Snowmobile Repair: No spark, old cats, heatgun

Question
Hi Arcticcatman
My 77, lynx 2000s has absolutly no spark.
I've got it running at a friends place, but only after heating it up with a heatgun. I got it home, replaced the pullcord and now the spark plug dosn't work.  I have replaced the spark plug with a new one.  Is there a known short if water gets in the sled, or could I have upset somthing when I replaced the pullcord.

Thanks in advance
Ian

Answer
Hello Ian,

  The name sounds familiar, I think I might have talked to you before. I get alot of questions, so I forget names, but if you're who I think you are, glad the you got the Lynx running, at least for awhile. Here is what I recommend. Remove the coil, with the plug wire and the CDI box. Clean it off and place it in your oven at 100 degrees. Leave it in there for a few mins don't let them get too hot. In the mean time, remove your handle bar cover and the throttle box cover. Spray WD-40 all over the safety switch/throttle cable sleeve. It is inside the throttle box, and has  wires coming out if it, is made of metal, and connects the throttle cable to the thumb lever. Re-install the coil and CDI, and try to start it. Another thing that can cause this is the safety sleeve which is connected to the stop switch ( it's an entire assembly) can fail. If it doesn't start, you most probably need a new coil, the seem to fail easily on old Cats. If you recently replaced the coil, I would suspect the stop switch. Hope this helps, let me know how it goes. Good luck with the Cat! --Arcticatman