Now intermitent spark

[dish]

Hi i have a 1980 115 mariner i recently purchase.At first i had no spark even though po said he had it running recently.I towed the boat and motor for 6hrs home.Tried starting no spark.Fixed a few corroded wires now i get intermittent spark.Ohms tested stator and that looks good.Can 2 power packs cause intermittent spark at the same time or is that to much of a coinidence?Can the trigger cause spark trouble on both banks.Not sure how to test the trigger or packs.Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[jeffersondodson561]

Re: Now intermitent spark

An ohms test is probably not good enough to check stator, you need a DVA to properly check and some service material. It is possible for the bias circuit to be bad and that would effect problems with the trigger timing.

 

[duff]

Re: Now intermitent spark

when you say corroded wires it the wiring green or is the insulation cracking. had this problem in my 78 80hp. tried cutting the wires off and crimping on new wires and I got weak spark. if the wires run under the flywheel do your self a favor and replace the trigger and the stator. you will be suprised.

if you look around you can find great deals,

when I did mine I got the tool to remove the flywheel, a starter, a rectifier, trigger, stator, switching box, and a carb rebuild kit all for 365 bucks new in the sealed box! repair shop wanted to charge me more than that just to replace the starter and rectifier.

get a good manual and you can repair that beast yourself and you will enjoy it.

duff

 

[dish]

Re: Now intermitent spark

Yeah mate the wires were green.Totally falling apart.The stator tested 180v blues and 20v reds so all good there.I have to retest the trigger now that i know which wires to test,although i did test the output of it with a nearly correct test procedure and it failed the output test.I have got a new set of packs real cheap so i am going to update the trigger and packs anyway.

 

[redjmp]

Re: Now intermitent spark

If you replace the packs without knowing for sure what is wrong, you run a strong risk of blowing the new packs.
Green and corroded wires are not a good sign and you need to go over every inch of wire and replace.
Just having too high of a resistance anywhere could cause your packs to blow.

You really need to get your hands on a dva to test properly.
A search on iBoats will reveal some plans to build your own.
They are simple devices than can be built or bought for under $25

 

[dish]

Re: Now intermitent spark

I know what your talking about mate.I wont be putting new packs on without finding cause.I have replaced all the corroded wires.Some of those wires were earthing on the block for sure so i suspect a short blew the packs.Every outboard mechanic i speak to here in Australia say they just use a standard multimeter to test output volt on stator,trigger,packs.My multimeter read 180v output and 20v on the stator just fine

 

[ryanalaska1990]

Re: Now intermitent spark

if you had bad wires on the stator, replace it. there is a good chance that it grounded out enough times to destroy it. also check you"mercury" switch aka safty tilt switch.

 

[dish]

Re: Now intermitent spark

The wires to the stator are perfect.PO replaced stator a couple of years ago.I did disconnect the kill wires from the pack and unplugged main connect to remote and jump started with still no spark.I am getting .25v on my kill wires with the key on so looks like some kind of problem in those wires,have to test ohms and find the problem with the black,yellow wires.From what i have been told any voltage on those wires can kill packs????