No spark 55 HP Evinrude triumph 1969

[Crosbyman]

as a last resort and based on my own headnocks may I suggest you put this aside for a few days...if not a week and start with a new look at things . Seems fuel flow issues are not involded in the problem you stated u had good sparks at the main coil now (progress !) and the problem seems concentrated on spark distributions ..... so go over that area again . Don't recall if you have a shop manual (a good one) but that may help. so just leave it for a while.

Evinrude Triumph 55 HP Wiring Diagram : Evinrude Motors : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Wiring diagram from Evinrude Triumph 55 HP outboard motor service manual

archive.org

taking it to a good shop..who wants to work on it being a 69....may be your best investment.


btw this dead ended case may point... may point to a flaky rectifier connected to the stator yellows.
who knows....a bad rectifer may be influecing the B+ outpout that spreads to the engine distribution and.... your power pack ... try disconnecting it as a quick test.
https://forums.iboats.com/threads/1...h-intermitent-spark-when-cranking-why.169728/

 

[Crosbyman]

1968 version ?? in referrence to these "options" keep in mind anything affecting B+ fed to the amplifier is susceptible of interring with spark generation.. resistive points, loose -chaffed wires anything from battery B+ to amplifier..... don't mean to send you of a goose chase but.....recheck evrything.

 

[Crosbyman]

if you have not done so yet u may want to post your problem question on AOMCI.org "ASK A QUESTION" maybe someone experienced it being an oldies...

 

[Mc Tool]

It seems like racer one just doesn't want to help me anymore and both of you are incorrect The points have everything to do with the timing The points trigger the amplifier to send the voltage to the coil which is literally the beginning of the timing without the points working correctly the trigger is triggered incorrectly points to closed triggered too soon points to open maybe not triggered at all. And I am about to take it to a mechanic cuz I am done with this s***. Racer one told me it was the rotor a number of times I replaced the rotor did not fix the problem so does he know what he's talking about doesn't seem like it because I did what he said and it didn't fix anything. The closest boat shop to me swears that it's bad fuel Tell me how bad fuel takes spark away from my spark plug wire? I could understand if I had it at the wire but not the plug and the plug was fouled but that's not the case here I have a weak spark on cylinder number one and nothing at 2 and 3 so either I have brand new bad parts or nobody on this page knows what they're talking about. Because at this point the only part in my ignition system that has not been replaced is the key switch. I know that my problem lies somewhere in my points I don't know why and I don't know how to check them I have ohmed them out they open and they close like they're supposed to when they're open I get an OH reading you know nothing it shows me nothing okay when they're closed I get zero which is perfect perfectly closed so I know my points work and I can rotate my motor with everything connected and watch it trigger my wire Three separate times in a rotation so tell me All right points working? Because it's sending my ground signal to my trigger wire but somehow I spark doesn't show up when it's supposed to. Since racer one has tapped out seems to me like he does no longer know what is going on he said it was my rotor I bought a new rotor didn't fix the problem. So if nobody wants to help me on here anymore I will stop posting I do appreciate that y'all tried but half the information I was provided was for wrong stuff half the people don't know what they're talking about with this engine and apparently the only guy that does no longer wants to help. So thanks for nothing guys I have spent $750 plus in parts for it to run for 10 f****** seconds all to be told that nobody wants to help me anymore after I change the parts they said it should be so yeah I'm done.

Cool ,read the 1st 3 lines...... I give up too

 

[68glasspar]

But you still refuse to spend 15min time and .05 cents worth of silcone dielectric inside the spark plug boot at the dist. cap!

 

[sad boater]

Cool ,read the 1st 3 lines...... I give up too

I did the All the tests on the amplifier I am getting a solid 12 volt so I even did the recommendation of running a wire directly from the battery to the amplifier to ensure I was still getting 12 volts My battery is new so a voltage drop isn't the issue I have cleaned all my grounds repaired anything that looked suspicious as far as grounds. One thing I noticed I went ahead and I adjusted the points in at .008 and lost my spark completely I backed it out to .011 and it got more sporadic so I went back to.010 and the signal to the number one went back to almost being good with the occasional sporadic signal. I really do believe I got a bad distributor they call it infant mortality when a good part goes bad instantly.

 

[sad boater]

But you still refuse to spend 15min time and .05 cents worth of silcone dielectric inside the spark plug boot at the dist. cap!

I did do this since I already had the flywheel off it made it really easy for me to remove the boots and pack around the wire where it goes into the distributor and then fill my boots with dielectric grease It did not change anything unfortunately It was a good idea and I did think that it might help but it didn't but I did do it just so you know I did not ignore your advice It was one of the things I did while I was inside of there.

 

[sad boater]

Cool ,read the 1st 3 lines...... I give up too

I'm sorry I suffer from PTSD and I get really frustrated really easy I took my medicine so I've calmed down and been able to take a better look at it I apologize for all my frustration I just need to be able to get away from my house and this was supposed to be my getaway and all the day was turn into another headache for me. But I do appreciate all the advice and all the different testing procedures that you provided I was able to do some of them to verify some parts worked and others didn't so it was helpful it just didn't saw my problem like most of it at the moment everything except the key switch is brand new or new old stock I really do think that I bought a distributor that just happened to die instantly they call it infant mortality at least that's what AI told me

 

[sad boater]

I would pack your spark plug wire boots were they attach to the dist cap with silicone dielectric grease before you spend anymore money!
Your symptoms match what i had to a tee of what i had on my 1969 85hp

I did do this I just wanted to let you know I did not ignore your advice this is one of the things that I did when I went back into it since the flywheels off it made it easy I'm sorry I didn't say something earlier

 

[Crosbyman]

good or not here is one suggestion... disconnect the pulse wire from the points to the amplifier

Position the rotor to fire on one of the 2 plugs coils DO NOT CRANK the engine just leave the rotor pointing on one position. turn key ON... confirm the amplifier is getting good B+

MANUALLY fire the amplifier by tapping the pulse wire to ground and see if the associated plug (unplugged) fires properly everty time you tap the control wire to ground

if OK..repeat the test with the rotor manually positionned to fire the 2nd plug coil position.... tap to ground and check for spark (just ground the plug body for these tests ) .

if both plugs do fire properly but fail to do so while chanking............. measure B+ going into the amplifier during cranking.

say below say 9.5 or 10 v... something is wrong and find out why voltage is so low from a fully charged battery with good connections.

lastly.... if so inclined....direct wire a sepate and strong B+ ( taken on the solenoid main IN post) to the amplifier and retest with everything in place and cranking. If plugs fire properly you know you have a feeble fused 12v source...see wire diagram. post #101..

make certain you do not have some resistive point (s) on your fused B+... even a dirty fuse socket can introduce voltage drops!!!)

I am just greenlighting here... for you being up the creek.

Up to you to proceed

 

[sad boater]

good or not here is one suggestion... disconnect the pulse wire from the points to the amplifier

Position the rotor to fire on one of the 2 plugs coils DO NOT CRANK the engine just leave the rotor pointing on one position. turn key ON... confirm the amplifier is getting good B+

MANUALLY fire the amplifier by tapping the pulse wire to ground and see if the associated plug (unplugged) fires properly everty time you tap the control wire to ground

if OK..repeat the test with the rotor manually positionned to fire the 2nd plug coil position.... tap to ground and check for spark (just ground the plug body for these tests ) .

if both plugs do fire properly but fail to do so while chanking............. measure B+ going into the amplifier during cranking.

say below say 9.5 or 10 v... something is wrong and find out why voltage is so low from a fully charged battery with good connections.

lastly.... if so inclined....direct wire a sepate and strong B+ ( taken on the solenoid main IN post) to the amplifier and retest with everything in place and cranking. If plugs fire properly you know you have a feeble fused 12v source...see wire diagram. post #101..

make certain you do not have some resistive point (s) on your fused B+... even a dirty fuse socket can introduce voltage drops!!!)

I am just greenlighting here... for you being up the creek.

Up to you to proceed

The first part of that makes a lot of sense trying to manually trigger the spark on certain cylinders so I might give that a shot tomorrow I'm definitely done working on it today I did do the other thing the making sure I had a good 12 volt signal to the amplifier at all times and it never dropped below 11.8 I think is what it said on my meter so I don't think the voltage drop is an issue but I will test that first part that does make sense so at least worth giving it a shot. Thank you very much that is somewhat helpful I believe.

 

[Mc Tool]

I'm sorry I suffer from PTSD and I get really frustrated really easy I took my medicine so I've calmed down and been able to take a better look at it I apologize for all my frustration I just need to be able to get away from my house and this was supposed to be my getaway and all the day was turn into another headache for me. But I do appreciate all the advice and all the different testing procedures that you provided I was able to do some of them to verify some parts worked and others didn't so it was helpful it just didn't saw my problem like most of it at the moment everything except the key switch is brand new or new old stock I really do think that I bought a distributor that just happened to die instantly they call it infant mortality at least that's what AI told me

Ah now I dunno what to say . On one hand I think you will be over the moon happy when it goes but if its driving you nuts it might not be all that good for you.
Im no stranger to the concept of the " therapeutic project " and also no stranger to the angst when things dont go to plan .I still have the odd tantrum but Im much better at keeping a lid on it than I was . Sometimes ya just gotta put it down and walk away for a while .
Biggest problem here is that the above posters cant actually put eyes on the problem and while Im sure everyone is trying to be helpful it can be frustrating when you get a lot of well meaning but possibly conflicting advice coz you dont know who to listen to ( me included because Im relying on my general mechanicy knowledge .....I dont actually know anything about your particular motor ). Im more a monkey see monkey do type in that I learn faster by watching someone else do it than by listening to a narrative.
If it were me Id be googling to see if anyone has done a vid on your motor ( you may have already done this ) or even a different hp rated motor from the same year as its likely to have a similar ignition ....even if it has more or less cylinders than yours.
Maybe give it a rest for a bit ....but dont give up on it

 

[68glasspar]

I did do this I just wanted to let you know I did not ignore your advice this is one of the things that I did when I went back into it since the flywheels off it made it easy I'm sorry I didn't say something earlier

Your post#88 said you didn't

 

[68glasspar]

Take your flywheel off once again and put the nut back on the threads so you can turn the crankshaft. unplug the wire going from point to the cd box. Hook a multimeter set to ohms to that wire and then to a ground point on the engine. turn the crankshaft and observe the ohm reading on both sets of points.

 

[68glasspar]

Also check the continuity of the wire for the points that travels up to the breaker plate. pay close attention were the wire is clamped to the breaker plate.

I am assuming you have a good multimeter!

 

[Crosbyman]

sad boater ... just keep in mind that voltage readings are subjectives sometimes. Seeing 11.8 volts gives you the measured volts at the specific point yet the more critical thing is to have enough amps to drive the component in need of energy (power=watts= volts & amps). if for some reason your 12 volts reaching the amplifier doesn't carry enough amps into the amplifier it may produce weak or not enough spark voltage outo the main HV coil. that is why I suggest wiring in a B+ directly from solenoid to amplifer just as test.

 

[68glasspar]

Another idea is if he doesn't want to run another wire, We (auto mechanic) would take a halogen headlight bulb to load test the circuit. Very bright light=good amp carrying capacity

 

[sad boater]

sad boater ... just keep in mind that voltage readings are subjectives sometimes. Seeing 11.8 volts gives you the measured volts at the specific point yet the more critical thing is to have enough amps to drive the component in need of energy (power=watts= volts & amps). if for some reason your 12 volts reaching the amplifier doesn't carry enough amps into the amplifier it may produce weak or not enough spark voltage outo the main HV coil. that is why I suggest wiring in a B+ directly from solenoid to amplifer just as test.

I ran the wire straight from the battery to the 12v input on the amplifier. It didn't change the spark I get from the coil wire. Which will jump a 1/2 gap with a strong blue spark. I lose it at the distributor it that how it seems. It is the correct type of battery it's in marine battery and I got the big ones who had plenty of amp hours to provide what I need.

 

[sad boater]

Another idea is if he doesn't want to run another wire, We (auto mechanic) would take a halogen headlight bulb to load test the circuit. Very bright light=good amp carrying capacity

I have said on three different posts now I did run a battery supply to the amplifier straight from the battery so I had a strong 12 volt signal straight out of a brand new large marine battery. My problem is not the amperage coming out of the coil I have a wonderfully strong spark It just disappears in the distributor somehow you guys keep wanting me to test wires but I have tested these things I even get a strong enough signal coming out of only the number one to trigger a timing light which means my high voltage is getting through part of my distributor otherwise it would not light up at all. I hope you can understand my frustration when I've explained that I have done these things I have done every test that I have been shown in this entire thread that is applicable to this motor I have checked everything that everybody has said to check multiple times I replace the parts that were recommended to be replaced and I am still at the same spot that I was I can only believe that one of the parts I bought is bad I have heard of plenty of parts being bad new out of the box which would explain why it ran for 10 seconds and now my distributor is no longer distributing properly. I have also cleaned all my ground connections and insured that they are good

 

[sad boater]

Also check the continuity of the wire for the points that travels up to the breaker plate. pay close attention were the wire is clamped to the breaker plate.

I am assuming you have a good multimeter!

I mean it's probably not the best but it's a Klein and it does what I need to do I looked at all those wires and nothing ever got pinched or pulled. When I was verifying the points gap again I verified all the wires that they were all tight and nothing was pinched or broken or looked corroded or soaked with oil. But if I do decide to get back in his I will look at those wires It's hard to see what the flywheel on but again when I hand rotate everything it seems like I'm getting the proper trigger signal to my amplifier and when it cranks the ignition coil it's got all kinds of juice popping out of it. I'm still leaning towards my new old stock now bad distributor