What causes erratic spark?
Loss of spark is caused by anything that prevents coil voltage from jumping the electrode gap at the end of the spark plug. This includes worn, fouled or damaged spark plugs, bad plug wires or a cracked distributor cap.
What are the symptoms of a bad stator on an outboard?
The engine will lose spark on one or all of those cylinders. Making the engine run very poorly. This is why you can have a bad stator, but the engine will still run, just very poorly.
How do I test my spark strength?
The proper method to check for spark is with a spark tester. It resembles a spark plug but has a sunken center electrode that simulates a load on the coil. Holding the plug wire and seeing if a spark jumps to ground is inconclusive. The spark is arcing in atmospheric pressure.
What are the signs of a bad stator?
The most obvious symptoms of a bad motorcycle stator include no spark, weak spark, or intermittent spark (also known as misfiring). Hard starts and a poorly running engine can also be clues that your stator needs to be rebuilt or replaced.
How do I know if my stator is bad?
Insert each probe into a stator socket. You should read around 0.2 to 0.5 ohms. If you show an open circuit with the “Open” or infinity reading or have higher resistance, then the stator is bad and you must replace it. If these tests all produce positive results, then the stator itself is good.
How to diagnose no spark or weak spark?
Diagnosing no spark, weak spark or intermittent spark issues First is separating the issue between switches or the primary ignition components like the stator, cdi, coils, trigger coil or possibly plugs or plug wires or plug caps.
What causes a no spark condition open loop?
If after unplugging the 4-plug connector there is no spark or the spark still looks weak, this tells you that the problem is in the major ignition components like the stator, coils, cdi, spark plugs, spark plug wires, possibly a short in the wiring harness, a bad trigger coil or on EFI models your Injector Coils are bad (they measure 19-20ohms).
Why does my sportsman 500 have no spark?
I picked up this 2000 sportsman 500 that had an overcharge issue. It pretty much smoked the electronics. The speedo is burnt up. I was getting a no spark issue. I changed the stator/pulse coil all in one. Changed the voltage regulator, coil, coil wire, coil wire end that plugs onto the spark plug.
Can a spark plug make a motor run poorly?
Spark plugs with the gap set too small on them can make the motor run poorly. If you have no spark and your trigger tests ok, your stator tests ok and you have tried a new set of coils then we’re possibly looking at a bad CDI box. There is no real good way to test the CDI other than swapping the box out with a known good CDI box.