1986 150 V6

[haybarn]

Hey there everybody. I have a 1986 V6 150hp Johnson. I was out fishing this past weekend and when I went to leave the motor would not start at all. At first it acted like it would turn over but after a few cranks it was dead in the water. I took the top plug out on the left bank and checked for spark and man it had good spark, all the plugs looked good all just a tad wet, light brown and black. Then I went to the right side and took out the top plug and got no spark, and then check the rest of the plugs and there was no spark there either. All the plugs were soaked with fuel. I need to know were to start looking first. What do I trouble shoot first. Compression is 90 in all cylinders.

 

[angus63]

Re: 1986 150 V6

I believe that model has two powerpacks. I would check for the output from them and I'll bet you'll find one is kaput. If your motor has a shift switch set-up (I don't believe it does), I would also check there. A factory manual is a must for ignition troubleshootin'. If you don't have one, try ebay or theoutboardwizard.com .<br />Good luck

 

[Dhadley]

Re: 1986 150 V6

At first it acted like it would turn over but after a few cranks it was dead in the water.

OK, so we're saying it would crank over and then it was dead. It wouldn't crank over at that point. Did the battery go dead or was there just clicking but the starter wouldnt turn over?<br /><br />

I took the top plug out on the left bank and checked for spark and man it had good spark,

If the motor wouldnt crank over how did you check for spark?

 

[haybarn]

Re: 1986 150 V6

Sorry for the confusion there Dhadley. The battery wasn't dead. I had power but the engine would not fire up. I could turn the motor over all day long but it just would not fire up. Sorry again

 

[Dhadley]

Re: 1986 150 V6

OK, cool -- it still turns over. Now, when you said the rest of the plugs didn't have spark do you mean the rest of the plugs on the right side or the rest of all the plugs?<br /><br />IE -- is the top plug on the port side the only one with spark or is it just the starboard bank that has no spark?

 

[haybarn]

Re: 1986 150 V6

It is the Starboard bank that has no spark.

 

[haybarn]

Re: 1986 150 V6

Port side is good to go.

 

[MCM]

Re: 1986 150 V6

Sounds like you lost a power pack, should be able to troubleshoot it. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong<br /><br />You should be able to swap plugs from the stator to the two power packs and check spark to see if the problem follows<br /><br />Try both stator plugs on one pack then the other and post results

 

[haybarn]

Re: 1986 150 V6

Thanks MCM I will go down to the lake and try that and see what happens and let you know.

 

[Dhadley]

Re: 1986 150 V6

Great, now we got it. Theres a reason I wanted to get so specific. Besides the fact I'm a bit slow...<br /><br />Anyway, lets look for the black wire with the yellow stripe on each pack. Once you find each one disconnect that wire from the starboard pack. Then check spark again.<br /><br />Just check for spark. If you try to start the motor the key will only shut off the port side.<br /><br />Lets see what happens with this.

 

[haybarn]

Re: 1986 150 V6

Thanks for the reply there dhadley. I am going to go down to the bay and do those two checks. Also since this a twenty minute trip both ways. I am going to take my Multi-Meter with me and maybe see if I can check anything that way as well. When I go to check the power packs and the individual coil packs what should they read???

 

[rodbolt]

Re: 1986 150 V6

dude if ya need much in the way of parts and assistance locally try Ron's marine in portsmouth. tell him a nut in kitty hawk sent ya.<br /> anyway test the charge coils on the stator, its the bron and brown yellow wires. unplug them and test each wire for shorts to ground and for continuity between the pins, should see something about 500 ohms. the wire B/Y Dhadley refers to is the kill wire. if its grounded the pack shuts off. with no fire to an entire bank it usually eliminates coils,triggers and plugs by the very nature of the odds of all 3 failing at once. usually its a pack, stator failures can happen though. no testes for a pack or stator output with a standard multimeter.

 

[lowbud]

Re: 1986 150 V6

haybarn<br /><br />You should be able to get a powerpack off iboats for about $90. If you eliminate the simple things then this might be the fastest way to solve the problem. <br /><br />I think I read somewhere that cranking over your engine without the plugs attached is bad for the powerpack? Maybe someone can shed more light.

 

[haybarn]

Re: 1986 150 V6

Ok here is the deal. Every damn one of you guys are awsome. I am telling all my friends about this sight that own a boat. Dhadley you were the one with right answer. I disconected the black and yellow wire to the starboard sie and bam it ran. Then I went to the port side and for some reason it ran even better. As a matter of fact it is running extremely good. The only problem now is that I cant shut it down unless I go back and connect both wires then bam it dies. So I ma guessing that it is in the key switch. Going to go and get the boat and home and work on it here. Thanks again guys your great!!!!!!!

 

[rodbolt]

Re: 1986 150 V6

could be the keyswitch or a bad emergency stop switch, missing lanyard. if you have the old style lanyard that looked like a rubber hat they failed a lot, the hat not the switch . now is time for further testing to isolate the problem. it can still be a pack as they have isolation diodes but I would test the keyswitch and emergency switch and wireing first.

 

[haybarn]

Re: 1986 150 V6

You know when I first disconnected the stb side it would still shut down on its own. After a few minutes with messin with the motor and just looking it over I went to start and stop it a few times after a couple of turn overs it stopped shutting down on its own unless I connected the shut down wire it shut down then of coarse. That was all before I disconnected the port side.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: 1986 150 V6

the normal condition of a failed isolation diode is it wont shut that pack off. thats why I said to carefully test the system before replaceing anything. you can chase parts a long long time. Robert at Ron's marine can hook ya up with any parts you need. however I have had one that the pack caused the system failure. thats why I say test carefully. you can also disconnect the red harness plug, use a jumper wire and jump from the yellow/red solinoid wire to the postive batt terminal on the solinoid while testing spark. if you start it this way you will have to plug it back up to kill it. with the red plug removed it will isolate the rest of the hull ign wiring. spark with it dissconected means the powerhead parts are good.

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: 1986 150 V6

As an added test to make sure it is the ignition switch creating the problem and not a internal short of the wiring harnesses, have the black/yellow wires connected to the powerpacks as they should be.<br /><br />Remove all of the spark plugs so that there is no danger of the engine starting.<br /><br />Crank the engine and check for spark. If no spark or weak erratic spark, remove the black/yellow wire from the raised "M" terminal of the ignition switch.<br /><br />Recheck for spark. If you now have proper spark, the ignition swith is faulty.

 

[Dhadley]

Re: 1986 150 V6

Rodbolt hit it on the head. Again. The isolation diode is bad in the port pack. It gets a bit confusing to tell someone to replace the port pack to cure a non sparking starboard pack.<br /><br />This is why I was so particular about the exact description.