Ever heard of this? Points w/0 condenser?

RandyJ

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jun 13, 2002
Messages
808
I've got a 1971 Mercury 110, 9.8 hp. It has points but no condenser. It is not firing at all and I don't have a clue how to check whatever it is (magneto coil, stator,???? what do you call it?) I do know that the two wires from the ignition coils to the points have continuity to ground until the points open. That is all I have been able to determine so far. The insulation on these wires is bad and crumbling... Not sure if it would do any good to simply replace the wires from ignition coil to points or what kind of wire to use. I can find stranded house wire of about a 10-12 gauge but don't know if that will work... so what kind of wire should I use?
 

bktheking

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Jul 29, 2008
Messages
5,057
Re: Ever heard of this? Points w/0 condenser?

You are correct, Phase Maker ignition, it's a combo stator with points. The wires used on these motors are aluminum and they go bad after years. I just went through the "no spark" on a 7.5, same S*** different pile.

I'll explain how this system works. The entire system works backward from what you know, the stop switch is grounded as opposed to "not grounded" for normal operation. If the switch is bad then you will never get spark, disconnect the salmon wire going to the stop switch and ground it, retest for spark. The stator generates roughly 500 Volts when cranked, this puts a charge into the coils. The breakers then "open" to unground to trigger the coil spark. 2 tests you can do, 1 get a DVA and disconnect the green wire going to the first coil, like I said when you crank it generates 500 or so volts. If you see no voltage then the stator is bad or the wiring to the stator is shot. If you want to test for spark and know the stator is good, remove the 2 wires going to the coils from the points. Connect a spark plug tester to one of the coils and to ground and crank the motor over. Take a jumper wire "from a ground point on the motor" and tap either Negative coil lead and look for spark. If you have spark then the problem is from the points to the coils.

This is what I saw when I pulled the flywheel, everything looked normal, points were black but I read that the points will outlast the motor, black is normal. I had spark but no trigger from the points, wiring was good. Then I read about the insulator blocks being the culprit, they crack over time and leak to ground, they can be found but not easily, I bought the last 2 from East Coast Marine. CDI sells the blocks with their stators, if this is the issue phone them and see if you can buy them seperately. The other issue I didn't go into were the coils, if they are bad the green or orange ones will work. The coils need to be grounded properly, there is a ground wire outside of the rubber that grounds against the coil holders.


I hope this explains how the system works, pretty simple once you wrap your head around it.

img00107201009072146.jpg
 
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bktheking

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jul 29, 2008
Messages
5,057
Re: Ever heard of this? Points w/0 condenser?

I had to replace some wiring, I went with 14 gauge copper strand (i'm not near salt).

I'll add a little more. This system is a HIGH VOLTAGE system, be very careful when testing it, I wouldn't want to find out you got hurt cause you didn't know.

Going back to another post, yes point gap is .020 on higher of the 2 high points (you'll see what I mean) and don't bother cleaning the black off the points, they run better with them being black (no joke).
 
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