1996 Mercury 2-Stroke Ignition Problems

[Kevin20M]

I have a 1996 Mercury 2-Stroke and it's been having some ignition problems, I got new plugs for it and new wires, it seems as if the spark energy dies down at higher RPM's, we put a digital gauge on it and then an old needle type gauge, the digital gauge doesnt read fast enough, so we couldnt tell anything from that, but the needle gauge went a lot lower at high rpm's and I guess that's why the one cylinder is cutting out, the symptom is I can put the throttle at about 1/4 percent, and after a few seconds, sometimes up to 30, I can feel one of the cylinders kick in that wasnt firing before, and it's so dramatic, it almost knocks you down, then it finally works, and I can bring the throttle up to about 3/4 slowly, if I go anymore than that, it will cut out the cylinder again, I was trying to decide wether to spend some more (a lot) money and get the coil packs, but I dont wanna be wasting my money, if anyone could help me, please reply to this or send me email at Mel16m@aol.com, thanks, and happy boating and fishing.

 

[CU2NITE]

Re: 1996 Mercury 2-Stroke Ignition Problems

If you think it is a coil switch the one in question with another and see if your problem follows the coil. Also look at your motor running at night and see if you can see spark arching any where. I had a coil that was arching over to the head causing runability problems. Also you can try warming up the power pack with a blow dryer before you start the engine, if all cylinders spark I would suspect the pack. Sometimes a week pack will start to work when warmed up. Good luck and let us know.<br />CU

 

[Kevin20M]

Re: 1996 Mercury 2-Stroke Ignition Problems

I finally got the book on this motor, it's just as big as a phone book, it's huge, anyways, I tested the coils, and one was bad, so I replaced it, and still has the same exact problem, so I thought since it had the same problem, maybe the old coil was good, but I checked it again with an ohm meter and it was bad, but the problem showed no change with a new coil.... maybe I have the other two bad, it's too late tonight to check, I will go tomorrow, and start randomly checking the ground paths for everything, but otherwise, I am looking towards the switch box, the brain lookin thing, I dont even know if it's called the switch box or trigger box or what, I just know it sends the signal to the coils, and I am probably gonna have to end up replacing that tiny expensive piece of plastic and silicone... well, if you have anymore suggestions, please let me know

 

[hondon]

Re: 1996 Mercury 2-Stroke Ignition Problems

Take a regular automotive timing light hook it up normally then head out.When you get to the point of failure , hold the throttle there and move the timing light inductive from wire to wire all the time pointing it at your face.One cylinder alot different?Bingo, ignition failure.All look about the same then move on to fuel.B.T.W. have we done the basic compression, sync and lync ,and fuel sample tests on this engine?