Jak wrote:
Just acqired a 1954 Evinrude 25hp outboard with no spark at the plugs.
The wiring harness hanging from the engine has 4 wires. 1) Positive
starter lead, 2) ground lead, 3) wire conecting to the choke solenoid,
4) wire connecting to a gear that has a cable attached to it that goes
up under the flywheel (either timing adjustment or linkage to the
carb).
My question is ... Do either wires 3 or 4 needs to be connected to
something to complete the circuit for the points to send current to
the plugs?
I attached starter lead to positive and ground lead to negative and
starter spins right away, but no spark.
Thanks for the help.
kj

There should be two black wires going up into the stator plate if this
is a forward control motor, one to the harness and then the other to the
vacuum cut-out switch then to the harness, or one if it is a tiller
motor, to the vacuum cut-out switch. To shut off the forward control
motor, the two are shorted to each other, on the tiller, you twist all
the way down to stop.

To run, no wires to the stator should be contacting ground.

Check points(OMC# 580148), condensers(OMC# 580321), and coils(OMC#
582995). All parts are readily available if needed. Even with new
points, at this age, the coils are probably cracked and/or leaking(HV)
pretty bad and the condensors have broken down.

Rob