Will doing this hurt my engine...

[fpdiver]

I have a 1990 120 HP Force outboard...

I am still having a problem with a bad misfire every 10 seconds to 2 minutes that causes the motor to stall from idle.


I was thinking about pulling the spark plug wire from the top cylinder and seeing if it goes away.

if not, turn the motor off, reattach the wire on #1 and pull the wire from #2. etc, etc

I was thinking of just hanging the disconnected wire far away from everything....

Can this do harm?


thanks

 

[maxum247]

Re: Will doing this hurt my engine...

Spark plugs need to be grounded at all times, otherwise it can do damage to the ignition components!
The best way would be to get a set of spark testers that will adapt to the spark plugs and plug wires then you can have someone crank the engine while you watch for the cylinder or cylinders with the spark problem!
You may even be able to run the motor with the spark testers I'm not sure! Check ebay!

One more thing do not crank the engine longer than 15 seconds and then let the starter cool for 3 minutes before cranking again!
These starter motors build up a lot of heat and can't take anymore than 15 seconds of cranking at one time. max!

 

[fpdiver]

Re: Will doing this hurt my engine...

I was hoping to "run" the outboard not just run the starter. I will try the in-line spark plug tester first. Maybe 2 at a time on different cylinders.

I was hoping it would run better on 3 cylinders then 3 and sometimes 4. If I go with the pulled plug option I will ground the pulled wire to the block.

thanks