No Spark On Cylinders 1 And 3

Hotknight

Recruit
Joined
Mar 26, 2019
Messages
2
Hello I am new to the forum so I hope Im posing this in the right place. I have a Bayliner with a 1988 Force 85 outboard that I inherited the boat has sat since 1995 when my grandfather passed away. It had no spark in any cylinders and after sorting out some wiring problems I now have spark on cylinder 2. It is a 3 cylinder engine. I swaped the wires around on the coil packs to test them and was able to get spark from each one. It doesnt make sense to me for the problem to be caused by the stator. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
 

The Force power

Commander
Joined
Feb 3, 2019
Messages
2,241
Welcome

The Stator provides a steady power supply to the switch-boxes.
Check the voltage output from the switch-boxes for cylinder 1 & 3; you should have 250-300 AC volts going to the coils
(make sure you have a full charged battery when cranking)

If you don't or have low AC voltage coming from the terminal(s) on the switch-box that feed power to the coil(s) #1 & #3
would lead me to believe you a "bad" switch-box
Check all all wires & connectors FIRST! they're usually the problem, before deeming the switch-boxes no good

If you have the necessary voltage coming from the Switch-box terminal, check the voltage on the other end of that wire connected to the spark plug coil (to check the wire also)
If no spark.... switch a working coil to that wire to verify if the coil is any good

good luck & keep us posted
 

Hotknight

Recruit
Joined
Mar 26, 2019
Messages
2
Thank you for your response in the advice I appreciate it! I'll check into that as soon as I get some time. Thanks again!
 

jerryjerry05

Supreme Mariner
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
17,923
The 88/85 has 2 power packs.
#1 powers the top 2
#2 the bottom.

Usually if the spark is on one it's probably the stator.
It could be the regulator, unhook the 2 white leads to it, then check the spark.

outboardignitiondotcom has test procedures for your motor.
You can do the basic tests with a regular analog test meter.
To do the more complicated tests you need a DVA or peak reading volt meter.

Do a compression check.

If the starter's not turning the motor over fast enough?? it might not produce spark.
 

VivaLaMigra

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 21, 2016
Messages
45
Your stator is putting out juice. You have a bad pack. Those packs are capable of firing two cylinders each; on 3-cylinder models they used same packs as the 4 but one pack is only half used if you follow me. You COULD have a bad trigger but try the pack first; it's the most likely culprit on ANY outboard with capacitor-discharge ignition.
 

jerryjerry05

Supreme Mariner
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
17,923
NO FIRE OR INTERMITTENT ON ONE CYLINDER:
  1. Check stator and trigger resistance, trigger wire sets read approximately 50 ohms between the wire sets (DVA-4V or more), stator reads 680-800 ohms (factory) and 200- 300 (CDI/RAPAIR) DVA 180V or more from blue to yellow.
  2. If readings are good, disconnect kill wire from one pack. If the dead cylinder starts firing, the problem is likely the blocking diode in the other pack.
NO FIRE ON TWO CYLINDERS:
  • If two cylinders from the same CD unit will not fire, the problem is usually in the stator. Test per above.
 

VivaLaMigra

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 21, 2016
Messages
45
With apologies to Jerry, I forgot that on those motors the stators have two sets of output wires to the two packs, so it could be supplying AC to one pack but not the other. You can switch the pairs of wires to the other pack and see if it makes that pack fire. If it does, then it's the stator and not the pack.
 
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