Any Outboard Techs Out There? (Mercruiser Question)

[fleming442]

My neighbor just bought a 2005 Merc 60/40hp Jet Drive (2 stroke, 3cyl, carb'ed). It was running pretty good, but developed a miss in the center cylinder. Switching the coils around resulted in no change, and the plug is fuel fouled. So, it's obviously not getting spark. He tried changing the stator to the one off his prop drive (also a 2005, 60hp, 3cyl, 2 stroke), but it wouldn't fire and the stator part numbers are different.
I'm not finding much online in the way of free FSM downloads, and sweet Jesus, there must be 8 billion different models out there. The engine model # is: 1060372DD with serial #: 1B195073 if that is needed. Thanks in advance, and any help is appreciated.

 

[Bitterman]

Have you verified that the center spark plug is good. It may just need a new spark plug.

 

[fleming442]

I measured the resistance with a DVOM, and it's not open. But, I did not compare it to one of the known good ones. He did switch the plugs when he tried switching the coils, too- no change.

 

[olds307 and 403]

This is why I will never buy a carbed boat again. They always end up with issues. My BIL is a mechanic and worked on many boats, most end up with issues with carbs. He said is there suck thing as a good running boat? Plus many are multi carbed even uglier. He bought a brand new boat. First time out he had the carb apart after it died! He made them put on a water/fuel separator. That and non ethanol fuel help a lot. I had a ton of grief with my 50 hp Merc single carb, cylinder 2 stroke. After burning out the starter, I realized the head gasket was seeping water and killing motor as soon as I put a load on it. Did I mention I hate 2 strokes as well. They all run terrible or blow up. I can hardly wait to get a new 4 stroke EFI lightweight fishing boat to pull behind the Challenger.

 

[Bonnewagon]

I have been pretty lucky with my outboards and I have been fooling with them for over 40 years. I stick with JohnnyRudes and I always try to get the shop manual for my particular model. I dislike Mercury the same way I dislike Ford. Un-necessarilly complicated. If you pulled the spark plug wire for each cylinder and held it close to ground did it spark? Since switching coils around did not help did you check all the wires to the suspect coil? If all checks out then I would suspect the Power Pack. That is a solid state component and the only good test is to replace with a known good one and they are pretty expensive. There could also be a bad stator coil but you would need the specs to measure output from each cylinder's coil and there is usually a separate coil for each cylinder. There are also coils for charging the battery so be sure to test the correct one. This is where a shop manual is critical to get the wiring color codes.

 

[fleming442]

Yup, that's kinda where we at, Mark, thanks.

 

[Bonnewagon]

When I bought my Whaler it came with a 60hp Mercury that did not run. Even after buying the manual I could not get it to fire so I just sold it on Craigslist. A guy fluent in Mercury bought it and was super happy that I provided the manual. Before buying expensive parts I would track down a manual and Ebay is where I get mine usually. Hey Fleming if you think cars are hard outboards are their own brand of mysterious until you educate yourself about them.

 

[fleming442]

My brother is a pretty good hacker, so I'm trying to get a free one first; we'll see. I did find Seloc manuals for about $30; they look to be like a Chilton or Haynes for boats....

 

[Bonnewagon]

Chilton or Haynes for boats

Yes, and they leave you wanting more. They are especially bad at wiring diagrams. I remember the Mercury factory manual was very thorough. Even a CD version is better than the Seloc. But just as long as you can find the wiring codes you will be OK. Be glad it is not one of the newer computerized versions like E-Tec. They are dealer serviced only and VERY expensive to fix.

 

[Bitterman]

Have you done a compression check on the engine? You said it developed a mis. Any other symptoms you can recall besides the mis prior to this?