1995 Evinrude 130 won't start, HELP!

[Bigben_1]

Hey all! I've been reading this forum for a number of months now to learn as much as possible about my motor and problems that may arise with it. All has been great until today. I'm pretty much a novice with outboards but I'll do my best to explain. I have a 1995 Evinrude 130hp v4 looper. I always start it on the hose before I bring it out to make sure it's running. Yesterday, after ensuring that the primer bulb was firm, it took about 6 tries before the motor started (usually takes about 2), I had to actually give it some throttle but it started and ran fine for the rest of the day. Today, no problems on the hose or for the first half of the day. I did a mix of idling, cruising, and intermittent bursts of WOT. I was idling through a no wake zone and the motor died (it does this sometimes at idle but always starts right back up), it then took a few minutes to get it started again (this is highly unusual). I gave it a little throttle and finally it started. It ran fine for another 20mins or so until we stopped to swim. We stayed for about an hour and when it was time to go, the motor wouldn't start. I ended up requiring a tow. Back at the house, I pulled the plugs, they were wet, and turned the motor over a few times in case it was flooded. All plugs had a spark. The lower starboard plug didn't spark at first but after I cleaned it, it had spark. There is oily film in the water running out of the motor so I'm pretty certain I'm getting good fuel flow. Checked the fuel also and looks clean. It is fresh, ethanol free fuel. Once, on the hose, it did sputter some but I turned the key again and nothing. I'm pretty baffled here as I have spark, fuel, and air flow. What am I missing? Any help is much appreciated! I have since changed the plugs and discovered that my primer solenoid is leaking and not sending fuel to the carbs. I tested this by removing one of the lines connecting to the carb from the solenoid and depressing the key. I have a solenoid rebuild kit on the way but I don't think this would cause the engine not to start, right? I plan on checking compression tomorrow when I fix the primer solenoid. Any ideas?? Thanks in advance!

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[cfauvel]

the primer solenoid will only spit fuel if it has pressure first.

so if the engine is off, pump the primer bulb hard.
then try the solenoid at the key switch

if the engine is ON, then push the key in and it should bog the motor down.


I don't think your problem is spark plugs....very rarely will the plugs just stop working

you either have an intermittent stator issue or power pack issue.. especially given that spark came back. If the spark went away on both sides,then I'd look at the stator being the issue (if there are two power packs)

a simple check to do too is rotate the flywheel clockwise by hand and listen for crunching sound...that would be out of place magnets...also look under the flywheel for loose magnets ...you'll have to try to move them with some force....if you see two or more butted up together then they are loose...and will need to take off flywheel to re-glue them back on.

 

[Bigben_1]

The primer will get firm after a couple of squeezes and when I depress the key, the primer will leak a pretty good bit but nothing from the lines where the fuel should dump into the carbs. I know I said that there was no spark but I could've just not seen it I suppose. Could the stator or power pack just instantly go completely bad like that given that it was running fine before o shut it off that last time? How would I test this? A spark plug tester? Thanks so much for your help! I will do the flywheel test after work.

 

[cfauvel]

The primer will get firm after a couple of squeezes and when I depress the key, the primer will leak a pretty good bit but nothing from the lines where the fuel should dump into the carbs. I know I said that there was no spark but I could've just not seen it I suppose. Could the stator or power pack just instantly go completely bad like that given that it was running fine before o shut it off that last time? How would I test this? A spark plug tester? Thanks so much for your help! I will do the flywheel test after work.

yes electronics can go out with no freaking warning.

to test the stator properly you'll need a DVA adapter and jumper wires...but you can do preliminary tests with just a multimeter.

ditto for power packs you can do preliminary OHM tests

but to do voltage tests you'll need the dva adapter (that fits into your multimeter)

Stator - most have two windings

1) for the battery - usually two yellow wires that go to the voltage regulator
2) for the hi-volts for the power packs - usually two brown wires per pack...

with multimeter set to CONTINUITY, there should be NO continuity from either yellow wire (disconnected from distribution strip) to ground.
Ditto for either brown wire with the two-wire plug disconnected

with multimer set to ohm measure the ohm between the two yellow wires and between the two brown wires and compare those to expected OHM on the internet....CDI electronics has the numbers and the DVA adapter and jumper wires.

do an OHM test on each coil and each plug wire too. touch the two probes together too to make sure it reads 0 first...if not note the number say .6.....then if testing the coils ohm and it says .56, subtract the .6 to get your actual reading to be .50 ohms

If this has the optical trigger system, then that to could be the issue....I don't have one of those so can't tell you how to test that....from what I understand THAT is NOT uncommon to be the source of engine not firing right...and that TOO just goes out willy nilly.


let us know the results of the tests

 

[Bigben_1]

Lol, I feel like I just might be in a little over my head here. I can certainly give this a shot. I don't have a multimeter currently but can certainly get one. Probably be tomorrow or the weekend before I can get to it. In the meantime, I'll see if the magneto magnets are out of place, fix the primer solenoid, and do a compression test. Again, I really appreciate your help and will post updates!

 

[cfauvel]

take a look a fluke multimeter they are expensive, you want one that has the same type of connections for the probes, not where the probes are hard wired...radioShack hass a good one for a lot less...figure about $50

 

[Bigben_1]

take a look a fluke multimeter they are expensive, you want one that has the same type of connections for the probes, not where the probes are hard wired...radioShack hass a good one for a lot less...figure about $50

Thanks, will do.

 

[jakedaawg]

Might I suggest that you do your testing in the proper order. You may have a bad stator but to start there is foolish as you may have bad compression.

1. Compression test. Report results. Many auto parts rent decent gauge.

2. Open air gap spark test set to 7/16" report results.

3. Fuel sample into clear container. Report results.

Skipping steps in diagnosis gets rather ezpensive.

 

[Bigben_1]

the primer solenoid will only spit fuel if it has pressure first.

so if the engine is off, pump the primer bulb hard.
then try the solenoid at the key switch

if the engine is ON, then push the key in and it should bog the motor down.


I don't think your problem is spark plugs....very rarely will the plugs just stop working

you either have an intermittent stator issue or power pack issue.. especially given that spark came back. If the spark went away on both sides,then I'd look at the stator being the issue (if there are two power packs)

a simple check to do too is rotate the flywheel clockwise by hand and listen for crunching sound...that would be out of place magnets...also look under the flywheel for loose magnets ...you'll have to try to move them with some force....if you see two or more butted up together then they are loose...and will need to take off flywheel to re-glue them back on.

So the flywheel test revealed nothing of concern where the stator is. There is something that sounds a little grinding in the lower unit, not sure what that is but I've had zero transmission problems. Compression is an even 120 on all cylinders, pretty good for a 22 year old motor! Squirted some fuel into a cup and it looks perfectly clear and clean. I used an inline spark tester to test spark. (Sounds like I bought the wrong kind?) Got a regular spark on all cylinders except for the bottom starboard cylinder. On this one, it was intermittent at best. I would assume that this is due to a bad coil pack? Would that cause the motor not to start? It's possible that all sparks were a little weak but it's hard to tell based solely on the brightness of the light. I tested the light on my lawnmower (which runs) and it wasn't much brighter until it was running. I'll still try and do the multimeter test but thought this info might help. Any insight with this info? Thanks!

 

[Bigben_1]

Might I suggest that you do your testing in the proper order. You may have a bad stator but to start there is foolish as you may have bad compression.

1. Compression test. Report results. Many auto parts rent decent gauge.

2. Open air gap spark test set to 7/16" report results.

3. Fuel sample into clear container. Report results.

Skipping steps in diagnosis gets rather ezpensive.

See above post. Thanks!

 

[Fed]

There's probably nothing wrong with your primer solenoid valve, you need to understand how it works then test it properly.
Fitting a re-build kit simply adds another "unknown" into the puzzle, do the testing first.

Get an air gap spark tester and test for spark properly.

 

[Bigben_1]

Ok, I just thought that since it leaks pretty significantly and no fuel comes out of the lines, it might be bad. I will purchase an open air inline spark tester tomorrow and post the results. Thanks!

 

[Fed]

OK if the primer valve has external leaks then maybe a re-build kit or replacement primer valve is in order, I thought you meant it had internal leaking.
Check it externally to see where it's leaking, could be cracked.

 

[jakedaawg]

Post model# please. Will be something like be130xxxx

This us the Swedish one right? I have cousins there, hope to visit someday.

 

[Bigben_1]

E130TLEOP is the model number. Not sure if it's Swedish, though. I wouldn't mind visiting there myself! I hear it's beautiful. Yes, it's leaking up through the hole that the Schrader vAlve sticks up through so I think it has Accra k inside somewhere.

 

[Fed]

Give the kit a shot but I think if it's an external leak you will be looking for a new/secondhand one.

 

[jakedaawg]

E130TLEOP is the model number. Not sure if it's Swedish, though. I wouldn't mind visiting there myself! I hear it's beautiful. Yes, it's leaking up through the hole that the Schrader vAlve sticks up through so I think it has Accra k inside somewhere.

no, i meant the guy in sweden, one of the threads I advised on was a swedish guy with a johnson or evinrude, I do not always read back through a whole thread. My bad.

 

[Bigben_1]

Gotcha, I think I've read through that one. I've been reading any and every thread that resembles my problem. I can't wait to test the spark so I can hopefully nail this thing down.

 

[Bigben_1]

There's probably nothing wrong with your primer solenoid valve, you need to understand how it works then test it properly.
Fitting a re-build kit simply adds another "unknown" into the puzzle, do the testing first.

Get an air gap spark tester and test for spark properly.

So I just tested with the open air spark tester. That spark won't jump ANY distance, not even like 4mm. I tried grounding to multiple sites to ensure that I had a good ground and nothing. I tried the tester on my lawnmower and the spark jumped a mile so the tester works. Would this indicate a bad stator?

 

[Bigben_1]

Also, the primer solenoid was cracked. The crack was on the red piece. I used the kit and now it's priming great so that's one plus. If only it would start!