Outboard Myth????? Help Please

Ok, here's the deal. I went to talk to my boat mechanic, that has my boat in his shop. He said that because I used a car with jumper cables to crank the boat, I messed up the electronics. My question is......can you jump an outboard motor off using a running car and jumper cables without messing something up????? Please help, I'm clueless on this matter.

it was allways my understanding on the older motors you could if you grounded the boat side jumper cables to the side of the engine on some type of bracket, but the newer engines have so much new electronics that you could waste your chargeing system are electronics[sensore ,ete]

What's wrong with your boat? Won't turn over, runs too hot, won't fire? What year, model & HP?

It's not firing on the left bank. It is 1976 85 horse evinrude.

Using jumper cables from another battery to your outboard is okay as long as you DO NOT hook the cables up backwards (reverse polarity) which will destroy the charging circuit's rectifier.

Are you assuming that there is no spark on that port bank OR have you checked to see if the spark actually exists? With the spark plugs removed, the spark should jump a 7/16" gap on that engine with a strong blue lightning like flame.... a real SNAP! The 7/16" gap is important..... checking spark by using the spark plugs is a waste of time.

If you are absolutely sure that no spark exists on that port bank, the most likely component to be flawed is one of the sensors on the timer base. There are two timing sensors on that timer base..... one fires the port bank, the other fires the starboard bank.

Check all connections..... compare the continuity of one sensor with the other via a ohm meter.