1985 Evinrude 90 HP - No spark on 1 & 3

[Andre]

I am hoping someone can help me out with my Evinrude troubleshooting problem as I am coming to a wall as to what to do next. I'll start with some important background information. The Boat motor is new to me so I have no prior history knowledge of it's operating state other than to say it was working great for about 4 days of normal boating fun. As it was reaching day 4, the motor started to run rough and operate at 1/2 power then all of a sudden it would jump to normal performance again. The old jump effect so to speak. Well, being the handy DIY guy that I am I started to tackle this issue by doing the obvious simple checks:

1: sparks on one half of the motor (and confirm with heat test - hand on motor)
2: check coils with ohm meter and found one to be bad - now replaced
3: replaced all 4 spark plugs
4: took brothers advise and replaced CD pack as-well since it was the last thing to change without removing flywheel
5: found out all work above failed to fix problem so took boat to marina $$$

After waiting 5 days I got their report that the compression is excellent (not just good but excellent!!!) but the stator plate and timer essembly needed to be replaced -- how much??? -- to do the full repair about $1200. Ok, I just had a mild stroke and then said I'll be by to pick it up as-is and do the work myself. (maybe not the right choice after-all)

I then started to perform under the flywheel tests and confirmed the stator was fried (visable cracks and gooey stuff coming out and the timer essembly was OPEN on one end of the lead "C" connections (basically was not giving the same expected readings as opposite connector)

I then (god bless the dude who keeps used parts) found the only guy in the area that had a parted Envinrude 90 with the actual parts I needed. I managed to get a stator (actually 3 of them), one coil and a timer essembly for $50.00. I confirmed that the stator and timer were good using the Ohm meter tests. I changed all the parts (some twice) but noticed no change in results.

I just got the manual yesterday so I'll do the extra tests in the service manual when I get back to the cottage this weekend.

As it stands now, I am no further ahead than when I started. The motor is still only sparking on one side of the motor; however I have a lot of new parts in the mix so that doesn't impress me much right about now.

My diagnostic conclusion is that the problem is either a grounding issue (which I can't understand since I ohm tested the hell out of it) or a bad connection being made within the rubber connection points. It could also be the switch at the console as I haven't performed that test yet. However, would a bad switch allow one side of the motor to spark? Maybe I didn't clean the flywheel and timer good enough?

At this point any suggestions on troubleshooting this problem would be appreached.

Thanks,
Andre

 

[fireman57]

Re: 1985 Evinrude 90 HP - No spark on 1 & 3

I'm no expert but it seems you may have fried the new powerpack somehow. I would check, double check, and clean all grounds again. Your manual will have all the specs in it if you got the OEM and not clymer or seloc. They will also refer to very expensive testing equipment that you cannot afford but there are many experts that will be along with your answer.

 

[shearpin]

Re: 1985 Evinrude 90 HP - No spark on 1 & 3

have you checked to see if the black/yellow wire out of the power pack from the side not running isn't grounding out? if it is it will kill the power to the power pack? A mistake at the ignition switch could cause a world of head-aches.

 

[Rudy Brown]

Re: 1985 Evinrude 90 HP - No spark on 1 & 3

I think shearpin is on to something. My 84 90hp did the same thing last weekend and the cause was a loose ground wire that I found at the landing. The bolt that holds the powerpack on loosened and lost ground. Tightened it up and all is well. Go to www.rapair.com and look at their trouble shooting section. Its very good.

 

[reeldutch]

Re: 1985 Evinrude 90 HP - No spark on 1 & 3

check inside the flywheel for loose magnets.
or missing.
shure
make shure all parts are good. no guess work here.
clean shure grounds and make ok all connectors are ok.

the grounds on the checkn get dirty very easily.
shure checkn the ground on the pp make shure its grounding.

good luck

 

[reeldutch]

Re: 1985 Evinrude 90 HP - No spark on 1 & 3

check inside the flywheel for loose magnets.
or missing.

make shure all parts are good. no guess work here.
clean all grounds and make shure all connectors are ok.

the grounds on the coils get dirty very easily.

check the ground on the pp make shure its grounding.

good luck

 

[Andre]

Re: 1985 Evinrude 90 HP - No spark on 1 & 3

Thanks everyone that has contributed to some idea on what to try next.

Just some clarification:

The CD pack I replaced was moved to the good side of the motor so I still have 2 original CD's to test with. I'll replace the working side of the motor with one of the other two to confirm their working order. That way I have a known working state of those components. Same goes with the coils and their associated wires (I hear they can go bad too)

The black/yellow wire that comes out the power pack, is this for the second generation ignition systems? I think (if this is the wire) you're refering to the fourth wire "D" that needs to be added to the timer base essembly when it get's swapped out. That one I believe goes back to the switch. This was my possible assumption of a possible bad switch but I wasn't sure if a bad switch would exhibit one side of the motor to spark and the other half not too. (an all or nothing sort of question)

The suggestion on the power pack ground wire being loose should not be my problem since I double checked that one twice. Actually, when I first looked at it I had it buttted up against the motor side rather than the CD and it appeared that the motor side had a film insulator around it so I moved the ground to the outside. I think that was the original placement as-well.

No the flywheel looked ok when I pulled it off (no loose magnets but I didn;t take that close of an inspection to rule out a possible issue. I found some flux cleaning solution that I was going to use to clean the surface. I'll also pull off the timer base again and give it a good cleaning while I am at it. That include the shaft as-well. Any suggestions on prepping this unit before I assemble would be welcome.

Other than that, I am going to review the seloc manual (If there are tests not in this manual I should try and someone could share that knowledge I would be very thankfull)

B.T.W.: I determined the exact year of my motor to be 1981 not 1985 as noted in the subject. Also, the stator plates I have all look the same visually but have differant part numbers. I noted that they are all compatible just minor changes were made as they moved up they the years. The stator and timer base that I left in the motor were identical to the ones removed but if someone can confirm the stator compatiblity question for me that would be great.

Other than that, it sounds like I got some work cut out for me next week while on holidays.

Andre

 

[Rudy Brown]

Re: 1985 Evinrude 90 HP - No spark on 1 & 3

Try this http://rapair.com/portals/0/downloads/TroubleshootingGuide.pdf look at page 29.

 

[Rudy Brown]

Re: 1985 Evinrude 90 HP - No spark on 1 & 3

No fire or Intermittent on One Bank:
1. Check the stator resistance. You should read approximately 500 ohms from the brown wire to the brown/yellow
wire.
2. Check the DVA output from the stator. You should have a reading of at least 150V or more from the brown
wire to the brown/yellow wire (while connected to the pack). Also check DVA to engine ground from each
brown wire and compare the readings. If one wire reads low while connected to the pack, swap the connections
and see if the low reading stays on the same stator wire. If it does, the stator is bad.
3. Check the DVA output on the orange wires from the power pack while connected to the ignition coils. You
should have a reading of at least 150V or more. If the reading is low on one bank, disconnect the orange wires
from the ignition coil for that bank and reconnect them to a load resistor. Retest. If the reading is now good, one
or both of the ignition coils are likely bad. A continued low reading indicates a bad power pack.

 

[Andre]

Re: 1985 Evinrude 90 HP - No spark on 1 & 3

Thanks -- that is helpful info which I'll use for troubleshooting this weekend.

Can anyone confirm the possiblity of using the other stator plates that I talked about?

here are the list of OEM part numbers:

Stator for 90 HP Johnson\Evinrude 2-stroke 1984-87 models 9 amp. Replaces 581830, 581865, 581987, 582016, 582023, 582404, 582497, 582867, 583023, 583671, 583672

I believe the original was 581830.

Andre

 

[Andre]

Re: 1985 Evinrude 90 HP - No spark on 1 & 3

Thanks -- that is helpful info which I'll use for troubleshooting this weekend.

Can anyone confirm the possiblity of using the other stator plates that I talked about?

here are the list of OEM part numbers:

Stator for 90 HP Johnson\Evinrude 2-stroke 1984-87 models 9 amp. Replaces 581830, 581865, 581987, 582016, 582023, 582404, 582497, 582867, 583023, 583671, 583672

I believe the original was 581830.

Andre

After reading up on a few things I managed to answer my own question: The stators are compatible with the motor however some are only 6A and others are 10A+ which is required to drive the power tilt and other electrical options. I don't anticipate any damage could arise from over powering the unit but under powering could be.

 

[Andre]

UPDATE: 1985 Evinrude 90 HP - No spark on 1 & 3

UPDATE: 1985 Evinrude 90 HP - No spark on 1 & 3

Problem solved!

Thanks guys for your invaluable information. The manual I bought wasn't required as the downloaded troubleshooting data pin pointed my problem.

When I installed the timer base I inadvertantly squeezed one of the leads to the motor which caused a short to ground. It was under the rectifier so I didn't visually notice it right away. The continuity test to ground on the timer base identified the problem. I only performed the ohm test which passed but the the test to ground.

Great forum guys and thanks for all the help.

Andre