1989 Force 85Hp Fire Issue

[goatdog79]

I just bought a 1989 Capri Bayliner that had a Force 85HP outboard motor. I took it out on the lake yesterday and was having trouble getting it moving without it stalling. Once got it moving, it was ok. Hit about 32mph max. With people in it it barley hit 20mph. A friend of mine checked to see if it was firing. The top spark was putting out no spark. When he would unplug it, the sound of the engine didn't change. When he would unplug the middle or the bottom wire, the engine bogged way down. He said, he thinks, that it is that ignition coil or the powerpack. Anyone know which one I should try first. Or what else it could be? I'm a new boat owner and goin crazy wantin to get it on the water. Thanks!

 

[pnwboat]

Re: 1989 Force 85Hp Fire Issue

Ignition parts for these motors are not very cheap. You need to eliminate all possibilities other wise you may end up spending a lot of money without fixing it resulting in a frustrating experience. You need some basic electronics experience, a digital multi-meter ($20 or $30 one will do). Need to check the stator, trigger, coils, connections to start with.

 

[Unbalanced]

Re: 1989 Force 85Hp Fire Issue

Welcom to iBoats.
Hit the Search button on the blue toolbar then type no spark. You will get a couple days worth of reading....

The ignition circuit is pretty simple once you become familiar with it.
I suggest you get a manual as it will need it again once you solve this spark issue, not to mention the regular maintenence. The Clymer manual is prefered over the Seloc.

For simplicity, lets follow the path of energy as it makes its way to the spark plug.
The stator (which is under the flywheel) generates AC voltage that is sent to the CDI box via the Trigger. The CDI then feeds 2 coils which is then transfered to the spark plug. So, since the 85hp is a tripple, there is one unused ouput from the CDI. (This same ignition set up is used on the 125hp 4 cylinder).

If you got all that, then lets get on to some troubleshooting...

First of all you could try a new spark plug.. or swap with one from another cylinder. Take them all out and have a look at them. Let us know what you see.

If that didn't work, take out your 1/2" or 7/16" (can't remember) wrench and remove the 3 nuts that hold the ignition component plate to the side of the engine. There are either red or orange wires that are connected from the back of the CDI boxes to the ignition coils. You will notice that one of those wires isn't used. Swap the #1 coil and #2 coil wires from the CDI box.
Now if the #1 plug doesn't fire then you have a coil that is suspect to be bad. If the #2 plug doesn't fire then the CDI box is 1/2 dead or the trigger is bad. Now swap the 1-2 CDI box with the 3-X box. If you still have no spark on #1 then the trigger is most likely bad. I didn't mention the stator since you have spark coming from at least half of each CDI box.

Now the above paragraph is a first pass/I don't have a manual/I just want to do some basic trouble shooting...

The manual will give you specific resistance values for the components.

Once you figure out the spart issue, do yourself a favor and check the cooling system and change the oil in the lower unit. These two things will mean life or death to your Force-and any outboard for that matter.
Cooling is vital and there is probably no instrumentation on your boat that lets you know what's going on with your cooling system. You NEED to know that your engine is getting a sufficient amount of cooling water or you'll be selling this boat for a lot less than what you paid for it....
Change the impeller and add a gauge or tell tail to your engine. There are stickys on how to do both. Since you'll have the lower unit off to replace the impeller, change the lower unit oil. Do it right after you solve this spark issue.
Mix your gas 50:1 with TCWIII oil and you'll be good to go.

PM me if you determine you have a bad coil or CDI.

 

[bayliner12]

Re: 1989 Force 85Hp Fire Issue

I'd almost bet its the coil

 

[john from md]

Re: 1989 Force 85Hp Fire Issue

I wouldn't. In my experience with these engines, unless people are troubleshooting without grounding the coil, they rarely go bad. They are the easiest component on the engine to test and yet, because they are easy to change, people spend money on them when they don't need to.

The best way to troubleshoot the ignition system in this engine is with a meter and a DVA adapter. It sure saves spending money on CDI units when your stator is bad or vise versa.

John