1978 Mercury 1400 Ignition trouble???

Jenason

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Aug 1, 2009
Messages
47
Hey folks, I have had a lot of issues with the ignition on the old Merc.
Last year the switchbox quit and replaced with the CDI electronic version..boat ran great for 1.5 hrs, then quit,
Upon further inspection, the carbon brush grenaded in the distributor.
No fire obviously.

Well me being smart I thought, I found a buddy who had a peice from another boat, a bit larger in diameter, I shaved it to fit and VOILA.. I HAD Spark again..

It ran on the water for 30 mins well, then it would not get outa its own way..
Makeshift carbon was still intact and the motor starts/idles great, just no pwr under load..

New part on order, 3weeks,
I'm just hopeing that the original part will solve the issue, seems like all I needed was a connection....

Thanks again and comment if you like please

Thx
 

Chris1956

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 25, 2004
Messages
28,105
Have you worked on the carbs recently? Did you verify the distributor swings to advance the timing? Have you checked the idle and max spark advance?
 
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