1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

[halder.fireifighter]

I have been working on my boat for the last two weeks and can not figure out what is going on with it. What I have is a 19ft glastron boat with a 115 hp evinrude motor. The problem is it wont start from the key it just turns over and over, I have to have some one turn the key while I shut the choke and open up the throttle on the cards by hand then it will fire up and run till I put in to gear. It then dies unless I run the throttle by hand till we are moving. After we get moving it is real sluggish and the back of the boat is real low in the water. Please help
If any one has any ideas I would really be greatfull would love to take it on fathers day
thank you

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

If you have the side mount control, the toggle switch below the ignition switch is the choke switch and, for a cold start, needs to be held up until the engine starts, WHILE cranking the motor.

In addition to making sure that the switch closes the chokes fully by taking the cover off the carburetors and watching, the engine needs to be turning 300 RPM to get good spark, which requires a fully charged, powerful battery and excellent battery cables.

When the rear of the boat hangs too deeply in the water, The foam flotation is usually saturated and will need to be removed in order to achieve anything close to satisfactory performance. It cannot be dried out.

 

[halder.fireifighter]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

the controls that are on mine dont have a toggle switch on it, u push in on the key to get the choke to turn on. I checked the choke and it is turning on all the way .. I have charged the bat. and the cables are new. Why would I have to hold the choke with one hand and open the throttle on the side of the carbs with the other?? Why would it die when I put in to gear unless I am back there opening the throttle while it is put in to gear???

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

"Why would I have to hold the choke with one hand and open the throttle on the side of the carbs with the other??"

I have no idea why you would have or want to do that if the choke switch is working correctly. The warm up lever should be gradually lowered until the engine has warmed up, then lowered to the run position so that you can get in gear.

The warm up lever advances the timing for your cold start; you can't do that by opening the throttles at the carburetors.

If you have the idle set correctly at around 650 RPM in gear under load, the engine should not stall unless you are dropping a cylinder.

 

[halder.fireifighter]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

doing that is the only way it will start if i dont then it just fires and dies.
what is the best way to set the idle??

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

If pushing in the key does not fully close the chokes, move the choke solenoid cylinder down in small increments until it does.

You can set the idle at around 1000 RPM on muffs and then fine tune it at the dock.

If you have to keep using the choke to keep the engine running, you will probably need to get two kits and rebuild your carburetors.

 

[halder.fireifighter]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

once it starts i don't have to use the choke any more. I was wondering could the timing be off and if it could be what should it be set at and how do u change it the flywheel is keyed. something else i was wondering how big of bat. should be on it CCA wise

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

The only reason to ever change on the timing is if you took the system apart. If it was running ok and it is not now, that is 99.9% not the problem.

The key in the flywheel/driveshaft sets the positioning/timing. If you break it you have to replace it with the OEM part.

Are you using the warm up lever for a cold start? If not, you should. It advances the timing properly for a cold start if you raise the lever all the way up.

I use a minimum of 650 CCA dual purpose deep cycle Marine battery on my 115. Not MCA but CCA.

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

On the choke issue: The only way to be sure that the chokes are closing enough for a good cold start is to take the air cover off and watch the plates while someone cranks the engine. If they are not set right, the vacuum from cranking will pull them open and that's not good enough.

 

[halder.fireifighter]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

they seam to be closing all the way

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

Move your warm up lever all the way up and see if the spark advance is working.

 

[halder.fireifighter]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

what do i have to look for to make sure it is working the spark advance

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

Have someone move the warm-up lever while you watch the parts circled on the picture; it should move forward as the lever is raised.

 

[halder.fireifighter]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

that works there is a big area in the center of moving the lever up that it feels like nothing is there is that normal nothing moves unless u are clear up and clear down

 

[F_R]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

There will always be some slack (lost motion) in the throttle cable. Without me looking it up, tell me--does it have two purple with stripe wires going to the choke solenoid, or one. If two, check back for more instructions.

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

In the meantime, back to the warm-up lever. The timer base spark advance should be moving with the warm-up lever as you raise it.

As F_R says, there is some slack in the cable, but you should see the point at which the throttle lever is beginning to move and the spark advance lever, being connected to it, should move right along with it.

 

[halder.fireifighter]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

the choke only has one wire going to it and the spark advance is working

 

[halder.fireifighter]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

another ? where do i hook up a tack to it so i can see the RPM that it is running the one that is on it doesnt work

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

When the warm-up lever is all the way up, the start line on the throttle lever should be pointing at the center of the roller.

Tachometers usually fail to work when the rectifier is bad. Does the tachometer make any motion when you turn the ignition switch on?

Ignition switches that you push in are usually mounted on remote control units that have a built-in wiring plug below the ignition switch. It has three wires, purple, black and gray. The gray wire is the wire that sends the signal to the tachometer from the engine. You can get a general idea of the wiring from the following link. Once there, scroll down to see the diagrams.

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/ignitionSwitch.html

 

[halder.fireifighter]

Re: 1977 evinrude 115 motor problems

when i hook up the tach mine has 2 wires coming out of the back a green and a black i figured the green goes to the grey and the black to ground but when i do that the tach peggs out at 7000 when i switch it it peggs out at 0