1998 Johnson 175 Ficht stopped

[whalerbob]

Having a great boating season with my engine running better than ever until today, cruising along at 30 knots, she hesitated twice, I brought her into neutral and she stalled. She cranks over just fine but that's all she does is crank over, she doesn't kick in. So I got towed in, hooked my computer up to her and there are no reported fault codes. Now what do I do?

Observations:

The boat has fuel, the bulb is hard and I hear the fuel pump kick in.

I'm not smelling fuel

Nobody around here will touch the Ficht engine so I have always fixed her myself. And yes I have the book. I recently replaced the sensor assembly and the power distribution panel and it's fuses, boat was running great.

I need some advice to narrow it down to fuel, spark or electrical.

Thanks

 

[boobie]

Re: 1998 Johnson 175 Ficht stopped

Put a timing light on each plug wire and see if you have any spark when turning it over.

 

[whalerbob]

Re: 1998 Johnson 175 Ficht stopped

Do you use the same timing light that I used to use on my car?

 

[boobie]

Re: 1998 Johnson 175 Ficht stopped

Yes............

 

[woody66912]

Re: 1998 Johnson 175 Ficht stopped

Do you have fuel pressure?. And you can't just relive pressure on the valve in to see if you have fuel there, there needs to be 32-36 psi.
A engine needs four things to run.
air.
fuel.
spark.
exhaust.

 

[whalerbob]

Re: 1998 Johnson 175 Ficht stopped

All good stuff, Ill start with getting my hands on a timing light and checking the spark.

 

[boobie]

Re: 1998 Johnson 175 Ficht stopped

Most people always forget exhaust. Been there and done that.

 

[whalerbob]

Re: 1998 Johnson 175 Ficht stopped

I put a timing light in her today and she's not getting spark, what's next?

 

[boobie]

Re: 1998 Johnson 175 Ficht stopped

Check all the fuses on the mtr and in the PDP.

 

[seahorse5]

Re: 1998 Johnson 175 Ficht stopped

A 1998 FICHT also has an ignition module that is activated by the ECU. Follow the troubleshooting steps in the service manual on how to test out the whole ignition system. It's too much for me to type out word for word. Check the system voltage while cranking, first.

Make sure the kill circuit in not the problem, black-yellow wire, keyswitch, PDP, relay, etc.

 

[whalerbob]

Re: 1998 Johnson 175 Ficht stopped

I have spent some time going through the tests outlined in the book.

The suppressor diode did not pass the test, so it must be shorted, would this cause it not to start?

Also in the power distribution panel (which was just replaced) the 4 wire connector bringing power in, the white/red wire apparently got very hot where it connects into the power distribution panel because it melted the plastic on the connector, this wire comes from the voltage regulator.

Also during voltage supply testing I could not get power to terminal J in the power distribution panel when cranking the engine, the book then said test the starting system in chapter 3, is the suppressor diode part the starting system?

I followed the steps for checking the switch continuity and passed, it wasn't very clear on how to check if the kill switch with lanaird was operating correctly?

 

[whalerbob]

Re: 1998 Johnson 175 Ficht stopped

Apparently they don't make that suppressor anymore but I was able to find one on eBay and I ordered it and it should be here by Thursday. It would be great to get some feedback on my last posting, I want to be sure I'm not spinning my wheels so far.

 

[whalerbob]

Re: 1998 Johnson 175 Ficht stopped

I guess everyone has been on vacation, I got my new used suppressor diode and that tested faulty as well, borrowed an appropriate meter and my old diode and my new used diode work fine. continued with testing of components and the culprit ended up being a shorted ignition switch, I'm back on the water. Thanks again for the earlier input for everyone, I'm sure I'll be back.