1982 Mercury 40hp wont fire

[reagle]

I have a 1982 40hp mercury outboard and it wont fire on ether. I checked compression both cylinders are at 100lbs. Spark is strong on both cylinders. Sprayed ether in both plug holes and no fire, sprayed in carb while turning over no fire not even a hiccup. The odd thing is that if I disconnect both of the plug wires from the coils, i get a dark blue spark jumping to the frame from the coils. I cant seem to figure out my problem any ideas?

 

[fastjeff]

Sheared flywheel key? All I could think of.

Jeff

 

[reagle]

Would the flywheel still turn if the key was sheared?

 

[bcbart82]

Probably not and if it did after that it would be out of time. Maybe the trigger is bad and the spark you are getting isnt timed right?