Logo

1998 Bf50 pulser coil testing

Mpphawk

New member
Resistance test 334ohms all 3. What I’m questioning is the voltage output. I’m getting less than 1v. Does anyone know what output should be? Also what is the proper way for checking voltage as I could be doing wrong. Boat is new to me, I had just done head work on it and was running on the water hose for 30 minuets when died and no longer have spark. Thanks for any help.
 
That resistance reading looks about right. I found a reference of 350 ohms pulsar resistance and that's pretty dang close.

Sorry, I don't have a volt reading for you but it should be low voltage as it's only a "trigger" reference for firing the coil.

Since you say you recently had the head off, I would suspect something not getting completely plugged back in during reassembly. You may want to go back over the connections to be sure it's not just something that has vibrated loose on you.

Good luck

P.S. don't forget to check kill switch and ignition switch.

Again,
Good luck.
 
Last edited:
I went over all connections today. Everything looked good. Checked all grounds with meter. I did run into something I don’t believe is good but maybe someone can jump in with advice. I pulled the cam gear off and it seems the magnet is very week. It will not hold onto a #2 screwdriver. Is this normal? I am able to get it to hold a smaller one but falls off with just the slightest movement. Thanks for any and all help.
 
Well, I don't know. Maybe hondadude does...are you watching Mike?

You make a valid observation though. Permanent magnets do lose their "oomph" over time and, just as a guess, I would agree that it should be stronger than what you've observed. I do know that many lawn mower engines I've worked on have pretty strong magnets on their magnetos. Much stronger than holding a #2 Phillips.

But, with a pulsar rotor going for $110 +shipping on boats.net, it would be an expensive guess if it turns out that a new one is the same as your old one.

One other thought on the subject is that I seem to recall that dropping or hitting a permanent magnet can weaken it's strength. So, if there is any sign of the magnet making contact with something ie: coil core...that might be an explanation.
 
I do also believe it should be stronger but I am getting 1v and if that is in spec for pulser coil I can skip that thought. I just don’t know what output should be. If the 1v is fine I suspect a bad CDI. Also my exciter is putting out 115v.
 
CDI would be an even more expensive guess at $349 and change.
Is the outboard electric start? If so, I have an idea about testing the ignition pulse. If it's pull start only, it gets a little complicated.

The shop manual for most Hondas has a test chart for pass/fail on the CDI but you should only use the "official" one to do this. Also, most people's eyes cross and they close the book as soon as they see the chart. Yes, it's that complicated. Well, not really, but it is intimidating. You have to take accurate notes as you go so as not to get lost.
 
Ok,

Have you checked the resistance values for the ignition coil(s)? I don't see it listed so do that if you haven't already.

I'm hoping you have a fairly high quality, digital, multimeter. Other than that, I can only imagine that an ac lamp of some kind might work too. But I'm doing a lot of speculating here.

If the ignition coil values are good then set your meter to AC VOLTS. If your meter has a bar graph, it may be more useful to watch that instead of the numerical readout in this case. Hook one lead to the ignition coil NEGATIVE terminal and the other to a reliable ground on the engine block.

Crank the engine and observe the meter. What I THINK you should see is the volts rhythmically pulsing high to low. If that's the case I THINK the pulsar and CDI are working properly.

If the volts increase and remain steady, then the problem is PROBABLY with the CDI or pulsar and you're pretty much back to square 1 with this investigation.

I capitalized "I THINK" and "PROBABLY" because I'm not 100% sure of the validity of this test. The only manual I have is for a 20hp and it only has the complicated chart for checking the CDI. And, the pulsar coil isn't even mentioned in the troubleshooting section.

So, let's try this and see what you find.
 
I’m using a fluke 87 multimeter. I will test everything I can and post again in the next couple days. Thanks for the help.
 
Fluke 87=very high quality. Now let's hope it's fast enough! Otherwise an Oscope might be needed. Don't happen to have one of those do You?

Anyway, I am standing by.

Good luck
 
Not to butt in......but if it completely lost spark while running, it is probably a common component like the exciter, cdi, pulser or grounding.

You measured 115v on the exciter. I do not think that the meter you are using has a peak volt meter ability. So, it is probably reading rms voltage. Theoretically, 115v rms is 115 x 1.414 = 162.61 v peak. That voltage should be good.

Same for the pulsar. 1 v x 1.414. is 1.414 v peak. I can not remember exactly what I have seen before, but this sounds pretty good. The manual does not provide voltages....but that voltage should also be good.

During your testing for spark, disconnect the black/red lead in the connecting block that sits over top of the cdi unit. It is the kill switch lead.

The spark should jump about 3/8" gap.

It sounds like you have good input to the cdi....a grounded black/red lead will kill spark.

One the output of the cdi, all of the grounds of the coils come together at one ground point. Make sure that is a good ground and that it is common to the ground wire coming from the cdi unit.

I am assuming that you measured the voltages with everything disconnected.....try connecting everything, as it should, and take measurements again. Sometimes, a faulty cdi can load down the output of the pulsar to the point of it being too low.

Also measure the output of the cdi unit to each coil across the terminals of each of the coils.

As for the magnets in the cam pulley, I do not know how strong they are. It would seem odd that the magnets would quit functioning properly at one time.

Unfortunately, sometimes these types of problems require substituting a known good cdi.

Since you don't have access to one like I sometimes do, going through the matrix ohms test might tell you something. I have never successfully made it through an entire matrix without either getting frustrated or falling asleep. It may or may not tell you anything.

Mike
 
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Ignition coil resistance .5 To positive and neg. 13.4 coil wire to positive or meg[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]
Pulser resistance 328 .995-1v[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]
Exciter resistance 198.8 ohms 114.2v

my meter is RMS meter correct.

I have triple checked the grounds that come together for coils all good.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
I have checked the black/red kill switch wire and test good. Have also tried it unplugged.

when I try to test the wires out of cdi to coil I get nothing. Coil 2 did show a quick reading of .024 but back to 0 and no readout again after.

sucks but I think I’m at the point of pulling the trigger on cdi. I hate the electronic side of this but think I have done all I can.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[/FONT]
 
Back
Top