Murcury 115hp 1980 6 cyl nightmare

[captbly]

Bought this engin on a bass boat last week. Started the motor and it wouldn't fire on #4 cyl. Replaced lower switch box #4 started firing and #3 from top swich box quit firing. Took the old swich box and replaced the upper switch box and now #3 fires and #1 quit, does this mean that top switch box was bad also? Checked all wiring on the coils and switches three times everything seems right. I'm about ready to turn this engin into a small lake reef........I could use all the input on this thing I can get. Thanks.....John...

 

[halmc]

Re: Murcury 115hp 1980 6 cyl nightmare

Bought this engin on a bass boat last week. Started the motor and it wouldn't fire on #4 cyl. Replaced lower switch box #4 started firing and #3 from top swich box quit firing. Took the old swich box and replaced the upper switch box and now #3 fires and #1 quit, does this mean that top switch box was bad also? Checked all wiring on the coils and switches three times everything seems right. I'm about ready to turn this engin into a small lake reef........I could use all the input on this thing I can get. Thanks.....John...

Sorry, as a newbee I can't be much help. However, the extensive reading I have done on this forum to address a similar problem with my four cylinder engine, has unearthed several threads that address the extent to which the TWO switchboxes on six cylinder outboards interact with each other. There is at least one post that I recalll, that cautioned against replacing one without replacing the other. A search of this forum for "swithcbox" yields a fairly decent education on what they do and to your issue, how they interact. There is considerable talk about bias and a bias wire which I skipped over completely, but seems like it might be of interest to guys with limping six's. Good luck. I too considered the small lake reef remedy.