65hpMercury with thunderbolt ignition won't run

[Gene Bethea]

I was idling my Mercury outboard using the water muffs after not cranking it for a couple of years and it just quit. Now it won't start. I found some water in the gas tank and thought that was problem, but I put a spark tester on the spark plug and no spark. Its a keikhaefer, 65 ,650 with thunderbolt ignition, serial Number 2870329. It was running fine; then just stopped and hasnt started since. It has a distributer but no points; coil? wiring? best guess?

 

[corm]

Re: 65hpMercury with thunderbolt ignition won't run

Hi,
The simplest thing is that the carbon broke inside the dist cap.
Next would be the trigger or CDI box went out on you.
Someone here has the way to test them without a DVA.