1967 Johnson 60 HP

[lewismckinley]

I recently purchased a Johnson 1967 60 HP outboard. After attempting to start it we realised the spark plugs where not sparking. We were told to take off one of the leads and hold it close to the engine turn over the engine and see if we could see a spark jump to the engine, but we had no luck. Any ideas? Also what kind oil ratio am i to use. Cheers

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: 1967 Johnson 60 HP

Mixture ratio is 50/1 on that engine. Does the engine have magneto or automotive ignition?

 

[lewismckinley]

Re: 1967 Johnson 60 HP

Thank you for the oil ratio. Its a magneto.

 

[Dhadley]

Re: 1967 Johnson 60 HP

V4, right?

 

[lewismckinley]

Re: 1967 Johnson 60 HP

Yes it is! Thanks for your help so far.

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: 1967 Johnson 60 HP

Remove the distributor cap, then connect a spark tester directly to the coil's high tenssion button. Crank the engine. The spark should jump a 1/4" gap with a strong blue lightning like flame, a real SNAP! Does it?<br /><br />If you now have spark but not with the cap installed, you have a faulty rotor, in which case replace it.<br /><br />If still no spark, possible causes are dirty misadjusted points, leaking condenser, bad coil, or the black ground wire on the port side of the magneto (the one that leads to the ignition switch) is shorted to ground.

 

[lewismckinley]

Re: 1967 Johnson 60 HP

Thanks for that, where will i get hold of a spark tester? What does the high tension button look like?

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: 1967 Johnson 60 HP

Remove the distributor cap. The HT button will be obvious.... dead center of the coil.<br /><br />A spark tester can be purchased at any sutomotive parts store or......<br /><br />Spark Tester - Home Made<br />(J. Reeves)<br /> <br />A spark tester can be made with a piece of 1x4 or 1x6, drive a couple nails through it, then bend the pointed ends at a right angle. You can then adjust the gap by simply twisting the nail(s). Solder a spark plug wire to one which you can connect to the spark plug boots, and a ground wire of some kind to the other to connect to the powerhead somewhere.<br /><br />Using the above, one could easily build a spark tester whereas they could connect 2, 4, 6, or 8 cylinders all at one time. The ground nail being straight up, the others being bent, aimed at the ground nail. A typical 4 cylinder tester follows:<br /><br /><br />..........X1..........X2<br /><br />.................X..(grd)<br /><br />..........X3..........X4