Electrical fault

[Brent]

I have a Fletcher arrowflight with a 50hp Mercury. Last year the rectifier packed in, tell, tell signs the rev counter stopped working. New rectifier solved problem for a while. Now the rev counter works intermittently, fiddling with the wires makes it work briefly. Checked for damp/dry joints can't find any and now the engine at speed periodically miss fires. Before I take it somewhere for repair can someone shine a light on the problem and save me some money.

 

[jfm]

Re: some ideas

This is hard to guess without seeing the engine. Can you confirm which year it is (or else state the serial#) as it makes a difference whether the ignition has a distributor or not.

1. Assuming it's post-1975 ish and distributor-less, maybe check if the ign coils have lost their ground connection. This is a common prob becuase the grounding is done by just clamping a wire tail against an aluminium plate and it can corrode. Remove the coils at their mounting nuts and clean them and refit.
2. Also check the stop circuitry, this grounds the low voltage side of the ignition colis to stop the engine. The circuit runs through to the control box if you have a stop switch there. Check this is not temporarily earthing (and cutting the ignition, causing misfire) anywhere in the circuit



JFM

 

[Brent]

Re: some ideas

Thanks very much for your assistance I will have a look at these area's.
The year of manufacture is 1991/2 and s/n 09685497, if this helps to add
fault finding tip's to the list, again I'm very grateful.