84 70hp Evinrude will crank only once, no fire

ShockDiver

Cadet
Joined
Apr 24, 2011
Messages
8
Hello

Thanks in advance for reading and possibly assisting in some advice.

I have a '84 70 hp evinrude my grandfather used to own, I've used it for two seasons now. The first season, it had been sitting a bit, so I cleaned all the carbs with fishing line, replaced plugs, gear oil, new battery, adjusted cables. The engine always started and ran fine, a little sluggish from idle to WOT, but considered that normal for the age of the engine.

Season 3 - changed out gear oil, got to the lake and started and ran normally for about 3 hours. Nearing the end of our day, near the ramp, the engine just quit. I checked the gas tank it was on, and it was basically empty. Attached the second full can of gas and tried to start. It didn't even sound right. The starter would push the flywheel one revolution and then stop. Sometimes, if holding the ignition key to start, I would get one revolution, pause, and maybe a second. Got a friendly tow the last 200 yards to the ramp.:rolleyes:

Pulled the battery and had it checked - store analyzer stated it was bad, so got a fresh battery. Hooked it up, same problem. When I tried to manually start the engine with a pull rope, it seemed very hard to pull, but I could give it a spin. Again, after one spin, it would stop. The flywheel seemed very hard to turn, but I never tried manually turning the flywheel before.

Searching websites, reading manuals, etc. Would just like any feedback. My fear is the lower unit is seized (prop spins easily, so no entanglement there) or one of the coils under the flywheel is bad. No warning, though. My understanding is that one coil starts the flywheel/driveshaft spinning, then the other coils take over during ignition. I really don't think it is the starter, but that seems to me the next logical thing to test/replace. Thanks for any advice.
 

patrick4266

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Nov 29, 2007
Messages
591
Re: 84 70hp Evinrude will crank only once, no fire

Take out all spark plugs and try to spin it. If still hard take off the starter and try again. You may have water in a cylinder or worse yet you blew up your engine. Let us know.
 

dew2

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 6, 2010
Messages
674
Re: 84 70hp Evinrude will crank only once, no fire

Clean all the batt connections at the batt,solenoid both sides,starter and the ground on the block,70 HP the pull is a tough pull.
 

ShockDiver

Cadet
Joined
Apr 24, 2011
Messages
8
Re: 84 70hp Evinrude will crank only once, no fire

Thanks Patrick and DEW. As directed, I took all the plugs out and tried to manually pull the motor - pretty much the same result, I can pull it, but I really had to yank on it (and perhaps this is normal for a 70). BUT, I tried the ignition without the plugs in and the flywheel spun as long as I held the key in the start position. Encouraging, so my next step will be to get new plugs and clean all connections along the ignition path. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow night.
Thanks and stay tuned.
 

ShockDiver

Cadet
Joined
Apr 24, 2011
Messages
8
Re: 84 70hp Evinrude will crank only once, no fire

Got new plugs, cleaned connections, same result:(

Off to get a new starter
 

ShockDiver

Cadet
Joined
Apr 24, 2011
Messages
8
Re: 84 70hp Evinrude will crank only once, no fire

New starter - same result. On ignition, the flywheel spins maybe one revolution, then stops or hesitates; like something is hung up. Same behavior with each crank.
 
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