78 Evinrude Power Pack Test

[BobRitter]

Top cylinder no spark, bottom OK. Thought it was the coil. Unplugged the connection between the power pack and coils, inserted a lead into the plug going to the bad cylinder and hooked up a volt meter set on 100 volts. Hit the key and NADA. Switched to the good cylinder and the volt meter pegged. I'm assuming it must be a bad pack not the coil. Too bad, coils are cheaper. Is there anything else that it could be? It doesn't have points, condensers etc to go bad. What is the proper nomenclature for this ignition system? Thanks in advance. Bob Rittter

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: 78 Evinrude Power Pack Test

Commonly referred to as CD ignition, or CDI.

 

[BobRitter]

Re: 78 Evinrude Power Pack Test

Thanks. CD stands for Capaciter Discharge?? Did my trouble shooting process seem reasonable?

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: 78 Evinrude Power Pack Test

I just replaced the powerpak when I lost spark. According to the manual, I needed some test equipment that I had no access to. My way is not the best, but it was my only alternative, and it worked.

 

[DHPMARINE]

Re: 78 Evinrude Power Pack Test

94% of the time it is a bad power pack.BUT testing is done to eliminate other things.Basically,the charge coil supplies power to the pack,the sensors tell it when to fire,and the black/yellow lead kills the spark.

You didn't mention your HP,but if you have a 'terminal - pack' there is some wire switching that can be done to diagnos.

DHP

 

[BobRitter]

Re: 78 Evinrude Power Pack Test

It's a 35HP with CD ignition. Is the testing I described in my original post seem reasonable? To us enginears here at work it seems reasonable but we're enginears not makaniks. Tanks, Bob Ritter