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1997 40 hp Mercury ran, stopped, and will not start cold.

mcgodin

New member
Hi,

I have a 1997 40 hp 2 stroke tiller drive mercury with 4 cylinders. So the story. It started wonderfully on first pull every time. We took it out to an island that was a WOT run of about 40 minutes. I stopped and started the motor several times during the process of dropping people on the beach and anchoring outside of the tidal swing and it had no problems. Came back at the end of the day and it started right up as usual (thank god the problem didn't happen here). Ran it all the way back to the harbor and lowered the throttle for the no wake zone. It ran and sounded fine the entire way but there was a line at the dock so I pulled over and shut it off. When it was my turn it started up fine and as I was putting over to the launch it cut out without a kill switch being triggered (and it didn't sound like it slowly ran out of gas, it just quit suddenly). I pulled it and it started, i putted for a second and then it died. By then I was at the dock and I figured I would have to run freshwater through it at home so I didn't try to start it again. Got home and tried to start it and after a few pulls it turned over, revved up (based on the open throttle, not some other factor I am pretty sure) and then died. I pulled is several times and it didn't start. Thinking maybe it was flooded I left it and tried an hour later, no luck. Over the next few days I tried ... a new gas can/line, fresher gas (with less oil content), new spark plugs, unconnecting the black/yellow kill switch wire as a test, and looking at continuity between the spark plug ignition coil and nothing worked. It appears to not be sparking at all when I tested for spark on the engine. The ONLY thing that looked "new" was that the small "bicycle sized" cable that connects to some part on the shift mechanism and runs to a "spring loaded toggle" of some sort up on the flywheel cover had a missing pin and the cable had slipped off allowing the toggle to fully extend.

Sorry for the narrative, but I wanted to give any and all information I could. Are there electrical components that tend to go bad in this model year? Could that little shift toggle be causing/caused a problem and what the heck is that thing for (its on other outboards too and moves between 3 spots for F, N, and R) and does it have electrical components it regulates?


Thanks for reading it and any help, I appreciate it.
 
Awesome! (well, not for the motor, but it gives me a place to start). I will have to see if that is something I can try and fix myself or not. I appreciate your advice.
 
Awesome! (well, not for the motor, but it gives me a place to start). I will have to see if that is something I can try and fix myself or not. I appreciate your advice.


I just bought a 1995 -40 hp Mariner magnum and my will not start after it warms up took back
to the dealer he is ordering a new stator for mine hope that is all it takes .
let me know how your fix goes.
thanks vern
 
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