1150 mercury no spark

A little backgroung first. As anyone owning one of these motors knows, cold starting can be hard. One afternoon I was attempting to start the boat as I normally do once a week when I overheated the battery cables. I stopped trying and came out the next day to a boat that would not even turn over. I finally traced that to a weak splice in the ingnition power supply cable that had burned into. Once that was repaired I was ready to start the boat again. Now the motor will turn over fine but there are no sparks at the plugs. If there are any suggestions out there I would greatly appreciate them, because I really dont have a lot of money to spend on repairs and although I dont mind working on mechanics myself I really dont know much about marine engines. Any ideas will help. Thanks Bobbyh29 :%

Re: 1150 mercury no spark

What year is the motor? What is the serail #? THis is needed before you do this test.

This is from Clams. Not sure if this will help, but it's a place to start. Don't know where the experts have been so here's my 2 cents:

do you have 12V to the red terminal on the switch box?

do you have 12v at the white terminal when the key is turned on?

MERCURY BATTERY-POWERED CDI SWITCHBOX TEST
FOR DISTRIBUTOR MODELS


This test is for the 332-2986 switchbox used from 1967-1978 on all the
inlines.

This test assumes your coil is good (most all are).

DISCONNECT BATTERY

1. Turn off ignion
2. Disconnect all 3 wires on the distributor side of the switchbox.
3. Remove the HV lead from the coil to the center cap (remember it unscrews
from cap)
4. Reconnect that HV center lead to the COIL side only.
5. Position that HV lead about about 3/8" from ground (block, shrouds etc)
and find a way to hold it there.
6. Jumper the brown and white terminals on the dist. side of the switchbox
together.

RECONNECT BATTERRY

7. Check that you have +12 V at red terminal.
8. Turn on ignition and verify +12V at white terminal (on red terminal side)
9. Touch the black terminal to ground - unit should cause spark each time
you touch ground.

If that passes and it won't fire at all, suspect the trigger.

Re: 1150 mercury no spark

Before you do the troubleshooting above. You need to disconnect the mercury switch.
Tim

Re: 1150 mercury no spark

Thanks for the correction Tim.

Re: 1150 mercury no spark

Thanks to everyone who took the time to help I will perform this test and let you ll know. thanks bobbyh29

Re: 1150 mercury no spark

did your timing belt break check it ..

Re: 1150 mercury no spark

EricKems said:

What year is the motor? What is the serail #? THis is needed before you do this test.

This is from Clams. Not sure if this will help, but it's a place to start. Don't know where the experts have been so here's my 2 cents:

do you have 12V to the red terminal on the switch box?

do you have 12v at the white terminal when the key is turned on?

MERCURY BATTERY-POWERED CDI SWITCHBOX TEST
FOR DISTRIBUTOR MODELS


This test is for the 332-2986 switchbox used from 1967-1978 on all the
inlines.

This test assumes your coil is good (most all are).

DISCONNECT BATTERY

1. Turn off ignion
2. Disconnect all 3 wires on the distributor side of the switchbox.
3. Remove the HV lead from the coil to the center cap (remember it unscrews
from cap)
4. Reconnect that HV center lead to the COIL side only.
5. Position that HV lead about about 3/8" from ground (block, shrouds etc)
and find a way to hold it there.
6. Jumper the brown and white terminals on the dist. side of the switchbox
together.

RECONNECT BATTERRY

7. Check that you have +12 V at red terminal.
8. Turn on ignition and verify +12V at white terminal (on red terminal side)
9. Touch the black terminal to ground - unit should cause spark each time
you touch ground.

If that passes and it won't fire at all, suspect the trigger.

Click to expand...

I have a 1977 1150 with spark issue.
I though this motor did not have a trigger ?
I though the switchbox handled all ?
i get spark in the on position but as you turn further the spark stops ?
If there is a trigger,where is it ?
i know the stator is on top ?

Re: 1150 mercury no spark

Musicman, if you have a '77 model, you have a distributor, and the test that was posted will determine which components are funcitoning. The trigger on your motor is integral to the distributor. If you remove the dist. cap and look up, you will see the spark timing disk, with the six windows. These windows pass though the trigger, inducing the trigger to fire the switchbox. You can purchase a rebuilt or aftermarket distributor housing with a trigger, or get one on ebay.

You should have +12VDC on both the white and red wires on the switchbox, when the ign switch is in the on or start positions. If you do not, your wiring harness or ignition switch is bad.