Ladyintheradiator
New member
Long story short, I purchased a secondhand 3.5hp 4 stroke a few weeks ago, obviously ran it with the owner whilst viewing it before handing over cash.
Had it out on its first proper run and about 10 minutes in it cuts out and I can't get it restarted, have ruled out fuel / carb issue (see long story long below). Moved on to testing spark and its got nothing. Tested the coil with a multimeter as per the Mercury service manual, primary resistance is normal but the secondary resistance reading is below 50 ohms and steadily climbs whilst taking reading... So seems like its trash as spec is for ~10 to 15k ohms.
So, my question is this: why can I get a new aftermarket igniter/coil for a 4hp Yamaha for peanuts (relatively speaking), but for this thing, it's like they're made of spun gold? Could you feasibly use an igniter from a Yamaha as mentioned above as long as you can get it to fit and get the gap with the flywheel within tolerance?
After shopping around online for replacements and reading around online, it seems like this is maybe a weak point for these outboards?
Very few stocked online and where they are the price is nuts, perhaps most have been snatched up and the prices have inflated... but still.
I'm guessing the sealed nature of this thing means its not repairable either...
Any thoughts from those more experienced much appreciated before I set fire to the whole lot (only joking... mostly...)
The "Long Story Long" Bit (Probably Best Skipped Unless You're Bored):
When testing it with the previous owner, it seemed to run sweet, bogged down a little under throttle but he hadn't used it all winter, we both agreed the carb probably needed a clean and I went on my merry way with an outboard under my arm.
I stripped the carb, couple of crumbs in there but nothing too bad, drained the tank, aha! Quite the milkshake, guess that's why it wasn't running at its best.
Sure enough, fresh fuel and cleaned out carb, started second pull and idled and ran very nice. Went for a spin out the harbour and after 10 minutes it cuts out cold and won't restart.
Damn, I figure I haven't cleaned out the tank properly and somethings gummed up the carb again.... So back home, strip it down, clean as whistle... Blow out all the jets again anyway, double check the tank, all good there... So move on to checking spark, maybe the plug is bad... no spark. Replace the plug, still no spark. So download the service manual and.... story continue above...
Had it out on its first proper run and about 10 minutes in it cuts out and I can't get it restarted, have ruled out fuel / carb issue (see long story long below). Moved on to testing spark and its got nothing. Tested the coil with a multimeter as per the Mercury service manual, primary resistance is normal but the secondary resistance reading is below 50 ohms and steadily climbs whilst taking reading... So seems like its trash as spec is for ~10 to 15k ohms.
So, my question is this: why can I get a new aftermarket igniter/coil for a 4hp Yamaha for peanuts (relatively speaking), but for this thing, it's like they're made of spun gold? Could you feasibly use an igniter from a Yamaha as mentioned above as long as you can get it to fit and get the gap with the flywheel within tolerance?
After shopping around online for replacements and reading around online, it seems like this is maybe a weak point for these outboards?
Very few stocked online and where they are the price is nuts, perhaps most have been snatched up and the prices have inflated... but still.
I'm guessing the sealed nature of this thing means its not repairable either...
Any thoughts from those more experienced much appreciated before I set fire to the whole lot (only joking... mostly...)
The "Long Story Long" Bit (Probably Best Skipped Unless You're Bored):
When testing it with the previous owner, it seemed to run sweet, bogged down a little under throttle but he hadn't used it all winter, we both agreed the carb probably needed a clean and I went on my merry way with an outboard under my arm.
I stripped the carb, couple of crumbs in there but nothing too bad, drained the tank, aha! Quite the milkshake, guess that's why it wasn't running at its best.
Sure enough, fresh fuel and cleaned out carb, started second pull and idled and ran very nice. Went for a spin out the harbour and after 10 minutes it cuts out cold and won't restart.
Damn, I figure I haven't cleaned out the tank properly and somethings gummed up the carb again.... So back home, strip it down, clean as whistle... Blow out all the jets again anyway, double check the tank, all good there... So move on to checking spark, maybe the plug is bad... no spark. Replace the plug, still no spark. So download the service manual and.... story continue above...
