NO SPARK

"Guy I been noticing a trend o

"Guy I been noticing a trend on my motor, 200hp Johnson, for the last month it has been hard to start, but it starts, it runs and re starts w/o any issues, I have been starting it here at the house on the muffs before I head out to the lake to avoid spending time at the lake trying to start it, the problem is that I crank and crank for 10 to 15 minutes w/o any luck then it seems like magic, crank one more time and starts right up, today I rigged a timing light in number one cylinder under the suspicion that I might not have spark, the lamp did not lighted up basically until the motor started...what could this be?? Power pack??? stator??? it looks as if I crank for ever it finally makes contact and produces a spark, I know for a fact that fuel is there as the plugs get wet, but I'm suspecting of lack of a spark. Any ideas???"

"Nick,
A little hard to answe

"Nick,
A little hard to answer your questions since there are several components that control spark. If you have the service manual go through the ignition diagnostic procedures. That should point you in the right area. Some simple things to look at first would be stator cracking and/or oozing, power pack and ingnition coils. Some thing else to look at might be the safety cut-off switch on the remote."

"One more thing, buy a spark t

"One more thing, buy a spark tester (the adjustable gap type) to check your spark. It will not only tell you if you have spark but the health of the spark. It is important to know how strong your spark is."

"I have seen some droppings un

"I have seen some droppings under the fly wheel, like brownish tar type, how does the stator works in conjunction with the starting system??? I have not notice any faults with the charging system…"

What year is your engine? I a

What year is your engine? I am not totally familar with 200 Hps but I believe that there are two sets of windings in the stator and charge coil assembly - one for the iginition (two coils) and one for charging system (eight AC coils). There are some simple Ohm meter tests for each part of the windings that tell you condition. Sounds like you might have a failing winding (coil) of some sort. Maybe catches during cranking and then once warm performs okay. Really hard to say without doing some testing.

If your stator is melting down

If your stator is melting down it needs to be replaced.