Help with my Johnson ! Blew my dough and now I'm stumped !

murphree

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Feb 28, 2010
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10
I have a 1989 Johnson 48spl. Before it was only firingon one cylinder. Not being a total expert I just decided to replace several things new. I installed a new rectifier, ignition coil, power pack (conversion kit to get the pack out from under the flywheel), and fuel pump. After installation I have NO fire. Everything appears to be wired correctly, but I thought power packs should have a power wire (?) Does this get power from the new charge coil I installed ? I also purchased the gap ring to set the sensor. I assume you set the ring in place, push the sensor up against the ring, then tighten. I know I could check the trigger and stator but right before I installed all the parts it WAS firing. I would really appreciate some feedback. This really got me disgusted.:mad:
 

tashasdaddy

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Re: Help with my Johnson ! Blew my dough and now I'm stumped !

sounds to me you need to go back and check all your work, and connections. could easily be a ground wire.
 

murphree

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Feb 28, 2010
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Re: Help with my Johnson ! Blew my dough and now I'm stumped !

If I'm looking correctly, the only ground I had to worry with was the ground from the new pack. I did ground the (black) wire. Even tried a couple of different locations. I did notice though searching through the forum and some pdf I downloaded that maybe my sensor isn't adjusted correctly. I used the gap ring but adjusted the sensor up against it. I think I may have read somewhere that it should be gapped to .028. Would this be something worth looking into ? The timing wasn't tampered with from the origional setting and the wiring is pretty obvious (color to color). I'm recieving nothing to the ignition coil. I assume all gets it's power from the new charge coil I installed. Thank you once again.
 

murphree

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Feb 28, 2010
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Re: Help with my Johnson ! Blew my dough and now I'm stumped !

Well, ok. I'll go with my gut feeling. I'm sure if I just spend a little more time on this I'll surely figure this one out. Oh, and I blew my dough here.:cool:
 

14ftgrumman

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Jul 19, 2008
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Re: Help with my Johnson ! Blew my dough and now I'm stumped !

What TD said.
Start at the beginning and re-trace (or re-do as necessary).
If you had some spark when you started, if you did everything correctly, you should at least have spark on the same cyl.

Re-check ALL of your work. Probably something simple.
 

JB

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45,907
Re: Help with my Johnson ! Blew my dough and now I'm stumped !

More proof of JB's Law:

Replacing parts is the most used, most expensive and least effective troubleshooting method known to man.

It also often causes more troubles than it fixes.
 

murphree

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Feb 28, 2010
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Re: Help with my Johnson ! Blew my dough and now I'm stumped !

Thank you guys for the reply. I surely will check everything shortly. My gut tells me that even using the ring guage I think the sensor may be too close. If it is could this cause a firing issue? Things make sense to me replacing parts that already exist but this being a conversion is, I admit, a little confusing. I understand how everything should work that's why I thought maybe the sensor is indeed to close to be reading correctly. It just drives me insane. I've owned 20 boats in my 35 years, even repaired a lot of friends boats. And for the record, you guys that do this for a living deserve every dime you make.
 

murphree

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Joined
Feb 28, 2010
Messages
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Re: Help with my Johnson ! Blew my dough and now I'm stumped !

After some research I have found that my sensor is correct. Next off day I will pull out the multimeter and start from scratch.
 
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