Re: force 50 no fire on one wire
I just went through the same thing. Bought an older Bayliner with a Force 50. Only one cylinder had spark. Turns out it had a bad condenser. I picked one up for about $25. Here's what I did. Basically, I just checked the ignition system...starting with the spark plug and working my way back. Switch the plug wires and check for spark. If no change, check the wires going to the back of the ignition coils. I tested mine with a light tester I picked up at the auto parts store for about $3. You should be getting power to each coil. If you DO have power going TO each coil, switch the coils around and see if you get a spark to the other cylinder. If so, sounds like you have a bad coil. If you are not getting power TO one of the coils, check the wires. Just trace them from the back of the coils all the way up to the top of the motor to make sure there are no frayed/broken wires. If they look good, the next step is to remove the Flywheel. You can read other posts to find out how to do that. You will need a flywheel, steering wheel, or harmonic balancer puller and an impact wrench, though. The points and condensers should be under the flywheel. From there, you're on your own. I don't know if there's a way to test a condenser or point. You could switch them around and see if the firing cylinder changes, but then again, if you're going through the trouble of removing the flywheel, you may as well replace the points and condensers, anyway. Good luck. As for keeping the Force 50, I just got mine, so I don't know about the dependability. However, it seems like a primitive setup...which is good for the do-it-yourselfer.