white wire on trigger fried. What is the trigger?

[udoittwo]

On my 1986 75 HP 4 cyl. with CD ign. #A199493. While I was tearing it down for a rebuild I found a wire fried. I traced it to what the shop manual calls the "trigger". All 4 wires from the trigger go to a connecting block but I don't know what that particular wire connects too from there. I'm guessing the trigger is similar to a distributor cap?
The reason I got into tearing this motor down in the first place was that it would not start. The marina said it had low comp. in #1 cyl. but I still didn't understand why it wouldn't at least fire in the other 3. The fried wire was the only thing fried. All the other wires to and from the connecting block, were fine. IF the trigger is like a distributor cap, do each of the 4 wires control the firing of 1 cyl. each? I just got a new trigger and on it, all the wires but the white one have a rubber boot to cover it where it fits on the connecting block. Why isn't the white wire covered? Finally, can a trigger just go bad by itself and not be caused or have any effect on another part.
Thanks yet again for any info,
Karl.

 

[wired247]

Thr trigger tells the switch box when to fire. The switch box is what you are calling the connecting block. It is the heart of the capacitive discharge system. There is no distributor.
You need to get ypurself a factory manual. Dont waste your money on anything but a factory Mercury manual.