Friend's 1986 Force 50 won't run

[Ron V]

Wondering if anyone can help figure it out. It ran in the driveway, he took it to the lake, put it in, and it wouldn't fart. I went to the dock and checked it, had no spark. His friend who is a mechanic looked at it and said it was the stator. He came back to me wanting me to look at it. I told him I'm a dumbass when it comes to CD ignitions, but for some reason he'd still rather have me look at it. So, here it is:

No spark at all on either cylinder.

Cherry switch seems to test good, 0 ohms when the switch is pressed, infinity when you let it go. Tried bypassing it and it still didn't start.

Nothing on the upper terminal board (the one with the green, orange, and blue wires) has juice when cranking. But both of the green/yellow wires coming out of the stator have about 5 volts where they connect to the rectifier when it is cranking.

I pulled the flywheel to see if anything was obviously amiss, took the stator and timer base off, made sure the contact points were clean, put it back together, no dice.

Battery is good, 12.5 volts, pulls down to about 10.5 when cranking. Tried pulling it with a rope, still no spark.

I wouldn't think that both power packs could go bad instantly at the same time, could they?? Especially if it wasn't running? I could see them both getting blown if it had a bad rectifier but not the way he described it. It was running, he shut it off, drove to the lake, and it wouldn't run.

I'm thinking of bypassing the kill switch next. Also checking the key switch. Any other thoughts on how to isolate it?

:confused:

[Forkin' Crazy]

Does it have a cannon type plug so you can disconnect the motor from wiring harness and control box? If so, disconnect and either pull it or jump the solenoid and check your spark.

[Ron V]

Paul, nope. Force really saved a lot of money by not putting a harness plug. Every wire hooks up individually. But you can still disconnect them all I guess. :rolleyes:

[Ron V]

No spark with the harness disconnected and pulling it with the rope.

Key switch checks out okay, kill switch seems okay.

Checked the harness on the motor end, the light blue "magneto" wire doesn't move the ohmeter when you turn the key, but the white one does. This is not the case on the motor end.

I hate electronics.

[blazer200]

the best thing to do with an old force is tie a rope to it and use it for an anchor

[Ron V]

Blazer, yep, I agree. Book value on the motor is $160 - $195 and it needs at least $200 in parts to make it run. I know the waterpump is trashed because he said he ran it "for just a short time" with no hose the other day before taking it to the lake, where it wouldn't start. So then he wants to try to find another motor instead of fixing this one. I'm about ready to hang my 150 Merc on it and point him due east out of Waukegan Harbor......except I'd want my motor back.