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1966 Mercury 500 Outboard Won’t Fire

W

weasel21f

New member
Four cylinder 2 Stroke. Turns over but won’t fire. Has spark and good compression. I inherited this boat and it has been sitting indoors for roughly twenty years. I really don’t know much about outboards so I’m just seeing where I should start to look for getting this thing going. It’s very clean and in good shape. Someone told me to maybe replace the points. Thanks in advance!
 
Remove bottom half of the magneto.-----Just 4 wee bolts.-----Can not be reassembled wrong.---clean points and set at 0.010". ---Try starting it again.
 
First of all, don't try to start it before replacing the impeller or it will throw vanes and plug up the works.

Most people remove the entire distributor assembly t work on it, not just the cover. Kinda hard to work on upside down.

Jeff
 
Thank you guys for the info. Do I need to remove the flywheel to get to the distributor on this model? I do not have a manual for this motor. Thanks
 
?---About the middle of the distributor you will find the wee bolts to remove the bottom half of the distributor.----Not just the cap.-----Then it is easy to work on it on your work bench.----Spin the distributor and test for strong spark before you install it again.----No need to remove the flywheel and no need to worry about the timing changing during this work !!
 
racerone said:
?---About the middle of the distributor you will find the wee bolts to remove the bottom half of the distributor.----Not just the cap.-----Then it is easy to work on it on your work bench.----Spin the distributor and test for strong spark before you install it again.----No need to remove the flywheel and no need to worry about the timing changing during this work !!
Click to expand...

Thanks mate. Total newb here trying to figure out an outboard.
 
racerone said:
?---About the middle of the distributor you will find the wee bolts to remove the bottom half of the distributor.----Not just the cap.-----Then it is easy to work on it on your work bench.----Spin the distributor and test for strong spark before you install it again.----No need to remove the flywheel and no need to worry about the timing changing during this work !!
Click to expand...

I’m finally getting around to this after some health issues. I’m assuming the bolts you are talking about are the 3/8” bolts above the blue line I drew? And if so how do you get the two on the other side off? Can’t really get a wrench in there even after turning the distributor . Picture below. Thanks in advance!

jv63p2.jpg
 
With a "Crazy Carl" wrench! (I have bunch of old open ends ground down so I can sneak in to places like that.) Remove the throttle linkage and the cam atop the carb and you can rotate the distributor far more for access.

Jeff
 
fastjeff said:
With a "Crazy Carl" wrench! (I have bunch of old open ends ground down so I can sneak in to places like that.) Remove the throttle linkage and the cam atop the carb and you can rotate the distributor far more for access.

Jeff
Click to expand...

So I got the into the distributor, replaced and set the points and it still won’t fire. Any other suggestions? Have spark and good compression.
 
Is the belt timing correct ?----Does spark jump a gap of 5/16" , yes or no ?----Does it fire at all with ONE shot of quick start in each carburetor ?
 
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