Hmmmm, ignition safety circuit assy is missing?

[witenite0560]

Ok, here's a stumper for me. So, I'm looking for some background and some help. I've got a 1970, Evinrude v-4, 115hp. I bought it with my boat last summer. Had it out a few times last year and with some tweeking it was running pretty good. Did a little more research and tweeking this spring, both on muffs and in a barrel. Seemed to be running fine and started right up. Finally had a chance to put it on the lake Monday afternoon. Put her in the water, tied up to the dock, parked the truck and trailer, came back hopped in and when I tried to start it, she caught briefly but ran rough like needed some choke, then died. After that she turns over great, but seems to be sparkless. Loaded back up, went home and swapped out for my spare sparkplugs. (Forgot to take the spark plug wrench with me to the lake, but fortunately it's only 2 miles.) Still no spark. So, pulled out my service manual. The manual I have is actually for the 1970 Johnson 115, but they should be just about identical, right? I do have the correct parts manual.
So, I've got battery voltage at terminal #8, 20 amp fuse is good and then it gets wierd..... it tells me to jumper from terminal #7 to #9 to bypass the safety circuit, but #7 has nothing attached to it! So, I read ahead a bit and it says to check that all the terminals on the terminal block are hooked up per Figure. Hmmm, there's some strange things here. No wires where the book says there should be and wires where the book says there shouldn't be and unfortunately some wire colors don't age well, so purples look gray, etc. Well, the next thing to check is the Ignition Safety Circuit Assy. Looks simple enough in the book.... HEY! I don't have one, just two empty screw holes where my book says it should be!
So, I'm thinking someone has bypassed the Safety Circuit and most likely my Pulse pack finally couldn't take anymore and gave up the ghost. Is it common to bypass the Safety circuit in some way? Looks like that would explain why there's wires missing and out of place on the terminal block. Thoughts, suggestions?? Thanks.

 

[Tom_C]

Re: Hmmmm, ignition safety circuit assy is missing?

I may be worng but I think some aftermarket power packs have the ignition safety circuit built in, so the ignition safety circuit assy is removed.


On my 1992 Johnson 25 is this way. The ignition safety circuit assy is removed, but the ignition safety circuit works the way it should.

 

[witenite0560]

Re: Hmmmm, ignition safety circuit assy is missing?

Ahhh, good to know. My pulse pack is not the original, so perhaps this is the case. I found a source for a new pulse pack for $250 and the Safety circuit assy for $130. Maybe I'll order the pulse pack and see what the instructions that come with it say. If there are any. lol

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: Hmmmm, ignition safety circuit assy is missing?

The saferty circuit, or clipper assembly was later removed. In the Rapair catalog. they will void the warranty if the clipper assemby is used. If uou have a different pack, it was probably removed then. Does your engine have a new coil, along with the pack?

 

[F_R]

Re: Hmmmm, ignition safety circuit assy is missing?

The saferty circuit, or clipper assembly was later removed. In the Rapair catalog. they will void the warranty if the clipper assemby is used. If uou have a different pack, it was probably removed then. Does your engine have a new coil, along with the pack?

A clipper circuit and an ignition safety circuit are not the same critter. Completely different puprose. Not only that, the 1970 115hp never had a clipper circuit to begin with.

So, getting down to the facts, that motor is capable of running backwards, so a "reverse cutout ring" is provided to prevent that. But that's getting off-topic. The motor is also capable of instantly starting when you turn the key on, without ever running the starter. The ignition safety circuit prevents that by only supplying voltage to the power pack once the starter is cranking. It does it by sensing an output from the rotating alternator.

OK, so some replacement pulse packs might not do the instant start thing, eliminating the need for the safety circuit. In other cases, there are a lot of people out there that are ready to discard any mysterious gizmos that they figure are unnecesssary.

Bottom line, even if you have a pulse pack that does do the instant start thing, it won't hurt to run without the safety circuit. Just be aware and ready to turn the key back off before you run over something.

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: Hmmmm, ignition safety circuit assy is missing?

Fleet Admiral: That engine most certainly has an ignition safety circuit, "clipper assembly". Are you talking about the starter circuit with it's ground switch, or ignition safty switch? The engine has both. Have you ever owned one of these engine's, or exsperienced the start without cranking? Where did that come from? Seem's the service manual would say something about that

 

[witenite0560]

Re: Hmmmm, ignition safety circuit assy is missing?

Yes, my motor does have an aftermarket coil. I'll presume it was changed at the same time the aftermarket pulse pack was installed. The current pulse pack is a "CDI electronics, Prestolite type, 113-8362". Sounds like I may not need to Safety circuit assy I ordered, bummer. Well, if I don't need it, I might be able to make someone a good deal on it. Really appreciate your suggestions and help, gentlemen. I'll keep you posted.

 

[F_R]

Re: Hmmmm, ignition safety circuit assy is missing?

Fleet Admiral: That engine most certainly has an ignition safety circuit, "clipper assembly". Are you talking about the starter circuit with it's ground switch, or ignition safty switch? The engine has both. Have you ever owned one of these engine's, or exsperienced the start without cranking? Where did that come from? Seem's the service manual would say something about that

I did not say that it does not have an ignition safety circuit. I said that it does not have a clipper circuit, which is not the same device. I'm not going to argue my qualifications with you except to say that I was a full time Evinrude dealer mechanic when that motor was built and received proper training on how and why it works. It starts unexpectedly if you recently had it running and there is a combustable mixture in the cylinder. Turning the key on produces a spark without cranking. If everything is right, that spark will ignite that combustable mixture and kick start the engine. Do you honestly think that OMC would spend the engineering and production money to put something on there that didn't have a good reason behind it? How about potentially getting sued as a reason? How about potentially getting sued as a reason not to make it public knowledge?