1977 johnson javelin 85 V4...no spark on #3 cylinder

[gonefishin485]

hey everyone, im back with another issue. ive recently acquired a 1977 johnson javelin 85 for a boat project ive been working on and after hanging it on the boat today and trying to start it, i found out i dont have spark on cyl #3. little back story, i got this motor from a friend, he had it laying on the ground with the cover on it for im not sure how long. when i put it on the boat, i took the plugs out and sprayed oil thru all the spark plug holes, opened the carbs to full throttle and sprayed oil thru them too. then i spun the motor over to lubricate it. i then put the spark plugs in the boots, grounded them to the block, spun the motor over and after some spinning the only cylinder that wont spark is #3. the lower cylinder on the starboard side. i swapped the coil wires on the power pack between one and three, 1 looses spark, and 3 sparks. im going to go out on a limb and say that coil number 3 is good since it sparked, im thinking the power pack is alright, but could be wrong, but im starting to think the trigger under the flywheel is the culprit. anyone care to give me some advice on what to test or what to check? i havent ohmed anything yet, are there any other tests i can try?

ive cleaned all the grounds and connections i could take loose to clean, but still to no avail. i thought maybe it wasnt spinning over fast enough to generate spark on all 4 cylinders properly, so i squirted a little mixed gasoline in each cylinder thru the spark plug hole and pull started it to see if a quick running would get it going, it roared to life for a second, but after pulling the number 3 plug out and spinning it over with the plug groundef, its still not firing. im stumped. anyone have any ideas?

 

[gonefishin485]

Re: 1977 johnson javelin 85 V4...no spark on #3 cylinder

edit- i went outside to close up my shed and my next door neighbor walked over to see what i was up to, i explained to him what was going on, and he said, ohh thats simple, you need to energize the points. so while i was having a swallow of my cold drink and before i could say anything, he proceeded to touch a hot wire i had been using to jump the starter solenoid to every screw on the power pack and now i have no spark on any cylinder, what did he screw up or burn up?

 

[achris]

Re: 1977 johnson javelin 85 V4...no spark on #3 cylinder

Oh, that's not good... :facepalm:

He's likely fried the pack. I guess the 'good' news is it was likely the pack that was causing your no spark on #3 problem....

Here's a new pack on iBoats... http://www.iboats.com/Power-Pack-fo...4467538--session_id.232164068--view_id.173713

Chris....

And hand your friend a cold drink... It might keep him away from your engine.

 

[keefallan]

Re: 1977 johnson javelin 85 V4...no spark on #3 cylinder

I agree with Chris. The pack was probably already dead since you swapped wires and #1 stopped firing. You were looking to see if 3 fired or not. It did. Good coil......bad pack.