1969 85HP no spark after reinstalling battery

[Drymite]

I have a 1969 Evinrude 85hp that I’ve been running for three seasons now. The motor was running great just the day before the issue. After two weeks of continuous use, I removed the battery to give it a full charge. Once charged, I reinstalled the battery, headed to the lake — but now the engine cranks and won’t start.
Back at home, I tested for spark and found no spark on any cylinder.

While troubleshooting, I noticed something odd the wires at the kill switch (by the key) were getting hot when the switch was engaged, and it also blew the 20A fuse
I have the manual and a wiring diagram, but the diagram only shows where each wire connects, not what each one actually does. On top of that, some of the wire colors have faded — for example, purple now looks almost black, which makes tracing things even harder.
Just looking for advice on where to go next or if anyone’s run into something similar. Appreciate any insight.





Thanks

 

[jimmbo]

 

[Drymite]

View attachment 409970

Thats perfect thank you

 

[cyclops222]

Did you accidently charge the battery with backward terminals ? Did you install the battery in a reversed position ? Plus post is now where the minus post was ?

 

[Drymite]

Did you accidently charge the battery with backward terminals ? Did you install the battery in a reversed position ? Plus post is now where the minus post was ?

No, I never reversed the battery — I always triple-check anything electrical before connecting. The battery was charged properly, connected the right way, and both terminals are tight and clean.
That said, I’m going to go through the manual’s troubleshooting steps today just to be thorough.
One thing I did notice: the previous owner had some strange wiring near the starter. The positive cables run through the fuse holder and then into the engine’s terminal post definitely not "stock", based on the wiring diagram. Even though it ran great like this for 3 seasons, I’ll trace everything out today just to rule out anything that could be causing issues now

 

[Drymite]

View attachment 409970

Could you possibly send me the next page with diagram (b-fig om13-17) thanks alot

 

[jimmbo]

 

[Drymite]

After diagnosing following https://www.outboardignition.com/page28.asp

I came to the conclusion that the power pack fried from a faulty kill switch.. there was no power going to blue wire when cranking . I opened up the powerpack /amplifier and i can smell that it fried and can see it charred up

 

[jimmbo]

My guess is that Blue Electrolytic Capacitor shorted out.
R3 might also got a little Hot
Transformer may have survived, if windings haven't shorted

 

[Drymite]

My guess is that Blue Electrolytic Capacitor shorted out.
R3 might also got a little Hot
Transformer may have survived, if windings haven't shorted

I dont know if a electronic repair person can fix as its in epoxy. I asked around. Although meantime i found this replacement the description claims it works for my year but i do not see the white and black wire plug in on the replacement part.