1989 125 Force Spark ?

maxum247

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Re: 1989 125 Force Spark ?

I went to work on my motor today after taking a couple of days off from working on the weak spark on cylinders 1 and 3 issue and when I hit the key to start the motor I had no guage lights and the motor didn't make a sound. I did remove the ignition switch at one point but rewired it back according to a wiring diagram that came in a booklet with the boat when it was new, but it has run since then. I checked the circuit breaker and fuses and they looked ok. The trim/tilt and running lights still work fine. It had started everytime before today. Any ideas? Thanks!

Here'a an update on my 1989 125 Force outboard motor.
Today a neighbor and I figured out that a blown fuse was the cause of the engine doing nothing, not a peep when I turned the ignition switch. The fuse had such a tiny break in it, it was difficult to detect but it was there. As soon as the fuse was replaced with a new one the motor started right up.

Also I think that part of the miss problem I'm having with the engine may have to do with the top carburetor as it doesn't respond to adjustment nearly as well as the bottom carburetor, the carbs have been rebuilt but I think they may have set long enough that the inlet needle may be sticking a little in the top carb as fuel drips out of the top carburetor breifly when I first hook up the gas line and pump the ball to fill the carb bowls, so next I'll go thru and recheck and correct that before going any futher in trying to find the cause of the weak spark issue on cylinders 1 and 3.

max!
 

maxum247

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Re: 1989 125 Force Spark ?

Haven't gotten around to the carburetor yet, but did get the chance to do an ohm test on the stator and trigger wires.
If my findings are correct the new stator I put in a while back in an attempt to solve the weak spark issue I'm having on cylinders 1 and 3 is reading 326 ohms on each pair of wires, is it a possibility that cylinders 1 and 3 would fire weak and 2 and 4 would still fire strong if the stator were bad? I'm having the same symptoms as before replacing the old stator except with the old stator the readings were nothing on one pair of wires and 724 ohms on the other pair, again provding I tested it correctly!
The trigger wires tested 49 ohms on each pair.


max!
 

chitownborn

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Re: 1989 125 Force Spark ?

max, i beleive the stator readings for a good stator should be between 650 to 800 if yours are 326 your puttin out half the power or less on that section of the stator
 

jriegle04

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Re: 1989 125 Force Spark ?

i was having the same symptoms on a 150hp johnson and i replaced the stator and now it runs great
 

maxum247

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Re: 1989 125 Force Spark ?

max, i beleive the stator readings for a good stator should be between 650 to 800 if yours are 326 your puttin out half the power or less on that section of the stator

Thanks! I spent almost a hundred and a half for the new stator and it's been so long that if it is bad I can't return it. When I replaced the old stator with the new one there was no change in the engine spark so all I could do at the time was assume the new stator was good and it was something else causing the spark problem on cylinders 1 and 3 but it's starting to look like the stator possibly may not have been good and I stress may not because I don't know too much about useing an ohm meter and I knew even less about useing one a few years ago when replacing the stator. So I'm still lost, I can't afford to try another stator just to see if that's the problem, what to do?

max!
 

jriegle04

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Re: 1989 125 Force Spark ?

is it a CDI? they are really good about honoring warranties. if you send it to them they can test it for you. one key sign to a stator going bad is the loss of spark / weak spark on half of the cylinders. the ohm test for that is pretty well defined on maxrules.com the only thing an ohm reading is telling you is the amount of resistance on a circut. 0 is no resistance like you are touching the leads from your tester together and as the number gets higher the more resistance there is. so a lower number than what your stator is calling for means that the stator isn't providing enough resistance though the windings to produce enough spark. this is a basic definition and i wish there was an easy fix for your stator but replacement is the only thing i know of.
 

maxum247

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Re: 1989 125 Force Spark ?

is it a CDI? they are really good about honoring warranties. if you send it to them they can test it for you. one key sign to a stator going bad is the loss of spark / weak spark on half of the cylinders. the ohm test for that is pretty well defined on maxrules.com the only thing an ohm reading is telling you is the amount of resistance on a circut. 0 is no resistance like you are touching the leads from your tester together and as the number gets higher the more resistance there is. so a lower number than what your stator is calling for means that the stator isn't providing enough resistance though the windings to produce enough spark. this is a basic definition and i wish there was an easy fix for your stator but replacement is the only thing i know of.

Yeah! it's a cdi! I purchased it about four years ago when I first got the boat after deciding the stator might be the problem with the spark issue I was having on cylinders 1 and 3. I've used the boat probably less than 30 hours since replacing the old stator with the new one as the boat has been transformed a couple of times over the years from a cuddy to a bowrider and now to a center console so I've only had it out on the water a few times over the four or so years I've had it.

I'll check out maxrules.com and see if I tested the stator correctly.

Thanks!

max!
 

maxum247

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Re: 1989 125 Force Spark ?

This afternoon I pulled the top carb to check the gas overflow problem that I have had when pumping up the primer bulb in the gas line, the inlet needle didn't appear to be sticking but I did set the float level a little differently and that seemed to solve the slight overflow of gas when first priming the engine, I hope.

The other thing I found was that one of the hose clamps was loose on the gas line going to the motor, as I tightened it the engine picked up rpm's and I thought I had it licked for a minute. Would have if it had of been a two cylinder outboard, sounded good compared to the way it had been running. Next I pulled the plug wires one at a time and checked those but the engine's still not firing on cylinders 1 and 3, oh well I'm just happy to have made some progress at this point.

max!
 

tjello327

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Re: 1989 125 Force Spark ?

If you already swapped around your stator leads and the weak spark condition did'nt follow the swap, its not the stator. Be sure you swap around one good lead with one weak lead. My #3 didnt have fire so I took the #3 lead from the stator that goes to the terminal block and swapped it with #2 which I know works fine, and the no spark conditon was now at #2. This proved that it was the stator, that was the only thing that I changed. My guess is it sounds like the stator. This swap should prove if it is or is not.
 

maxum247

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Re: 1989 125 Force Spark ?

If you already swapped around your stator leads and the weak spark condition did'nt follow the swap, its not the stator. Be sure you swap around one good lead with one weak lead. My #3 didnt have fire so I took the #3 lead from the stator that goes to the terminal block and swapped it with #2 which I know works fine, and the no spark conditon was now at #2. This proved that it was the stator, that was the only thing that I changed. My guess is it sounds like the stator. This swap should prove if it is or is not.

I tried that I think and didn't get any change, but I will try it again to be sure. Thank's!
I've tryed so many different things at this point I can't remember what I have and have'nt tried:p.
I've got a used stator and cd module coming in a few days, I'll try the cd module first as it is easy to change out and hope that solves my problem, if not I'll go from there.

Thanks for the help!
Have a good afternoon!

max!
 

shawpdx1

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Re: 1989 125 Force Spark ?

thought I would chime in on this. I just went through a simalar issue everything checked out stator was within specs @733 Ohms and all of the trigger wires read 52 Ohms. I messed with it for days then I finally decided to rewire all of my connections to the pannel with new connectors the stock ones are cheap and barley even make a connection. I also re grounded all 3 of the coils sepretly to the block. checked it out and I had Awsome spark on all 3 cylinders fired right up. something to think about
 

maxum247

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Re: 1989 125 Force Spark ?

thought I would chime in on this. I just went through a simalar issue everything checked out stator was within specs @733 Ohms and all of the trigger wires read 52 Ohms. I messed with it for days then I finally decided to rewire all of my connections to the pannel with new connectors the stock ones are cheap and barley even make a connection. I also re grounded all 3 of the coils sepretly to the block. checked it out and I had Awsome spark on all 3 cylinders fired right up. something to think about

I had moved in the direction of doing the same thing but the smallest connectors I could find were 22 ga. for the trigger wiring, I had to double the wire ends to get them to fit the connector ends the wires were so small and when crimping the connectors they just kind of spread out and just looked bad or maybe I'm useing the wrong type of crimping tool it's just a cheap one! What guage did you use on your wiring for the trigger?

max!
 

yfz450guy

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Re: 1989 125 Force Spark ?

well, what was the outcome?
is it fixed?
we want to know.:)
 

maxum247

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Re: 1989 125 Force Spark ?

well, what was the outcome?
is it fixed?
we want to know.:)

1989 125h.p. Force Outboard Motor/Cylinders 1 and 3 weak spark.

In my case I replaced the cd module for cylinders 3 and 4 and solved the weak spark issue that I was having on cylinders 1 and 3.

max!
 
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