it's a two stroke.

Place a cigarette paper or a thin piece of tissue paper beween the points. Slowly raise the piston to the top and rock the engine back and forth over TDC (top dead center) until the piston is about 3/16 of an inch before TDC. Adjust the timing so that the cigarette paper just releases at this point. Your engine should now run fine....

If not, the other things to check are the condenser (a replacement is a couple of dollars) the plug and the wiring.

Answer 2

If it was made before 83, it has points.. (.20) is the gap... replace them, or just convert it to pointless
The magneto gap is .10
Try a new plug... then try the coil with the kill wire taken off of it..
Still no go? then yes its the coil... rarely, very rarely its a dead magnet on the flywheel.