1989 Force 85HP, spark issues, magnet came off flywheel and trigger rubbed.

[Jlesinski]

Hello,

I have a 1989 Force 85HP outboard. It ran great and then slowly started bogging down and then stopped working. I thought it was some sort of fuel issue so I cleaned the carbs and that didn't help, so I dug into the electrical.

I found lack of spark on the bottom cylinder so I started by swapping coils and that didn't help so I swapped the CDI's and the spark moved, but I didn't end up with Spark on #3 and had still had no spark on #1 and #3.

I kept looking I ended up finding some rubbed wires on the trigger and used the specs on outboard ignition to ohm out the trigger and it was outside specs.

The stator was within specs.

I pulled the flywheel off, ordered a new trigger and installed it.

One other thing I noticed is that the magnet was stuck to the stator and not glued to the flywheel. I reinstalled it that way not knowing that it should be glued to the flywheel... fired it up and I was getting no spark on #1 and some spark on #2 after cranking.

After digging in here it looks like I can just glue the magnet back in and hopefully it will start working? If not, what are my next steps? I am hoping I didn't screw up the new trigger with my silly mistake of just sticking the magnet to the stator...

Also, the new trigger is 3 wires and a ground. I hooked it up the way it said to, but I am wondering how you test the new ones if I get to that point (again hoping I didn't burn the new one out with my mistake).

I am off to the hardware to pick up some clear gorilla super glue but thought I should post and get some feedback from experts!

Thanks for your insight,
Jim

 

[393Clevor]

remove all the old glue, JB-weld worked for me.. see my post

 

[Jlesinski]

I have a clear loctite two part epoxy that sets up in 60 minutes I plan to use. I checked out your post and it looks like I can just install it any way. I was concerned about the "slice" and whether or not I could install it upside down also. Hopefully I can just put some glue on and clamp it. I wanted the longer set up time on the epoxy because it is 95 degrees here in WNY and hotter in my barn with a metal roof! I will try it this evening when it cools down a bit.

 

[Jlesinski]

Ok the magnet is back in and the glue is setting up. I lined the split up with the mark left on the inside that seemed to be from the original install. I just hope I didn't install it upside down if that is even possible! I will wait for the glue to set up and then put it in tomorrow morning and post back the results.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Can't install backwards.
You can use too much glue and make the magnet rub as the flywheel turns.

 

[Jlesinski]

Hello, the good news is that I now have spark on all cylinders. I glued the magnet back in and put it all together but then still did not have spark on Cylinder one. I ended up swapping the CDI's trying to figure out what the heck is going on, and swapping the CDI's had no effect and left me still with no spark on cylinder 1.

So I swapped the #1 and #2 coils. Now the problem went from Cylinder 1 to Cylinder 2! I happen to have a 1989 50 HP Force and I swapped in the coil from that and now have spark on all cylinders.

The bad news is that it still won't fire. I had taken the carbs all apart before doing this so I am going to go back through those and make sure they are OK.

Any other ideas about why I would get spark on all three and still not fire? I disconnected the 2 wires going to the kill switch up by the ignition and that didn't seem to help. They are off right now.

The only thing I can think of is maybe a fuel issue?

 

[Jlesinski]

One other thing... I pulled the cover off the carbs and when I did, the bottom of that cover was full of fuel. Maybe from me cranking? The hose connected to it was also full of fuel and it ended up breaking so it will have to be replaced. Maybe that is relevant?

 

[Jlesinski]

OK so it looks like it was just flooded! I went back out after waiting a bit and it fired right up. After adjusting the idle screw on the timing bar it stayed running pretty well. I adjusted the idle air screws to 1 1/4 out and then ended up turning them in a bit while running.

It seems to be running alright now but I am going to get a timing light from someone tomorrow and make sure that is dead on also.

I think I might be able to get back out on the water if this keeps going well.