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Honda 15

Not necessarily. It could be any number of things. The KILL SWITCH suppresses the ignition to stop the engine. If it's activated or shorted, no spark.

There is a coil under the flywheel that powers the ignition. If it goes bad, no spark. Or it could be a broken wire....an unplugged wire or a loose connection in an ignition wire.

Or, it could be the CDI (or powerpack as you say) or the ignition coil itself.

So, you can see that some testing needs to be done to diagnose no spark.

Do you have a wiring diagram or shop manual? Digital multimeter?
 
jgmo said:
Not necessarily. It could be any number of things. The KILL SWITCH suppresses the ignition to stop the engine. If it's activated or shorted, no spark.

There is a coil under the flywheel that powers the ignition. If it goes bad, no spark. Or it could be a broken wire....an unplugged wire or a loose connection in an ignition wire.

Or, it could be the CDI (or powerpack as you say) or the ignition coil itself.

So, you can see that some testing needs to be done to diagnose no spark.

Do you have a wiring diagram or shop manual? Digital multimeter?
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Yes, I have a multimeter. First, let me tell you what happened, took it out for the first time Friday, started second pull, worked fine for an hour, then I stopped to talk to another boater,then I went to leave, on the first pull, it made an offer, but that was it, not a kick after that. I looked at the kill switch, it's a sealed, round, canister type with a very small hole in it, how can I actually check it?
 
See if you can find where the switch plugs into the wiring harness. Should be in the tiller handle. Unplug and see if the engine fires. But, remember, with the switch unplugged, you won't be able to shut it off until it's plugged back in. Sp think that through and make sure you have water going to the pump so that it doesn't burn up.

Sorry, but I should have asked what year your outboard is.
 
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Actually, I just looked up the test in the book. You can unplug it and use your Ohmmeter to check the switch. I'm afraid my test might be backward.

With the emergency clip installed....there should be NO CONTINUITY.

With clip disengaged.......there should be continuity

With clip engaged and button pushed.......there should be continuity.
 
Well, there's 2 wires coming out of the kill switch, and a place where they're connected, so I pulled them out so they weren't connected anymore, then I tried starting it, but WITH the clipped still engaged, still no go.
 
Well, that's older than the ones my manual covers but I think the stop/kill circuits are the same.
Try testing it with your Ohmmeter as I posted earlier just to make sure. When that's eliminated as a possible cause we can move on and try testing the coils. Through process of elimination, we should arrive at a logical cause for it not firing.

Do you happen to have an automotive timing light? If not, I think you might be able to borrow one from AutoZone.

After you ohm test the switch, try this:
Unplug the CDI and spray the sockets and pins inside the connector halves with electrical contact cleaner. Look VERY CLOSELY at the sockets for signs of spreading open and look at the pins to make sure they aren't bent or deformed in any way. These outboards vibrate quite a bit and the connections can get sloppy.

Plug it back in and see if it starts. If not, we move on to the next thing.
 
Well, I think I found the problem, I took the plugs out and tried a spare plug I had for another motor I have, lots of fire on both caps, so, it seems both plugs went at the same time, I don't know about you, but I have never heard of that before, but I guess anything is possible. So, tomorrow, I'll get 2 new plugs, and hopefully it's nothing internal, again, thank you so much for your help, and good luck from Nova Scotia Canada, all the best
 
Yes, that is probably highly unsual and, you're right, I've never seen that happen, but I imagine that it does happen more often than either of us could guess.

Anyway, I hope two new plugs takes care of for you and that you have no more problems.

Others here are watching, I'm sure, so please let us know how it works out..
 
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