Weak or no spark

Just got through rebuilding my '93 Johnson 40 powerhead. Went to fire it up last night and no joy. The top plug shows no spark and the bottom VERY weak. Everything was fine when I tore it down due to a scored cylinder. I don't even know where to begin here. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Re: Weak or no spark

check all grounds at the powerpack and coils,be sure all connections are good,that means that all pins are not getting pushed out back of the connectors,spark plug wires are clean and rust free in the boots,you might then check spark after disconnecting the red harness plug and supplying positive directly to the starter,if you crank it with plugs in and connected,it may start,and you cant stop it ,and if no water is connected ,you will burn the impeller,so I suggest you do a spark test,if you then get spark,check all harness connections,you can then disconnect the small black/white wire at the powerpack,this is the kill circut,it puts neg.to the pack when key is in off position,if you get good spark,your keyswitch is the likely culprit,or a safty lanyard switch or any kill button,they may be passing neg.when not supposed to

Re: Weak or no spark

How possible is it to not have it in time? I put everything back the way it came off, so it doesn't make sense to me. i'll try the above, thanks.

Re: Weak or no spark

I have spark on the bottom cylinder now, but not the top. Problem does not follow the Wires or plugs if I swap them, in other words, th problem stays with the top terminal. Suggestions??

Re: Weak or no spark

After goofing around with it a while, now the top one fires and the bottom doesn't. What the heck is the problem?

Re: Weak or no spark

No one has an opinion on this? What would cause the spark to go from the top to the bottom and vice versa?

Re: Weak or no spark

It's gonna be hard to help. We don't know what you "goofed" around with. You need to tell us the exact troubleshooting methods your using and someone will be able to help. But if the problem is jumping around like you say I'd go with Mike's idea that a loose connection is shorting ground somewhere.

Re: Weak or no spark

I did as mikesea suggested, reseating the amphenols and making sure no pins were being pushed back as well as reseating the few grounds, and reseating the terminals on the coil. There is not a lot of "goofing" around to be done.

Is there a situation, any, that would allow the coil to change the spark from one cylinder to another?