inline 6 not firing on 2 4 & 6

[Raider316]

I have what I believe is a 1980 Mercury 90 hp inline 6
I have been having a problem with it idling fine in my yard but once I put it in the water and shift it into gear it stalls. Then it floods out and will not start.
Carbs have been rebuilt

Anyway I checked the plugs based off of advice from another thread and found that 2, 4 & 6 cylinders are not firing.
What could be causing this?
Thanks for any help.

 

[Laddies]

Re: inline 6 not firing on 2 4 & 6

You either have a bad switch box or half the stator is bad. Swap the red and red/white and the blue with the blue/white and retest for spark if it moved to the other 3 cyls it's a bad stator if it stayed the same it's the box.

 

[Raider316]

Re: inline 6 not firing on 2 4 & 6

You either have a bad switch box or half the stator is bad. Swap the red and red/white and the blue with the blue/white and retest for spark if it moved to the other 3 cyls it's a bad stator if it stayed the same it's the box.

Thanks I will try it. Wires running from stator seem kinda soft anyway

 

[cannonford57]

Re: inline 6 not firing on 2 4 & 6

going with laddies but probably gonna be a switchbox

 

[Raider316]

Re: inline 6 not firing on 2 4 & 6

Thanks for your help. It was the switchbox. Nice to finally have found the problem!