1966 Evinrude outboard

[Jlesinski]

Hello, I just purchased 1966 Thompson in great shape. The motor is a 1966 80hp Evinrude. It started right up and ran great for about 30 minutes and I was driving it wide open and it just quit. There was no sputtering, just off suddenly. I let it sit and it would turn over but not fire at all. I pulled the file line and it was pumping fuel. I checked the plugs and they were clean but there is no spark when turning over.

Any way I towed it to shore and trailered it and here I am posting from
my phone Does anyone have any suggestions? It seemed like it wasn't pumping alot of water... I wasn't sure if it could overheat and shut off or not or if it just died.

Thanks!
Jim

 

[F_R]

Re: 1966 Evinrude outboard

Hello, I just purchased 1966 Thompson in great shape. The motor is a 1966 80hp Evinrude. It started right up and ran great for about 30 minutes and I was driving it wide open and it just quit. There was no sputtering, just off suddenly. I let it sit and it would turn over but not fire at all. I pulled the file line and it was pumping fuel. I checked the plugs and they were clean but there is no spark when turning over.

Any way I towed it to shore and trailered it and here I am posting from
my phone Does anyone have any suggestions? It seemed like it wasn't pumping alot of water... I wasn't sure if it could overheat and shut off or not or if it just died.

Thanks!
Jim

If it quit from being overheated, you wouldn't have to ask. It would have been smoking hot and the paint would be burnt.

You say there is no spark. There is your clue. Unfortunatly you have to do the troubleshooting. We can only guess. My guess is the coil arced through or the distributor rotor arced through. But I can give some more guesses.

 

[Daviet]

Re: 1966 Evinrude outboard

Did it throw the timing belt?

 

[Jlesinski]

Re: 1966 Evinrude outboard

I am home from camping now and I will do some troubleshooting. I have a service manual so I should be able to follow some of the suggestions. I had asked about the overheating because the service manual suggested that there is a thermostat that regulates the water circulation and I noticed that the dashboard contains a "Hot" Light. I had thought maybe it would cut out automatically if it reached a certain temp, but I have no idea if the bulb is working or not.

I will start troubleshooting this week and see where it takes me. Is there a good place online to get parts for a motor this old? I will use the site this forum is hosted by for sure if they have parts. I am new to owning a boat but I figured I would have to work on this boat when I got it. I don't mind putting the time into it.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: 1966 Evinrude outboard

Hi, I've got the same motor and there's a good chance the engine wireing has bad spots in the insulation and touching ground somewhere, look close at the wires especially from the ignition coil for broken insulation, pop the cap off and inspect points and wiring. And as somebody already mentioned make sure the timing belt is still intact. The temp. safety switch does not usually take out the ignition, unless someone has rewired it.

 

[Jlesinski]

Re: 1966 Evinrude outboard

I had a chance to troubleshoot today after work and it seems that power is not getting to the ignition coil. I disconnected the wire and tested for continuity with the engine and it does in fact seem to be touching the motor somewhere. I'll pull the wire back and find the short when I have more daylight but I wanted to thank a70eliminator for pointing me in that direction.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Jlesinski]

Re: 1966 Evinrude outboard

Alright I am still at this and admittedly a novice but... I am determined and my father in law is a mechanic that loves to help.

So, still no spark.I detached the wire that goes to the ignition coil from the switch. My father in law thinks that the coil should be receiving power when the switch is in the on or start position, but we don't seem to have any power to it, when the key is in the on position or when turning over. Could it be a bad switch or maybe we shouldn't have power to the coil from the switch?

I am not seeing any breaks in the wire but I still get continuty to the motor from the ignition wire, even after detaching and removing from all the brackets on the motor.

Also, I can't seem to find fuses but the wiring diagram shows them. Is there a common location for them?

Thanks for any help you can provide! I appreciate it.

Jim

 

[lonemust]

Re: 1966 Evinrude outboard

make sure u have power going to ign switch if not look for a fuse or fused link look inside the junction box to see if anything came loose

 

[F_R]

Re: 1966 Evinrude outboard

make sure u have power going to ign switch if not look for a fuse or fused link look inside the junction box to see if anything came loose

There is only one fuse. If the motor turns when key is in the start position, the fuse is good.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: 1966 Evinrude outboard

The wire from the pos. side of the coil is a white wire with a red tracer, it goes directly to the (I) or ign. post of the ignition switch, if it shows continuity to ground that would be your problem, unplug the main harness from the engine harness, the plug is clipped into a keeper just after where it feeds into the cowling, with it unplugged try your continuity test again, probe for 12V at the plug with the key on and see what you get at the white/red wire.

 

[Jlesinski]

Re: 1966 Evinrude outboard

Alright I made some progress with this thing. I am learning alot with the service manual and reading all over the web.

I figured out:
1. If the key is off, it should be grounded from the coil back to the motor, this is what turns the motor off by interrupting spark. (Why I was getting continuity)
2. When the key is on, the coil is no longer grounded back to the motor. This should allow the coil to send power to the rotor and to each plug via the distributor. (No longer continuity with the motor, so no short)
3. Replaced the points and condenser. Thinking that the condenser is shot and probably not a bad idea since they look slightly burned.
4. Disassembled the whole magneto. With the distributor cap off, I clipped a spark tester to the contact point (shiny circle) onto the coil and grounded the other end. I could turn the magneto spindle (stator/rotor thing) and would get spark directly from the coil (YAY!)
5. For kicks I used alligator clips and connected the coil contact point to the Distributor cap spring, then connected the rotor contact point to each individual wire and tested for spark. Each one worked!
6. Reassembled the whole magneto. Now, no spark coming from the plug wires.

So, I am assuming that this is all in working order now and that the timing is just off in the magneto. I will need to set the timing for both the magneto and the motor so that I get spark and it sparks at the appropriate time for each piston.

Ultimately it could have just been that the belt slipped on the magneto or maybe the condenser was bad. I learned quite a bit how this thing works though and I look forward to setting the timing and maybe tearing the rest of it apart.

I appreciate all your suggestions!
Not bad for a Computer Programmer/Database/Web Design guy

Thanks,
Jim

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: 1966 Evinrude outboard

Aha good going, my 80hp has the automotive type ignition no magneto, I just took for granted that you would have the same thing, the rotors are different between the two and I have heard others talk about someone putting the wrong rotor in there and no spark gets delivered to the wires.

 

[Jlesinski]

Re: 1966 Evinrude outboard

I have another question on this topic. I put the magneto back together and read through the service manual to set the timing, but still no spark. I know that I get spark coming from the coil, but not from the coil to the rotor and out each plug wire. I suspect that this is just due to my not knowing how to set the timing, so here is what I did:

1. Set the both points gap at .020 inches
2. Disconnect the lead wire from points to coil and connect to red wire on multimeter
3. Ground black wire on multimeter to points housing
4. Rotate the magneto slowly. The multimeter shows continuity (1st point closed) before the first timing mark is passed (maybe 1inch of rotation before) and I adjusted it so that the first point breaks (seperate) right when the first timing mark is lined up.
5. Continue to rotate the magneto. Again 1 inch or so before the second timing mark I get continuity showing the second point is closed. I adjusted the second point slightly so that it breaks (seperates) just as the second timing mark lines up.

At this point I am expecting the magneto to produce spark to the spark plugs, regardless of the belt timing, correct? Should I be able to turn it by hand and get spark from the wires (with the belt disconnected). Am I setting the points properly?

I also have a question about the coil. I replaced the original with a new one, connecting the red wire to the screw which goes through the side of the housing. I connected the longer ground wire to the screw that holds the clip for the coil in place. Is that correct? I believe that is how it connects and I can connect a spark tester to the coil and get spark just by turning the magneto by hand.

Anyway it seems that I either have the timing incorrect or maybe something wrong with my distributor cap. I checked for continuity on the cap and wires and all seems to be working...

If anyone is interested I could post photos or even video of everything I have and what is happening. I will hopefully have time to spend on this over the weekend and I would love to get it running.

Thanks!
Jim

 

[lonemust]

Re: 1966 Evinrude outboard

it could cap and rotor are worn out. u said u used a wire from rotor button to each plug wire terminal and got spark. You would doing that but if the gap between the rotor and plug terminal is to big it wont. Get new cap and rotor and try it then.

 

[Jlesinski]

Re: 1966 Evinrude outboard

As a follow up to this thread I wanted to say thanks for the help and provide the resolution. In fact I had ordered a new distributor cap and rotor before lonemust posted, as I had come to the same conclusion. I also ordered new plug wires since one of the crimp ends came off when I unscrewed one of the old wires.

After my new parts arrived I reassembled the magneto and made sure everything was timed. I filled my barrel of water and primed my motor. As soon as I turned the key the engine was running! I was in shock! It was running much better than it originally did and I could turn it over without haveing to crank at all.

Thanks for the help and tips. I'll be moving on to replace the impellor because it is barely spitting water out, so you might hear more from me in a another thread.

Jim Lesinski