newbie to four stroke outboards, need help

[olymonP26]

I know this sounds kind of stupid to ask this question this late in the ****, but do I need to have a battery hooked up to this thing to make it run right?? Like I said before, I'm coming form the older two stroke snowmobile motor world of thinking. no battery needed to make it run right.

I'm going to try and check the resistances on the motor using the cdi resistance chart in the manual I down loaded. They have different resistances listed for the + and - sides of the cdi. Ok, another newbie question. how do I tell what side is the + and the - for testing. From the chart it looks like I could hash out what side is which just by the resistance values but it might be nice to know ahead of time. Resistances with the parts unplugged?

Again, thanks for any help anybody can shine on the dim bulb I feel like while working on this thing.

[rodbolt17]

its a dirt simple motor.
the CDI controls ign timing.
if it sparks and advances timing,its good.

splatter gunning works well hunting dove and ducks,not so good for testing.

[olymonP26]

yeah, that's the bad part. I know it should be a simple motor and an easy one to diagnose and fix. Pretty bad considering how many 2 stroke motors I have rebuilt from the ground up

Geez, you think a basic little motor like this wouldn't be a pain. I guess working on it for only 15 minutes at a time during break might be part of my problem, no time to dedicate towards it.

[rodbolt17]

dirt simple waste spark ign system just like many small two strokes.

1 pulser coil,1 charge coil, two spark plug caps with resistors.

tiny fuel passages.