'89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

[farginicehole]

I have owned this motor for about 5 years now, and it's always been ridiculously hard to start when cold, especially if it's been sitting for a few weeks or more (even if in warm weather). Last weekend, I put the muffs on it and after a LOT of cranking, it finally started to fire but not start. More cranking (I'm gonna kill my poor starter!) and finally it fired up. Smoked like crazy, but I figured it was about flooded and all of the old gas and fogging oil was burning out. Anyways, I let it run for a while, and it seemed okay. It always fires right back up if you shut it off and turn it over a few minutes later. Anyways, just this weekend, I put fresh gas in it and was going to take it to the lake. Knowing this motor's habits, I figured I could save myself some frustration at the launch if I started it in my driveway again right before leaving for the lake. The thing wouldn't even fire. Crank, crank, crank, and crank again. I took the plugs out, and sure enough, it was now flooded. I turned it over several times to clear out the cylinders, and let the plugs dry before putting them back in. After a bunch more cranking and not even a fire, I took the plugs out again and yep, definitely getting fuel! By the way, this time, I didn't prime as much to avoid flooding. My wife had gotten home by now, so I dried off the plugs and held them up against the head, one at a time, to see if I was getting spark. Only had spark on three of the six cylinders! We went inside to eat lunch. Then we came back out so I could try the plugs that sparked well on the cylinders that didn't spark, and nothing. Tried the plugs that didn't spark on the cylinders that did, and got good spark (okay, plugs are fine, and were new last fall). After more of this, a cylinder that WAS sparking stopped. Then it did again. Very intermittent. Is it possible that something could have gotten moisture in it to be causing this problem? I suspect, due to the hard starting of this engine over the past few years, that I've been fighting this problem for some time now and it's just gotten worse now. I would like to replace whatever ignition components you experts believe to be "prime suspects", as I've about had it. Any suggestions? And yes, I will order a manual a.s.a.p. Thanks much for any help!

 

[farginicehole]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

(bump)

 

[farginicehole]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

Anyone? Sorry for writing a novel, but I wanted to include as much info as I have available at this time.

 

[Duck Loads]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

Take all plugs out. Use white-out or paint pen to mark on flywheel location of TDC of each piston relative to the timing pointer and mark them 1, 2, 3.... Put plugs back in. Connect timing light to each plug wire in turn while pointing light at the flywheel/timing pointer and crank the engine. make sure kill switch is NOT dead. <br /><br />If each cyl. fires correctly, you will only see its number (that you marked) on the flywheel. for ex. timing light on the no. 1 wire, you will only see your number 1 light up with the timing light.<br /><br />If you see numbers light up other than the plug wire the timing light is connected to, youv'e got crossfiring going on. <br /><br />If nothing lights up, that cyl dead. <br /><br />right down what you find and report back.

 

[farginicehole]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

Thanks for the reply, Duck Loads. I will do this as soon as I can and report back. Like I said though, the engine seems to run okay (although I only get about 5000 rpm) when it does start and run. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by crossfiring, but I assume that means a different cylinder is firing when another one SHOULD be? What I was seeing the other day when holding a plug to a bare cylinder head bolt, with wire connected, that some cylinders would spark when the motor was cranked and some wouldn't. Then, a few minutes later, ones that were sparking wouldn't anymore. Does this sound like a symptom of the problem that you are describing, or possibly something else? Could this be something wrong with my power pack?

 

[Duck Loads]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

Yep, the cross firing I'm talking about is when a cylinder fires out of turn with or without the intended cylinder firing. That test can be done with the engine running on the muffs in the driveway. Once you get the flywheel/cyl's TDC indexed it will go quick.<br /><br />From what I have been told this cross firing and or an individual cylinder not firing could be a sign of the timer base crapping out. If one bank or the other is dead could mean a power pack. <br /><br />The test is just an easy start to gain more information. It might not be the final proof of what is wrong, but a tool to get there. The truth is out there!<br /><br />Good day

 

[codkiller]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

farginicehole2, You also need to look at the stator. The stator supplies voltage to the power pack. What happens is a lot of heat is generated under the flywheel by the charge coils on the stator. Over time this heat brakes down the stator which causes a black sticky substance to leak out of those charge coils indicating that the stator is on its way out. When this happens the output voltage to the power pack drops over time causing erratic ignition problems. Pull the flywheel and inspect the stator.

 

[farginicehole]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

Codkiller, is there any way to check the stator other than to look for this black, sticky substance leaking out of the charge coils? Also, where is a good source to purchase a factory OMC manual for this engine? I would just take this to a dealer, but I'm afraid that they would just replacing components until the problem was fixed (not a bad plan, considering the age of the engine, but could get really costly at a dealer!). Thanks for your reply.

 

[codkiller]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

You need a peak reading voltage meter or a peak reading voltage adapter which will work on a fluke digital multimeter. If your 150 is anything like my 200 where you have one power pack which feed both sides of the engine, while cranking the engine you should get approx 300 volts DVA across the brown and brown/yellow wires (one set of wires feeds the starboard side and the other set feeds the port side. You can purchase a manual from the link below. I also included a link for the adapter.<br /><br />Good luck<br /><br /> http://www.marineengine.com/ <br /> http://www.esitest.com/cart/640.html

 

[clanton]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

If the ignition system checks out, drill the primer hose nipple, that is located on the carb body, if crossflow engine, to .062 I think. Check the size with drill bit, clean hole and increase size about .020. There is a service bulletin floating around about this. It will help all crossflow hard starting V4s and V6s.

 

[farginicehole]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

Just wanted to give an update. I went to a local sporting and boat store yesterday and bought a Clymer shop manual for the engine, and got reading in the ignition section just to familiarize myself with how it works. Then I got an idea to just go out and loosen everything (the ignition coils, the power pack and any other ignition-related ground wires) and re-tighten them. You know, just something to do while drinking a couple of beers. After that, I hooked the hose back up to it, turned it over, and it started immediately. Even idled smoothly. Must have been a bad ground somewhere! I will still probably replace a few components, as a couple of the ignition coils are looking a little rough (the rubber material is looking degraded and starting to crack). Thanks to all for their suggestions and my next step is to decarbonize the engine. I'll take compression readings before and after the treatment. I'm going to see if the NAPA across the street from where I work has Sea Foam Deep Creep.

 

[Duck Loads]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

Holy cow good for you! Step back, then have a beer and dive into it. That's great.

 

[farginicehole]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

And it was PBR of all beers!!

 

[Duck Loads]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

PBR. That's actually my all time favorite full bodied beverage. It's getting kind of rare around here. You have to go to the kind of bad part of town to get it.<br /><br />Be safe

 

[farginicehole]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

I think it's made kind of a comeback as a "retro" beer. Too bad, because that has made the price creep back up a bit too! Anyways, I'm gonna see if a co-worker will let me borrow his compression gage and call NAPA to see if they have any Sea Foam in stock. I'll report my results.

 

[farginicehole]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

Okay, back on the subject of engines. Cylinders 4 and 6 continue to give me problems with no spark after I let it sit overnight. Then if I mess with the bolts that hold the ignition coils on, I get spark. I took the coils off last night and took some fine sandpaper to the metal contacts that ground the coils to the block. We'll see if that helps today. For the last couple of days, the problem seems to be affecting these same two cylinders, even after I swapped the #2 coil (always has good spark) with the #4. I realize that this may be pointing to something upstream from the ignition coils, but messing with the leads to these coils or the spark plug wires has never helped - only loosening and re-tightening the bolts (ground side) that hold the coils on seems to bring the spark back. Any ideas? By the way, I followed the Clymer instructions to do a compression check "before decarb with Sea Foam Deep Creep" and got the following: 1 - 101 psi, 2 - 102 psi, 3 - 100 psi, 4 - 99 psi, 5 - 100 psi and 6 - 99 psi. These numbers look pretty good, right? I still plan to decarb, but don't expect much of a performance improvement since my cylinders are all so close to each other.

 

[farginicehole]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

Okay, more news. I just went home at lunchtime and fired the beast up with the hose & muffs again. As usual, it was running very rough. I checked, and now cylinders 4 & 5 were the ones not getting any spark. Before it was 4 & 6. Today, 6 was sparking well. I didn't mess with anything else, as I had to get back to work. Anyone got any ideas of what component(s) I should start testing first?

 

[Walker]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

Remove all the coils and clean the ground straps and the block where they bolt on. Clean the threads on the bolts. Put a dab of dielectric grease on them and bolt them back on.

 

[farginicehole]

Re: '89 Evinrude 150 XP won't fire

Thanks Walker, I'll give that a try. Is there any way I can rule out my power pack, stator, or other component?