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 What is a flywheel?
The flywheel on an outboard boat motor serves three general purposes. The first one is obviously to provide a way to crank and start the motor. On early model pull start applications, the purpose of the flywheel is to crank and start the motor, and also provides a balancing or damper effect on the internal rotating assembly. Without the flwheel, there would be a tremendous amount of vibration throught the length of the crankshaft and those vibrations would be detrimental to the life of the crankshaft bearings. On newer and electric start outboard boat motors however, the stator plays yet another part, in operating the ignition system. Other than starting and balancing the motor on these motors, the flywheel contains magnets on the outer and inner diameter. The outer diameter magnets are responsible for generating current as the they pass over the stator coils. This produces the juice to operate the ignition system and also charge the cranking battery. The inner diameter magnets are used to operate the trigger/timerbase. As the magents pass over the sensor coils, the trigger/timerbase sends a signal to the power pack/switchbox telling them when to release energey to each specific cylinder, hence the term "trigger". To work efficiently, these magnets must remain in good condition as far as their magnetic strength, and also be free of cracks and or movement from their original position. Some magnets are glued in, some are bolted in. If a magnet becomes dislodged or detached from the flywheel, it can cause serious damage to the stator and/or trigger/timerbase as it spins around while the motor is running.
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