Melted Ignition Module!

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paulhaines2000

Cadet
Joined
Feb 17, 2011
Messages
10
Friend of mine was giong across the lake with his Mercury and it died - no start. Paddled home. I told him I'd take a look. If I remember right, it's a early to mid 70's Merc. 10 HP. (Sorry about the lack of detail on that, it's been a while since I looked at it and he wants to get it going over the winter so I'm doing a little more research before he dumps money into it). Anyhow, I immediately found no spark on one plug. I pulled the flywheel and holy smokes! Melted ignition module - looked like an electrical "near" fire from the inside of the module. Mechanically, beautiful condition and good compression. Coils are good. What in the heck could cause the ignition module to get so hot it melts down??? Could there be other big problems that could make it not worth fixing or is it likely as simple as a module that just went bad?
 
fisherman81654

fisherman81654

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Sep 5, 2011
Messages
135
Re: Melted Ignition Module!

paulhaines2000 said:
Friend of mine was giong across the lake with his Mercury and it died - no start. Paddled home. I told him I'd take a look. If I remember right, it's a early to mid 70's Merc. 10 HP. (Sorry about the lack of detail on that, it's been a while since I looked at it and he wants to get it going over the winter so I'm doing a little more research before he dumps money into it). Anyhow, I immediately found no spark on one plug. I pulled the flywheel and holy smokes! Melted ignition module - looked like an electrical "near" fire from the inside of the module. Mechanically, beautiful condition and good compression. Coils are good. What in the heck could cause the ignition module to get so hot it melts down??? Could there be other big problems that could make it not worth fixing or is it likely as simple as a module that just went bad?
Click to expand...
Not sure what you are referring to,Are you calling the stator the ignition module?
Also try to come up with the year ,serial number and model of the engine,you will get more replies to your question.
 
Faztbullet

Faztbullet

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 2, 2008
Messages
15,616
Re: Melted Ignition Module!

If its the old phase maker(small red & blue coil on side) a diode has failed in the module. A bad ground, failed coil or wrong coil installed will do it.....
 
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MercMan82

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Sep 13, 2011
Messages
192
Re: Melted Ignition Module!

My 4.5 did that very same thing to the owner before. Got it for bout 100 bucks. I recently redid the wiring going from the coil to the points and found that the plastic separator the point is attached to was melted down causing it to continually ground out. Made another at work and was back in business. I have not yet checked the coil yet to see if it's the problem but it does run good. I suspect it to just old wires grounding out but will verify shortly. Hope this helps.
 
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