Possibly a Bad Stator

[MTR_1988]

Hey everyone,
I have a 1998 Mercury Sport Jet 175. Was running fine, then all of the sudden it wouldn't start. Did some troubleshooting and repairs, got it running and now again the same problem. It had spark before and now no spark. I have a repair manual but it's for an outboard, mine is an inboard. I tested the resistance between all the wires and ground, the only pair that has resistance is yellow. The white, brown, and purple are all open circuits and nothing is shorted out the ground either. Bad stator? The battery was low not long ago, I charged it and left it hooked up to the engine. Starting to wonder if that screwed something up.

 

[Dave1027]

Are you reading the stator wires or the trigger? Stator ignition wires are usually red and blue.

 

[MTR_1988]

Are you reading the stator wires or the trigger? Stator ignition wires are usually red and blue.

Finally got the flywheel off, embarrassingly yes I was testing the trigger. I could see the wire so I was able to trace them back. I tested the red and blue wires for the stator and there is continuity between all four wires and ground. Does that sound right?

 

[Dave1027]

Did you disconnect the stator wires from the switch boxes before measuring them? Dead short to ground does not sound right.

The information I have (for my motor. Yours might be different) states to read the resistance between blue and blue/white wires. Should be between 6k and 7k ohms. Then read between the red and red/white wires. Should be 90 to 140 ohms.

 

[gohawks688]

You also have to test the voltage using a dva. The resistance isn't the whole story.
No spark could also be switch boxes

 

[MTR_1988]

Ordered a DVA, did ohms testing on everything I could and all was good. Found a random thread talking about disconnecting the black/yellow wire. I disconnected it and the engine fired right up. What would cause this? Short, faulty ignition switch, ECU?

 

[Dave1027]

Something is grounding the black/yellow wire. Might be key switch.

 

[gohawks688]

Yellow black wire is the kill circuit. Seems like your on the right track to a simple solution.

 

[MTR_1988]

I've isolated it to the one switch box. I tested the wires with a multimeter and the one causing the issue was almost 4k ohms. Anyone ever had a switch box cause this? Looking at switch boxes, the version for my engine is like 4x the price because it's sealed. Would it be okay to use the one made for the outboards instead? I know the connectors are different, I can make wiring for that.