Need some input our help of you can.

I've had this motor for years. Recently replaced plugs, then before Christmas, took it out fishing with my son, and noticed steam coming out instead of water on the water outlet, but only on idle. Shut 'er down. Let her cool off while we fished on the troller.

Later, after several hours of catching some big fish, I fired her back up, ran the quick run to the ramp, and put her on the trailer. Replaced the impeller the next weekend. Fired her of in the driveway, and no problems.

Fast forward... took of during Christmas, when I got back I had a hunting deal on the coast to attend. Worked on sine wiring on the boat, then took it down to run her before heading south. When I got her in the water, she was similar... cold natured old bag!!! But she fired once, then again. Then nothing.

Ok... I've tried WD-40, starter fluid, and can cleaner. Still not trying. I checked spark, abs I'm getting it at the plug wires, but not sure if the spark is got enough.

Is there a way to test spark temp/voltage? And is there anything else I might be missing? Fit air, have spark, injected fuel... those are the three I know. But thinking the ignition system may have something else wrong.

If anyone has experience with these engines, and knows of common problems, please let me know.

My son would really like to hit the lake this weekend.

What wiring did you work on? Maybe pulled the kill wire by chance?

Or blew a fuse while "wiring"

Was running new bilge pumps, and rerouting lights ahs things to new panel. I was no where near the safety switch, and all accessories were working. Plus, on this old setup, the ignition key and wiring is on a completely different route path than the feed wires for the accessories and lights. But thank you. Appreciate the brain storming.

Also, that would not explain why it started twice and then never again.

I am curious on this engine... If the safety switch is bad, wouldn't I not get any spark to the plugs?

On my wife's boat, and the way I wire my safety kills in my jeeps, it shuts down power to the ignition coil, so no spark to the coil, so no spark to the plug wires, and the plugs.

I got a motor like this. Had stator go out. No warning no nothing. It just wouldn't fire when cranking. I have a shop service manual for this engine.I worked on a few others like this to. If it is the stator the replacement is Made by CDI Electronics. They give the part number you will need. But even on ebay there still about 300.00
Last thing is the control box might be bad.

What indications does it give? And how can I test that before dropping the coin on it?

I know my rectifier to charge the battery is out. But I found out it doesn't provide a lot of output anyway, so I just charge my cranking battery after I get home along with the trolling batteries.

you need a spark tester that has a gap so you can hook it to the plug wire and turn the motor over. then you can see the spark. the 140 has a distributor and the stator has nothing to do with ignition spark. You can put a spark tester in the number one plug wire and turn the motor by hand with the key on. When the timing mark gets close the the number one cylinder on the timing scale you should get a spark. It will be a strong spark that will jump a half inch gap. Make sure you have 12 volts to the red wire on the starboard side of the switch box and 12 volt to the white wire on the same side when the key is turned on. You should be able to get all six wires to spark with the key on and turning the motor by hand as this motor has a timing belt and flywheel speed has nothing to do with it. Good luck.

I did the same thing with my battery. Test the distributor and also in that distributor there is a black piece of carbon on a spring that produces the spark to metal tabs on the inside of the disrtibutor cap instead of a rotor. If no fire check the carbon piece. Then check to make sure you the power at the control box like Black Max said. The last thing is if you dont have power I have had issues where the key switch inside the black control box was bad because the wires corroded where they were soldered on.
I have wired the motors from scratch with new key switch and controls for motor including gauges.
there a simple motor with not a lot of wires so trouble shooting it will be easy once you have the time.
if you want to use my service manual you can. Or we can set up a time and you can bring the boat over to my house and I can help you. I live about 5 minutes south of 380 in in Aleo part of Collin County. I have plenty of room.

1 other thing.
go to www.maxrules.com
this guy is a older motor master mechanic and guro. He has all kinds of stuff on his website and wiring digrams allso.

Thanks for the offer Titanium Back. I may take you up on that.
I was getting spark to the plug, but it would not fire. I'm heading out shortly to buy a compression gauge. I left my at my dads, and I could use a new one. So I'll plan to pick up the spark tester too.

But, I was getting spark to the plug wires, but I'm thinking it was not hot enough. Or I have a compression issue. Although, it has been running fine, and fired right up after replacing the impeller.

We'll, she's back up and running. Did a compression test, and I'm between 55-65 on each cylinder except one that is at 50. Not sure what it's suppose to be, but after spraying some oil in the cylinder, it didn't change. So maybe it's just weak.

We tested spark through each plug and wire, then sprayed brake cleaner down each cylinder to try to clean the oil off the pistons, and then blew it out, installed plugs, and she fired right up with nothing injected down the carbs. Got her up to temp, let her run a while, and she stayed with it. Throttled around, and no issues.

I guess the next test is to take her to the water and see if I have the same issues. I read somewhere that on the muffs, it will run, but submerged, it may not. And if not, then there is a different issue.