59 johnson 18hp not firing on both cylinders?

[roger56]

Fired up this motor last weekend after setting idle for a year. After running motor in barrel a lot of black gunk and gas in barrel. Pulled plugs and the top one looked good, bottom one looked very black and soot filled. Did not seem to have any high speed rpm, Could this be a spark issue?

 

[ShoestringMariner]

Sounds like it. Check the plugs for spark

 

[racerone]

There are 2 seperate ignition systems on that motor.---------The spark must jump a gap of 1/4" to be called " good "-------There is an inspection plate on top of the flywheel to look at the coils / points.