2 weeks til duck season and no spark. HELP PLEASE

[lukebecker]

Hey guys, been getting my boat ready for duck season and i cant get my motor running. it is a 69 Johnson 55esl69a. the guy i got it from said he rebuilt it but never used it.. we took off the flywheel today and the magneto is brand new, still has the stickers even, but we arent getting any power to the spark plugs at all. the thing turns over like the champ just wont fire. i really dont know much at all about outboards but we're thinking that it might be something to do with the distributor. the voltage tester we used showed zero power to the plugs. if anyone has any advice on what i can do to get this thing to spark i would really appreciate it. im new here and new to the boat motor repair thing but i have a couple friends helping me who are a little more savvy than i. so ill keep my eye on this post and see if any of you more experienced guys can help me out, thanks for readin guys, this seems like a really great site.

Luke

 

[jbjennings]

Re: 2 weeks til duck season and no spark. HELP PLEASE

I would clean and check the gap on the points, then if no fire, I would check the plug wires for corrosion on the ends.
Hold on, it's a '69.........I'd first check for a faulty kill switch if it has one. I'm pretty sure a '69 does. The kill switch works by shorting across the points, so if you disconnect one kill switch wire, it should disable the kill switch.
There's a thread in the "top secret files" section at the top of this forum that will show you how to check and reset the points.
I hope you get lots of ducks--as long as they're not mallards. Those are to be left for me.
Later,
JBJ

 

[F_R]

Re: 2 weeks til duck season and no spark. HELP PLEASE

I would clean and check the gap on the points, then if no fire, I would check the plug wires for corrosion on the ends.
Hold on, it's a '69.........I'd first check for a faulty kill switch if it has one. I'm pretty sure a '69 does. The kill switch works by shorting across the points, so if you disconnect one kill switch wire, it should disable the kill switch.
There's a thread in the "top secret files" section at the top of this forum that will show you how to check and reset the points.
I hope you get lots of ducks--as long as they're not mallards. Those are to be left for me.
Later,
JBJ

That motor has the amplified battery CD ignition. It is fairly complex. Anybody want to type out all the instructions? I'm tired.