65hpMercury not firing

[biker60]

I have a 65 Mercury ser#345676

I have a 65 Mercury ser#3456766 not sure of the year but its not firing on any of the 3 cylinders I just bought the boat and know nothing about it. HELP!!

 

[fastjeff]

"If it has a distributor, the

"If it has a distributor, the spark box is shot or the optical sensor inside the distributor is whipped. Look for used items on eBay--very common.

Jeff"

 

[biker60]

thanks for the help do you kno

thanks for the help do you know what year it would be?

 

[fastjeff]

"By my chart, a 72 or 73.

J

"By my chart, a 72 or 73.

Jeff"

 

[biker60]

would that be the switch box?

would that be the switch box?

 

[runabout650]

don i have the same motor and

don i have the same motor and mine is nothing but trouble does the same thing i have replaced the coil distributor and switch box each atleast 4 times sometimes it sparks only when the starter is spinning sometimes not at all i'm about to give up on mine i've already spent close to $900 trying to figure out what is wrong with it the marinas around here can't figure it out either all my parts test out ok so if you figure anything out on yours let me know i've even replaced the ignition switch and nuetral switch in mine

 

[fastjeff]

"Boy, am I glad I made a home

"Boy, am I glad I made a home made distributor for mine! My buddy did most of the machine work to make a SB Chevy marine distributor work on my 74 Merc 650. I modified an old Chevy 6 distributor cap and used a hex nut (with three flats removed) as a points cam. A NAPA coil completes the weird but effective arrangement. Not only does it work great, the entire ignition system can be replaced for under 150 bucks!

Of course, that does nothing for your problem. All I can suggest is more used parts--I see them on eBay now and then--going the way I went, or scrapping the motor.

Jeff

"