Lost spark

[DFozzard]

Hello I have a 1984 75hp johnson evinrude E75TLCRD J0402475 I got it running last year and fully winterized the engine. I am a first time boat owner. Had it runing in the driveway with garden hose hooked to it and was running a little rough but came out of it. While running it it coughed and died and now do have not have spark. I pulled the flywheel and checked the key. It was good. I do have power to the engine but did find a loose ground on the power pack. Fixed the ground but still no spark. checked for power everywhere and found there is no power to the three coils. should the coils have power to them. Could someone please tell me what I need to check and where to start. I am ASE certified Auto tech , but I am finding that outboards are a whole different breed lol. Please Help thanks.

 

[DFozzard]

Re: Lost spark

Update. I now have spark on the bottom 2 cylinders but no spark on top cylinder. I got some info online and did some checking. When I take the orange wire off of the top coil and hook it to the 2nd coil wire i have spark on all 3 cylinders. Does that mean I have to replace the power pack because the coil works when hooked to a different wire or what I am kinda at a loss now. please help thanks....

 

[DFozzard]

Re: Lost spark

2ND Update. I went to the library and got a manual. I read it and did all the checking of connections and wires. I also checked all my coils and stator. Found the problem. I had a bad connection in the plug in from the stator to the power pack. Now I have spark on all three cylinders. I will try to fire the boat up tomorrow with ears in the driveway and see what happens. I WILL BE CROSSING MY FINGERS AND HOPES SHE PERS LIKE A KITTEN. WISH ME LUCK..........

 

[SparkieBoat]

Re: Lost spark

since you are a mechanic, I will just steer you in the right direction for outboard trouble shooting. CDI electronics has a great troubleshooting guide in the support section also install sheets for individual parts have specific test for each part. you will need a spark gap tester, timing light and a DVA adapter to use with your multi meter.

 

[DFozzard]

Re: Lost spark

Ok I fired er up in the driveway and she ran good with the ears on it so i decided to take to er to the water. I live 2 blocks from the local lake. Anyways i put er in the water and had a little trouble firing er up but i got runnin in the water . However once i got er out past the no wake floats i opened er a little and she ran pretty good but when I hit er to WOT she had no power . So I ran er like that for about 3 to 4 min thinking she would come out of it but she did not. When I throttled back she ran a little better until i throtled all the way back to idle and she couched and died and would not restart so i coasted to the loading dock thankfully " no paddling " What do I need to check. that carbs were redone at the local boat shop and I have good strong spark at 7/16 on all three coils. any sugestions would be great........oh yeah almost forgot my bulb was soft also. i pumped er up and still would start. Will try to fire er up in driveway with ears and see what happens tomorrow. will keep you guys updated.

 

[SparkieBoat]

Re: Lost spark

sounds fuel related...did you try pumping the fuel line bulb at WOT? if you did and it helped then you either have an fuel line sucking air, a clogged tank pickup or vent, or a bad fuel pump. remove fuel line after pump and see if it spurts fuel when you crank the motor..you can remove spark plugs for this test but keep fuel away from plug wire ends. the OMC fuel pumps SUCK bad, they are about 4X higher cost than they should be and have a very high rate of failure. and did I mention they suck bad. If any one out there has enough capital to design and produce an after market fuel pump for OMC..do it and you will get rich.

 

[DFozzard]

Re: Lost spark

OK now I just got back from the lake. I took er out and she was boggin so I tried pumping the bulb and no changes however when I choked er she came alive and planed right out and was flyin across the lake but I know that is not the way to run er. Any hints on what I need to do to er now? Thanks in advance.

 

[SparkieBoat]

Re: Lost spark

definatly fuel related problem...maybe a clogged carb..the choke is not actually a choke, it is a fuel injection that bypasses the carb fuel bowl, and squirts it directly into the air intake part of the carb, so since pumping the bulb did not help it shows that fuel pump may be ok, and I stress the MAY, and indicates you probably have a clogged carb, but still could be a pump issue, take completely apart and clean/rebuild carbs. dont just do a soak.

 

[mike1245]

Re: Lost spark

can try some seafoam in thank it works wonders for ungumming carbs without takeing them apart

 

[DFozzard]

Re: Lost spark

ok when I got home from lake today i did some reading in the forums after i read what sparkie wrote. I took a look at my carbs and pulled em off the motor one by one and took the jets out and cleaned the heck out of them. They were all clean accept for cylinder number 3 which i am guessing is the botton carb. That baby was plugged up someting fierce and all off my gas lines were really hard and brittle. I cleaned the heck out of that bottom carb and replaced every piece of rubber hose on that baby that I could find. Everything is new from the tank to the carbs " all fittings and hoses including fuel filter". I also took apart fuel pump and it looked really good. Got it all back together and pumped er full off gas and she fired right up and and just purred beautifully and idled perfect " no poppin or droppin cylinders or nothing. I am gonna take er to the lake in the morning and drop er back in for my third test run "hopefully my last test run " sorry so long just made sure that i covered everything that I did today. Will keep you posted and thanks for all the replies and help. wish me luck.

 

[DFozzard]

Re: Lost spark

Thanks for the tip mike. I already ran a full bottle of sea foam through er on the first tank of fuel. Maybe thats why all the carbs but the bottom one looked super clean on the inside. I am a true believer of sea foam if you have not used it I really suggest that you do. I personally think that is the best stuff ever invented next to the wheel

 

[DFozzard]

Re: Lost spark

Alright. Took er to the lake and she fired right up and ran perfect. Got past the no wake zone and hit it, she came alive and ran full out and planed right up, drove around the lake for about 15 min and then fell on er face and would not fire back up. First thing I checked was the bulb and it was as soft as can be. dunno why everything is new. I clamped every hose that i replaced and checked for leaks before going to the lake. I am going back to the manual to see if i can find out what is wrong but any expert opinion would be great.
" i hate reading " thanks in advance for any help. I almost forgot to tell yall that i got er fired back up in the driveway but she won't idle, but runs good when i put er gear and rev er up. again thanks for any help.

 

[bitterboater]

Re: Lost spark

Was the bulb just soft or was it collapsed? If it was collapsed, it might be that the tank vent was not open, and the motor was running great on the fuel that was in the line. But once the vacuum was too great in the tank it shut off the fuel supply.

I would bet that it fires right back up in the driveway.

 

[DFozzard]

Re: Lost spark

The bulb was not collapsed it was just soft and I have a metal tank that i crack open the filler cap on. Is that the only vent or is there another vent? Dunno why she wont idle in the driveway though. She ran perfect before I took er to the lake. What do you guys think I am about to take this baby to the local marine shop but I am on a really tight budjet. That is why I am trying to do this all on my own with everyones help from these great forums and the great people that are willing to take the time to help others out.

 

[mike1245]

Re: Lost spark

you cleaned carbs/ rebuilt fuel pump and replaced diaphram replaced all lines has spark and good compression is this correct what was the compression readings and did you use a spark testeror ground the plug to the block?

 

[DFozzard]

Re: Lost spark

Have not done a compression check yet, I have not had the fuel pump apart yet but the filter looked realy clean. I will do both tormorrow when I get home from work and post the readings and also take apart fuel pump and give it a looksee. I did the spark test with all plugs out at 7/16 gap and all were bright blue so no problems with spark that is for sure and did I mention that she zapped the heck out of me while doing the test " my arm went numb for like 10 min " But was worth it to find out if my ignition was working good which it is. Thanks again for all the helpfull info maybe one day we will get this baby running like she should.

 

[SparkieBoat]

Re: Lost spark

have you tested your over heat alarm?? the tan wire coming from your temp sensor on front/top of each head. ground the tan wire to your block with the key in the on position, you should hear a loud buzzer. hope you did not run hot.
also could be some trash in your tank or water causing more fuel problems. Also did you replace the fuel connectors with the new hoses?? lots of problems with the connectors sucking air..also test fuel pump by disconnecting fuel line after pump and cranking motor..should spurt fuel pretty good.

 

[DFozzard]

Re: Lost spark

Um alarm ??? Did not know they had an alarm. what should it be hooked to for sound? I do know what wire you are talking about. I also noticed that my carbs do not look like the 1984 scematic pic. here the pics of the scematic and my carbs[/IMG] http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/ind...ID=442170078&albumID=1543690&imageID=21594596. http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/ind...ID=442170078&albumID=1543690&imageID=21594599. Ok if these url links worked for my pictures the stuff I have circled in the diagram is not on my carbs.When you click on link just click on previous or next to view each picture. Could that be a major problem or do I have a different style carb. Hope it is the seccond option.

 

[DFozzard]

Re: Lost spark

ok just ran outside and grounded the wire to the block and nothing happened. I bet that is a very bad thing. I hope that i did not burn er up if I did I am screwed and be selling a lot of parts on ebay or on here lol. Wiring diagram would be great here can not find one in the service manual. the manual I am using is " Outboard service manual - Vulome 2 - 11th edition " from my local library. Probly not the one I should be using huh.

 

[SparkieBoat]

Re: Lost spark

you can get an off brand manual for cheap off e-bay, most in here recommend the original OMC manual...you need to fix over heat alarm, I have heard that radio shack has a 12V buzzer that works as a good cheap replacement..your buzzer is probably in your control (shifter/throttle) box, follow the tan wire to find it. you can mount it outside of your control box if new one does not fit in it. many boats have them under the dash.