1971 mercury 650 4 cyl

andyhoss

Cadet
Joined
Jun 20, 2005
Messages
26
Allright well heres the story... i've been running this engine for about 2 years, I rebuilt the carbs when I bought it. Never had any problems UNTIL..... the last time I was out it started right up and then everytime I would turn it off it became increasingly harder to start until I was being pulled back to the dock... It will turn over fine but no fire.. I tried starting it on the driveway yesterday and it fired a couple of times but than nothing and now it will only turn over... I took out the spark plugs today and they were black and slightly oily.. cylinder 4 had a considerable amount of oil dripping out of the plug hole (ounce or 2). Also I checked the fuel to carb 1 and it seemed fine... I would be thrilled to hear any suggestions.<br /><br />thanks in advance,<br />Andy
 

JB

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Mar 25, 2001
Messages
45,907
Re: 1971 mercury 650 4 cyl

Check out the Engine FAQs, Andy.<br /><br />That should narrow it down a lot.<br /><br />Good luck. :)
 

andyhoss

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Joined
Jun 20, 2005
Messages
26
Re: 1971 mercury 650 4 cyl

Thanks for the direction JB I did the spark test and im not seeing anything.. hopefully I was doing it right i was holding the spark plug as close to the Head as I could while still being able to see if there was a charge.... So if there is no spark where would you go from there? its doubtful that its the the plugs or wires right? It would probably just misfire if it was this simple? I'm thinking maybe something in the distributor? is testing the distributor cap simple? any suggestions?<br /><br />thanks again
 

andyhoss

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Joined
Jun 20, 2005
Messages
26
Re: 1971 mercury 650 4 cyl

heres another question for you guys... After concluding there was no spark at the spark plugs... I tested the lead wire out of the coil (using the same procedure) there was no spark out of the coil either. Tomorrow I am going to test the coil using an ohmeter.. Part of this testing procedure involves puting on of the the leads in the coil tower. Is the coil tower where the lead wire comes out and goes to the distributor?? do I need to stick one of the leads inside there?<br /><br />thanks
 
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