On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:22:28 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

I have an older Merc outboard that has always been fairly reliable but
went to start it the other day and it appears to have no spark. I've
checked the kill switch circuit and it appears to be OK. It has an
electronic ignition module on the side of the block which gets two
inputs from the vicinity of the flywheel and sends its output to the
coils next to the sparkplug wires.

Anybody have an idea how to troubleshoot it from here ?

Well, disconnect the kill switch, keep it isolated from the block so
it can't make a connection and try it.

Other than checking the coil's ground, that's about it for me. Altough
I might try to find the trigger lead and see if you are getting a
firing pulse to the coil.

Unlikely to be the stator though - those don't usually go bad even on
older machines - they just don't generate enough electricity to become
unmagnetised. I'd suspect the coil myself.