1987 20 hp johnson no spark

travz500

Cadet
Joined
Jun 13, 2008
Messages
14
my motor was running full throttle and then suddenly died like it hit the kill switch now has no spark the kill switches are ok i jumpered just to make sure they werent the problem any help where to start would be great i checked the coils ohmed out and both are ok and the charging coil and sensor according to my testing and the book are bad is it possilble to die all at once like that?
 

travz500

Cadet
Joined
Jun 13, 2008
Messages
14
Re: 1987 20 hp johnson no spark

thanks did not know there was a fuse i will check this if i can find it
 

ottertail

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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Jun 11, 2008
Messages
83
Re: 1987 20 hp johnson no spark

Skip the fuse, not the problem. There will be a fuse only if you have an electric start engine and it will control the starting system only. This engine has few component. 1 charge col, 1 sensor coil, 1 power pack, 2 ignition coils and a kill circut. The fly whell could be included in the system but I have very seldom run into a fly wheel issue with this engine. First of all unhook the black wire with the yellow tracer from the power pack connector, this will eliminate the entire kill circut. ( make sure plug wires are unhooked from plugs.) I recomend leaving plugs in the head so if spark does return you dont have fuel coming out of the plug holes looking for an ignition source. Things can get really pretty when raw fuel finds spark! If there is still no spark it pans out like this. The charge coil under the fly wheel charges the ignition system for both cylinders, the sonsor coil under the flywheel tells the power pack witch cylinder to fire. So you have the possibliity of a faulty charge coil, faulty sensor coil and a faulty power pack. If you have checked the resistance on these coils and they are in range there is no test for the power pack except replacement. The power pack will be the cause the majority of the time. But there are always the strange failures.
 

travz500

Cadet
Joined
Jun 13, 2008
Messages
14
Re: 1987 20 hp johnson no spark

the charge coil ohms out at 535 ohms book said it should be 550 to 600 so i think i will start with the charge coil and the sensor while the flywheel is still off and i took the electric start stuff off years ago when the starter died and did away with all that stuff and has worked fine for about 8 years that way so there is no fuse thanks for the help though
 
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