power pack?

karlow1

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jun 24, 2008
Messages
161
After all of my work, I took the boat out on the water on Sat. It strated and ran OK in the morning. It even idled like a normal boat. I speen about 3 hours trolling that day. We were doing about 2 knts at about 1050 rpm (a little high). The engine stalled about a dozen or more times. It would tool along just great for a while, then it would get into a funk where it would pop or mise fire. It's diffinately through the exhust. On the water you can bearly here it. But the engine would shake, there would be a little puff of smoke and the rpm's would drop a bit. If these little hichups occure too close together it stalls. It always starts right up after it stalls. I did adjust the carbs on the water at idle. I'm not sure it helped. It's really doing much better, but I need it to troll at about 800, or 900 RPM. There were no issues with it loading up at idle. It was not quite happy or smooth. It's got great compression and should do better.

After work, when it gets a little dark, I will use the timming light to serach for missfires on the lower cylin. The last time I was only looking at the top cyln.

Also it idled a lot better on the water than I had been on the hose.

Is this a power pack problem?
How do I tell?



See some history below:

I have a 1990 40 HP tracker Johnson.
I do not know a lot about it's history but it has never ran right.
I have worked on and owned it for almost 2 months now.
It runs great at speed, but has never been willing to idle on the water.
It idle on the muffs, usually not great. The VRO was injection way too much oil at idle.
To date, I have gone through the carbs twice.
I have a manual. I have properly adjusted the carbs, synced, and checked the timing at idle.
The latest change was to delete the oil injection and go to premix. the could is gone.
Here is the issue, at idle on the muffs, it pops, when it's up to temperature it runs about 2 sec. and pops. Adjusting the carbs does not seem to effect the poping. If I use the timming light I do not see anything wrong when it pops on ether cylinder. When it pops, there is a little cloud of oil smoke and the engine slows down. This problem is being caused by the top cylinder only. If I disconnect the top plug (and ground it) it idles much better better, no poping.
You can adjust the lower carb with no problems. It seems the poping is the upper cylinder firing out of phase at idle. I do not see any other evidence of this. No stray arcs, no mis located timing light firing. On Sunday she would run at 5200RPM across the lake and die at idle. If it run on the top cylinder only she will not start, she jsut runs about 1 sec and dies.
That is a bunch of info guys, so what is wrong? I will take another look for arc in the dark. My next test will be to switch the connections on the coil to see if I can move the problem to the lower cylinder.

Update!
I tried the spray, it can make the engine run worse, but not better. I checked the connections and grounds, they look good. I swapped the coil connections. It ran the same. Here is the big clue. After I swapped the coil connections I noted it would run on the top cyln. I adjusted the carb. It will also run on the lower cyln. It is not related to swapping the coils, I swapped them back. Same results. It runs better on ether cylinder than on both. On a single cyln it will run pretty smoothly at a lower speed. With both cylinders it will run smoothly for about a min, them it will start to pop. The pop seems like an out of phase firing. it slows the engine. It produces a little cloud of smoke. If they occure in sequence the engine will stall. If the engine is cold it is much more likely to stall. With the timming light, I have not been seeing a missed shot. I replaced the plugs, set the gaps at 0.03. I ran it a little while. It seemed to have a little bump or hitch in it's step at first. But soon enough, it was pop run run run run pop, run run run run pop run pop run run run pop.
Come on guys what's wrong here?
 

tashasdaddy

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
51,019
Re: power pack?

are gaps .003 or .030? power pack have been known the fire both at the same time when going bad.
 

karlow1

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jun 24, 2008
Messages
161
Re: power pack?

Sorry, I set the gap to 0.03"
I installed new ql78c plugs.
If the power pack is fires a plug out of phase, I should be able to find it with a timming light, right? There was no sign of it on the top cylinder, but I did not spend much time looking at the lower cylinder with the light. I have looked for arcking betrween wires, or to the engine block in the dark.
 

karlow1

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jun 24, 2008
Messages
161
Re:It's a gotcha !

Re:It's a gotcha !

:eek:
I fire her up on the hose and she does her usual run-run-run-run-pop-run.
I use the t -light and look at the fly wheel. Everything looks great! Then it starts running better! It's running better at a lower RPM:mad: Right, it's running on one cyln! Great, I install the series plug checker. Both plugs are firing, they arcs look similar:eek: It will only start on the top cylinder. I swap the coil connections, same results. I shut her down again and think about it. When I fired her back up she is back to her old self. run-run-run-run-pop-run. Great, I fire her on the lower cyl. She runs great, but there is a little something. The timing light tell the tell. You have to look for the attn symbol one the flywheel where it should not be. Then every now and then 180 degrees out of phase BINGO:D U It shows up, it's faint, it's firing 180degrees out of phase! Got-cha:cool:
I'm thing we need a new power pack here.
Now I have to figure out how to get the flywheel off!
 

tashasdaddy

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
51,019
Re: It's a gotcha !

Re: It's a gotcha !

you don't have to take the flywheel off for a power pack. you best get a OEM manual. it's a very simple operation.
 

karlow1

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jun 24, 2008
Messages
161
Re: power pack?

I have a manual (not the factory one). The motor is a Tracker Johnson. It seems to have the low end ignition and charging system. No power trim w/o regulator (it includes a rectifier). The power pack is located under the flywheel, not on the side of the engine. For the replacement, they offer a std. side mounted power pack, a mounting bracket, and remoted mounted pickup that mounts under the fly wheel.
 

karlow1

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jun 24, 2008
Messages
161
Re: power pack?

I have a manual (not the factory one). The motor is a Tracker Johnson. It seems to have the low end ignition and charging system. No power trim w/o regulator (it includes a rectifier). The power pack is located under the flywheel, not on the side of the engine. For the replacement, they offer a std. side mounted power pack, a mounting bracket, and remoted mounted pickup that mounts under the fly wheel. It's PN 0583984, 0584489
See:http://www.ishopmarine.com/ishop/js...CatFilter=BRP&eCatSupFldr=supplier-100-005-EJ
 
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