I have to agree with Tired Old Man on the auto sensor arrangement. It was a gimmic. It appears on the outside to clean up the engine and therefore, gives the illusion of being better. Let me explain my point. I am in the marine repair industry. Have been since the late sixties. When outboards left the old points and cond. ignition, they went into various kinds or electronic. They finally settled in on basically the same igniton as the CH mechanical timing. Various ways of sensing when to spark, but the same. They All still use the same method of advancing the timing. A mechanical arm advances the timmer base ( the ring under the flywheel that holds the pickup sensor/sensors). If those guys, and I mean all makes, thougth it was a good idea for all those years, then Im pretty sure its about the best thing out there. Now, I think some of the PWC's use an auto advance and they seem to have prolems all the time. I wont even work on them anymore.

Now, Tired Old Man, you say you have dealt with thousands of CH and CH type ignitions, well, so have I And, I have had several CH ignition equipted engines, Walker 4.2, Walker 2.4, Brison 4.2 and a Brison 3.2 All had mechanical advance. The first Walker 4.2 I had did what I explained before about the magnet coming loose because it was pointing outward and the glue let loose and flung the magnet out into the timing ring which rung off all the wires from the sensor and wraped them around the engine This was on the second flight of a new engine. I sent it back and they send me a new engine with the magnet and timing ring changed to like I explained in an earlier post. No more problems. I have changed 2 hall effect sensors on the other engines over the years.

Now, one more note. Mercury Marine had an issue with one of their designs on a "trigger" the sensor that picked up the firing pulse. The circuitry that controlled it was prone to fail and when it did, it would let the timing run away on top end and detonate #3 piston. Melt the top right off the piston. That is my main concern with auto timing. Do they have a redundant system built in to keep this from happening? I dont know. I would think so, but when its automatic, how do you know what the module is thinking

I prefer to use mechanical myself. I thought of changing over, but as long as it works, I think Ill just keep it as it is until Im forced to change.

Thats my manifesto for today LOL

WBG