82 50hp mariner ignition mystery

[plazmore]

I had no charging after initially having too much charging...replacing the rectifier I found wires for stator, trigger, and rectifier to be exposed after insulation crumbled off...repaired wires, and she ran, but still no charge...so replaced stator...it was a cdi unit with no insulation cover...starts and runs but backfires and wont idle...new trigger is on the way...the mystery is when I hook up a timing light, the marks are on the wrong side-180 degrees off...on my old cars, that's the distributor installed wrong...but if I understand how my outboard works, this should be impossible...timing preset, stator only mounts one way, flywheel is keyed...
somehow I doubt the trigger will fix this...any ideas and suggestions would be welcomed, thanks! (its getting sunny out---I need to get on the water!)

 

[OCboat]

Did you verify that the timing pointer points to the TDC mark on the timing decal when cylinder #1 is actually at TDC? A previous owner of my '76 50hp at sometime removed the flywheel by removing the 8 bolts around the inner flywheel and then installed it about 180 from the original position. Other than that, I hope you figure it out. I was having the same problem with just cylinder #2 firing about 180 degrees out of time. I removed all ignition items and cleaned the contacts and reinstalled and now it fires intermittently at the correct time but it still runs rough. I'm not sure if it is the stator or trigger at this point. I have already replaced the switch box.

 

[plazmore]

all I did was move #1 to TDC manually, and saw the pointer aligned with 2 degrees before...which my book told me to expect...then hooked up the light to #1 and saw what I saw...I never touched the 8 bolts, just removed the flywheel as a whole...center bolt only...I hope I don't also have tor replace the switchbox, as its only a couple years old...sunny and 85 today...argh..i did mess with a setscrew that is associated with timing adjustments, but that was after starting with backfires, and not idling...just turned it back and forth to see if either direction helped...which it didn't...then put it back to where it was...

 

[plazmore]

I should add, that prior to digging in to the charging issue, the motor ran like new...perfect idle, could troll all day, and she pushed my heavy tri hull to 35mph without complaint...I just had an overcharging issue from the day I bought it, until it stopped charging last summer...that's when I found and repaired the crumbling wires to the stator, trigger and rectifier...added the new rectifier then...started and ran great on the old stator, but still no charge, so replaced with new...now timing is crazy...