Any people with outboard knowledge here?

I have a 35 evinrude that seems to have weak spark and honestly, I am lost on it. Every time I decide what is wrong with it, I change my mind. I have spark on both cyls, but it is obviously weak. My testing problems come in because I do not know what year it truly is. I believe it was originally a remote steer and the base was changed out to gain the tiller handle. If this is the case, the id plate on the mount would be giving me the wrong info. I could be wrong here though, but the id tag makes this engine a 76 and I blieve it is about 10 years newer than that. Is there any other id tag on the power head somewhere?
I admit to not being very proficient in outboards and any help with troubleshooting this thing would be appreciated.

Edited:
Id tag says 76, cowling is 81, and only cross reference # I can find for the numbers on the cdi are for a 88 model 15hp (but I know it ran for years with this cdi on it). It has what I have seen on the web referred to as a late 80s stator just as shown in this ebay link : http://www.ebay.com/itm/30-35-hp-jo...em=170831299837&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&vxp=mtr
My dad bought it about 6-7 years ago from some guy that worked on outboards and obviously it is a hodge podge of what he had laying around.

Update #2: Thanks to a member here, from the best I can tell the powerhead is indeed an 81. Also, I am leaning toward the stator being the culprit, but am finding a couple of different listings for the stator with $200+ swing in price.
Can someone tell me in laymans terms how to truly test the stator so I am not just throwing expensive parts at it. The good news is from what I can tell, it has the cheap stator on it.

Try this site, Bassboatcentral.com. They have mechanics that answer questions and how to fix it advice.
http://www.bbcboards.net/evinrude-johnson-motors/

Yup. BBC is a good one.

Fastbass is another if you're interested in meeting local boat people. Lots of LA guys there.

Edited again, still researching and troubleshooting it! Any help/ input is appreciated.

mytfal works on outboards

Have you tested the resistance of your stator leads? Weak spark is indicative of several problems but I would check the stator first and foremost. I just recently replaced the stator in my outboard, though not as old as yours.

Many years ago, I inhereted an 85hp Evenrude (in the same date range). I had similar issues. The culprit was the engine's rectifier.

I ordered a stator and timer base for it last night.
Another kink in the flow is it has the stator and such from a manual crank motor on it, so I had to cross reference the part numbers instead of using the motor model to order parts.

edman87k5 said:

I ordered a stator and timer base for it last night.
Another kink in the flow is it has the stator and such from a manual crank motor on it, so I had to cross reference the part numbers instead of using the motor model to order parts.

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So you checked your ohm readings on the stator wiring? What was your measured value and what was it supposed to be?

Stator and timer base ohmed withing spec, but stator is not putting out power from my test.
My thought is to change the stator and timer base and hopefully not have to pull the flywheel off again. Only thing left is power pack and coils.

Evinrude's and Johnson's are notorious for the spark coils going bad. We had to replace them on our old 76 Johnson every year or two. It would start having trouble cranking, sounding weak when turning over, and we knew it was time for new coils.

edman87k5 said:

Stator and timer base ohmed withing spec, but stator is not putting out power from my test.

Click to expand...

Cochise said:

Evinrude's and Johnson's are notorious for the spark coils going bad.

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Did you test the power output with a DVA Meter? Reason being is because of what Conchise said. I can vouch that on my dad's 78 Johnson 115 we were forever replacing power packs / coils. Given the age though the stator being swapped may not be a bad investment, just hope it's the answer to the problem. Emperor makes a good point too. Sometimes a rectifier can lead to a problem with spark. On my outboard I just need to disconnect the wires that charge the battery to see if spark improves or not to determine that.

There's a troubleshooting guide for OMC outboards that might help:

http://www.outboardignition.com/page28.asp

Me too. My thought was if spark was present but weak, most probably not the power pack. Also both coils fire the same and I figured they wouldn't fail at the same rate.
I did not check with a dva, just a volt meter and only got just under 1 volt. I know it wouldn't get a proper reading without a dva, but should get more than what I got. I believ the spec with dva is around 150v.

Also, stator an timer was about $50 to the door and figured it couldn't hurt to change them. Power pack is around $80 and coils are 30. If this doesn't work, I will change the coils an power pack and HAS to work then!

Did you change the spark plugs? Does it have primary and secondary coils?