Timing Gun Question

[evinrudexp]

Yesterday I was doing the link and sync on my 1988 Evinrude 150. I took out the timing gun with it hooked up to the top cylinder on the starboard side and the light didnt strobe. So I switched the clip to the top cylinder on the port side and sure enough it worked. I was under the impression that it should work on all cylinders, is this correct? The funny thing is that I did a spark test about a week ago and all 6 cylinders jumped the 7/16 gap. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Timing Gun Question

Obviously there is no spark on that cylinder or you have an intermittent pickup on the timing light. If it works normally on all other cylinders, the problem is on the non-functioning cylinder(s). Yes -- the timing light should flash on any cylinder. It is possible that the timing light can trigger from an adjacent spark plug wire even though the light is attached to a different wire.

 

[evinrudexp]

Re: Timing Gun Question

Silvertip, thanks for the quick reply. I will try it on all cylinders. IF the problem is only on that one cylinder then can I assum that its the coil? If the problem is on all 3 cylinder on the starboard side then can I assum its the starboard powerpack? Im puzzled becuase it passed the spark test.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Timing Gun Question

Things go intermittent. If the light works on all other cylinders there is nothing to be puzzled about. You have an ignition problem. The fact that it's intermittent means there might be a loose connection somewhere. Check every screw terminal and disconnect and reconnect every connector you can find.

 

[iwombat]

Re: Timing Gun Question

It could be a lot of things, coil included. It could also be plug, plug wire, bad grounds, or power pack. If you can reproduce it on that cylinder. Try swapping things around and see if the problem follows one of those components.

 

[bigtwin]

Re: Timing Gun Question

I am going to assume that you are using a modern style timing light that has an inductive pick-up, that clips around a sparkplug wire. I have both a timing light and a digital multi-meter, and both use an inductive pick-up (used for the tach. function on the multi-meter). On my outboard I have found two different things that cause the inductive pick-up to give out faulty readings.

The first thing is using nonrestior sparkplugs. I have noticed either no signal, or erratic signals, while using inductive pick-ups with nonresistor plugs. I would check the cylinder in question for a nonrestior plug.

The second thing is how you clamp the pick-up around the wire, make sure the clamp closes all the way with no gap, also make sure the orientation of the clamp is correct. Both of my inductive pick-ups have a picture of a sparkplug with an arrow pointing, I've found pointing the arrow away from the sparkplug works best (opposite to what the graphic says to do). So if you can't get a reading flip the clamp over 180?, and retry.

Good luck!

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: Timing Gun Question

............. Both of my inductive pick-ups have a picture of a sparkplug with an arrow pointing, I've found pointing the arrow away from the sparkplug works best (opposite to what the graphic says to do). So if you can't get a reading flip the clamp over 180?, and retry.

Good luck!

I have an old timing light I bought at Napa years ago that has that picture of a spark plug on the pickup, and if I remember correctly, and I could be wrong, if I hook mine up backwards, it blows the bulb out of the timing light, I've never hooked mine up backwards, but did loan it out one time and got it back with a blown bulb, and assumed that the guy that borrowed it had hooked it up backwards, as I remember it, and again I could be in error here, but it seems like I read in the owners manual somewhere that it would blow the bulb if hooked up backwards, so someone might want to correct me if I'm wrong

 

[evinrudexp]

Re: Timing Gun Question

Thanks for all the input guys. I will take all of your advice. The timing light I have is the $40 dollar one at Autozone. Its almost brand new and purchased recently. Its not the digital one, just the basics. I will try to get the light working on that cylinder by flipping the clip various ways as suggested. Then I will switch coils, wires, and power packs to see if it follows.

I assume these coils and power packs interchangable right?

Thanks again for all the insight!