Been trying to help a good friend with his outboard. It's a 1998 90hp Force 3cyl, mounted on the back of a 1998 22' tri-toon boat. It has very low hours as it only gets used a couple times a year, and is in decent shape overall.
About 3 weeks ago we took it out (along with my '98 18' I/O powered runabout) for the first time. His battery was dead, so we gave it a jump from my boat and went about our way. Had a good weeknight evening on the lake, enjoyed some skiiing, tubing, and eating on the water. Motor ran fine all night, aside from some idling issues which we attributed to old gas, and lack of use.
Fast forward to last Thursday night. I get a call ~3pm that he is stuck on the lake with a motor that won't start. Ran fine the entire time he was out that day until it suddenly died and wouldn't restart. After work I took my boat out and towed him back in. Put the pontoon on the trailer and headed home.
This week we've begun trouble shooting. After talking with some locals, and doing several hours of research on here and other sites we determined it has no spark on all 3 cyls. After some more research and some work with the multi-meter, we've found that it is definately NOT the kill switch. No major chaffing or problems on any wires, and all connections are good. He then purchased a new CDI voltage regulator after doing an "online chat" with a marine tech from some website (the name escapes me at this point). We installed the new voltage regulator this evening only to find no change in the no spark condition.
We've now removed the flywheel, and stator thinking that there might be a loose connection under there that we couldn't see. After the flywheel "popped" off with considerable force and speed once we the puller put some pressure on it (a note to those keeping score at home...BE CAREFULL when removing the flywheel!!!). Once the flywheel was off we see that there is no appropriate connection under there to be messed up. We researched how to test the stator, but came across no good results for ohm readings, or continuity tests to perform on the stator, and at ~$180 we would rather test it than just throw parts at the problem. All of the research we have done has referenced the service manual which we don't have.
SO......Our main questions are as follows. How do we test the stator? What continuity, Ohm readings, or voltage tests can we do on it to determine if it is good or bad? If we replace the stator, is there anything else we should replace at the same time? Are there any visual signs of the stator going bad or failing? Is there anything we are missing that are obvious, or common problems that we might be stumbling over?
At this point we have a rather large trip planned for 2 weeks from now. The goal is to have the boat up and running for this trip, as we've had it planned for nearly a year now, and don't want a non-running boat to leave us docked while everyone else is out enjoying the water. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
About 3 weeks ago we took it out (along with my '98 18' I/O powered runabout) for the first time. His battery was dead, so we gave it a jump from my boat and went about our way. Had a good weeknight evening on the lake, enjoyed some skiiing, tubing, and eating on the water. Motor ran fine all night, aside from some idling issues which we attributed to old gas, and lack of use.
Fast forward to last Thursday night. I get a call ~3pm that he is stuck on the lake with a motor that won't start. Ran fine the entire time he was out that day until it suddenly died and wouldn't restart. After work I took my boat out and towed him back in. Put the pontoon on the trailer and headed home.
This week we've begun trouble shooting. After talking with some locals, and doing several hours of research on here and other sites we determined it has no spark on all 3 cyls. After some more research and some work with the multi-meter, we've found that it is definately NOT the kill switch. No major chaffing or problems on any wires, and all connections are good. He then purchased a new CDI voltage regulator after doing an "online chat" with a marine tech from some website (the name escapes me at this point). We installed the new voltage regulator this evening only to find no change in the no spark condition.
We've now removed the flywheel, and stator thinking that there might be a loose connection under there that we couldn't see. After the flywheel "popped" off with considerable force and speed once we the puller put some pressure on it (a note to those keeping score at home...BE CAREFULL when removing the flywheel!!!). Once the flywheel was off we see that there is no appropriate connection under there to be messed up. We researched how to test the stator, but came across no good results for ohm readings, or continuity tests to perform on the stator, and at ~$180 we would rather test it than just throw parts at the problem. All of the research we have done has referenced the service manual which we don't have.
SO......Our main questions are as follows. How do we test the stator? What continuity, Ohm readings, or voltage tests can we do on it to determine if it is good or bad? If we replace the stator, is there anything else we should replace at the same time? Are there any visual signs of the stator going bad or failing? Is there anything we are missing that are obvious, or common problems that we might be stumbling over?
At this point we have a rather large trip planned for 2 weeks from now. The goal is to have the boat up and running for this trip, as we've had it planned for nearly a year now, and don't want a non-running boat to leave us docked while everyone else is out enjoying the water. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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