1959 Evinrude "Fat 50" ignition trouble

[rfevans]

Re: 1959 Evinrude "Fat 50" ignition trouble

Ok guys I am stumped I finally got my new coil, springs and spark plug wires and ends all gathered up and worked on this thing all day yesterday and still very weak spark at the coil button. The only way I can tell I have anything is to touch the coil button with my finger turning the pulley by hand. Here is what I did yesterday Installed new coil took the points back off emery clothed them again gaped them to where a 20 will pass thru and a 22 will not. Still weak spark then I took the coil wires off the stud along with the wires from the points thinking it was going to ground there so I tied them together with a jumper so that there was no chance of that and still just a weak spark by touch. I have tried three different condensers 2 were brand new. I timed it with a ohm meter and its spot on. I checked my spark tool on another motor and it was fine as well. I also looked at all the wires and checked each one for continuity and shiners ect. and they are all good. I am at a complete loss here. I can't even get to the point where I can put the dist cap on because I cant get enough spark to jump a gap. I have read other threads here about baking the mag with the coil in and they had good luck with that in the thread I read. Do Mag's them self go bad? Anyway if anyone has any ideas I am all ears...Thanks..

 

[Chris1956]

Re: 1959 Evinrude "Fat 50" ignition trouble

Make sure the "ground" side of the coil is well grounded. Check the magneto magnets for strong magnetism. Not sure what else to recommend.

 

[rfevans]

Re: 1959 Evinrude "Fat 50" ignition trouble

Hey Chris thanks for the reply....Can you explain the Ground side of coil just to make sure I know what I am checking for sorry for the dumb question....Just want to make sure I am understanding correctly....It seems to have a good magnetism to it. It my screw driver will pull to it or stick to it...

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: 1959 Evinrude "Fat 50" ignition trouble

New coil, points and condenser, set properly, testing spark directly from the coil button, turning the dist pulley in a clockwise direction sharply.... that spark should be livid!

At this point, there's only two things I can think of..... one is that a bearing is worn and is allowing the armature shaft to go off center which would cause the armature to be at an incorrect distance from the magnets.

The other is that the armature portion that swings by the magnets (sort of shaped like a hourglass) which consists of many blades has failed in such a manner that some of the blades have separated and swung out of place.... it happens but this type failure is few and far between.

I've never seen a magnet itself go bad within this type magneto (permanent magnet). I strongly advise against applying any heat to that magneto.

The ground side of the coil (ground wire should be obvious) connects to one of the screws that retains the coil and the wedge spring type insert.

 

[rfevans]

Re: 1959 Evinrude "Fat 50" ignition trouble

Thanks Joe......Baking the thing seemed half baked to me lol....so needless to say I have not done that...Bearing wise it seems tight and good no noise to per say... I may completely disassemble this thing and take a look...But for today I think I am going to put this thing down wait a day and go back over it and check my work...I have checked the points so many times now its like second nature..Sometimes for me I have to just put things down a day and come back to it and I find some silly mistake I made...I didnt have any trouble with the other magnito outboards I've worked on...This has just got me bewildered...Thanks for the props guys....

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: 1959 Evinrude "Fat 50" ignition trouble

The most common error is to have that wire leading from the coil to the points shorting out somehow as it goes thru the metal case or the point/condenser base.

Where are you located? If it gets to a point where you might be thinking about scrapping that project, ship me that magneto as I'm quite curious about the problem.

 

[rfevans]

Re: 1959 Evinrude "Fat 50" ignition trouble

Joe I'm in Arkansas.. and I was about ready to ship it yesterday I almost thru it in the lake...lol but I got it figured out. Ok I will not be touching the coil button anymore...lol... I couldn't stand it so took it apart again and found my issue...The sleeve that isolates the stud on the distributor has got a hair line crack on it and was causing to partially ground out...I took the sleeve and punch and spread the crack open and coated the crack with liquid tape and pulled the punch out cleaned the extra off with a rag I then took a q tip with liquid tape in the hole on the distributor and pushed it thru took a hair drier and dried for a few minutes. I re-assembled and boom shooting a beautiful blue spark over a quarter of inch...I am over joyed... I must have looked at that sleeve a dozen times this time I cleaned it with alcohol and the crack showed up darker than the rest of the sleeve or I would have never spotted it...I have not looked to see if that sleeve is still available part wise but if not I can make one if needed....Now I can move on with the rest of the project re-install time her to the motor and see if She'll run...I am sure the carb will need cleaning or rebuild... Thanks guys for helping me thru this i wouldn't have made it without it ....Thanks again Randy....

 

[boobie]

Re: 1959 Evinrude "Fat 50" ignition trouble

As I've always said, "it's the little things that will get ya". Glad you got it.