Coil caught fire.... 89 Force 50 HP

[bioman]

its a long story but I had to rewire the motor tilt mechanism and was cleaning up some dirty contacts on wiring. Deadman switch wires were really loose, so I cleaned them and re-installed. Deadman now tests open and closed with VOM, so I expected ignition switch would not work properly.

Got the motor running like a toyota, but the ignition switch would not turn off the motor. Further investigation revealed the deadman switch also did not work...

Then the smoke started leaking from port side, and after choking the engine (with my hand), and disconnecting the battery I found pungent oily tar dripping from behind lower of 2 coils... wires hot enough to be smoking. There is a hole about 1/4 in the back of the coil.. don't know if that's normal.. there's a similar hole (but no oil) on the back of top coil too. Lower coil is different in that I attached black wires from tilt mechanism to mounting bolt of lower coil... assuming black = ground, mounting bolts = ground

I have studied this forum enough to understand fuel pumps and diaphragms, cleaning carburetors, replacing impellers and detecting burnt pistons.. but a coil on fire is beyond my experience.

Eurolarva, Roscoe can you suggest where to start looking?

grateful in advance,

Bioman

 

[bioman]

Re: Coil caught fire.... 89 Force 50 HP

Disregard.
The ignition was wired screwy. fixed that, moved two grounds I had placed on coil mounting wire. Fired up the motor. Kill switch works, Ignition works, maybe coil will burn up, but for now it seems to be working.

Thanks for the support.
Bioman