Intermittant lower cyl. spark

[RKH]

Been working on Evinrude 6504r.
Test ran before I bought it.
Ran in barrel when got home. It died and would not restart.
Was going to go through it anyway so wasn't too concerned.
Ordered new Sierra coils,points and condensers and new wire core sparkplug wires from NAPA.
Had to elongate coil adjusting slots for cols to install properly.
Resistance checked old coils, one was dead.
Installed all new parts, put on flywheel (did not torque) and spun with drill.
Great spark on top cyl., intermittant on bottom, but when it does spark good gap and blue.
Swapped coils.
Reinstalled good old coil.
Installed old points.
Resistance of new coils more than twice of old oem coils.
Added ground wire from magneto plate to powerhead.
Cannot get constant spark from bottom cyl.
Just about out of ideas.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[AlTn]

did you replace the spark plug boots?...check for arcing on that lower boot

 

[racerone]

Is coil air gap correct ?----Set points with meter or feeler gauge ?

 

[oldboat1]

I don't think I've had a coil that wouldn't fit right out of the box. Is there something wrong with the wire to coil connection or fit, maybe pushing the coil out of position?

However you get there, the wire connection has to be solid and the coil has to mount perfectly flush.

Wires have to be tucked down to avoid the flywheel.

 

[RKH]

1. Testing with no boots on wires. Just the spring clips attached to spark testers. Both testers using same ground on powerhead.
2. Points set at .020 with feeler guage. .020 fits, .022 does not.
3. Both times I have used Sierra coils (redid my Johnson 2hp last year) I have had problems with them fitting without some modification. The adjustment slot had to be elongated to fit flush and the leads had to be shortened. I have read on other sites about these same problems with that particular coil.

 

[RKH]

Got to thinking tonight that the only thing I had not done during all of the testing was torque down the flywheel. I had just been tightening the nut down finger tight and then spinning it with a drill and socket.
I just torqued the flywheel and spun it again and.........strong blue spark from both wires! Go figure, hooda' thunk it?
Thanks to all that responded. Live and learn.