"NOTE: Any engine, running on
"NOTE: Any engine, running on half of its cylinders will turn up high rpms when out of gear. This proves nothing and could be costly and dangerous. Avoid that in the future.
Spark, with the s/plugs removed, should jump a 7/16" gap with a strong blue lightning like flame.... a real SNAP! Does it?
Spark Tester - Home Made
(J. Reeves)
A spark tester can be made with a piece of 1x4 or 1x6, drive a couple nails through it, then bend the pointed ends at a right angle. You can then adjust the gap by simply twisting the nail(s). Solder a spark plug wire to one which you can connect to the spark plug boots, and a ground wire of some kind to the other to connect to the powerhead somewhere.
Using the above, one could easily build a spark tester whereas they could connect 2, 4, 6, or 8 cylinders all at one time. The ground nail being straight up, the others being bent, aimed at the ground nail. A typical 4 cylinder tester follows:
..........X1..........X2
.................X..(grd)
..........X3..........X4
Those NKG plugs..... Are they set at .040? If not, reset them.
You don't need to remove the flywheel to check the timer base for sticking.....
To check the timer base for sticking (Engine Not Running), spin the prop to align the shifter dog with forward gear and while doing so, put the engine into forward gear. Now, while watching the timer base, slowly apply throttle clear up to full throttle. The timer base should move smoothly all the way up against the black rubber cap that is atached to the end of the full advance spark setting screw. If the timer base sticks, find out why and correct that problem.
Usually any sticking of the timer base is caused by one of the four retaining clamps being slightly too tight. Putting a very thin washer under the clamp cures that problem. Some boaters use a thin screwdriver to bend the clamp upwards slightly but I prefer the thin washer. The sticking can also be caused by having a faulty stator start to melt down, resulting in a sticky substance dripping down on the timer base nylon retaining ring.
If that sticky substance is observed, dripping from the two rear large black coils, replace the stator.
http://stores.ebay.com/Evinrude-Johnson-Outboard-Parts-etc?refid=store"