Evinrude 55hp 1969

[Robert_Martinez]

Hello, I purchased a 1965 Thunderbird with a 55hp Evinrude. The motor kept dieing on my when I tried to throttle it up. It ran perfectly for about 15minutes. It starts right up and will idle forever. I have checked the compression. 121,123,123. I also changed the water pump when I brought it back home. It appears that the wire harness is completely fried. I can't believe that it ran at all.

Does anyone in the Santa Clara, Ca. area know where I can get a harness? I do not want to spend a lot of money on this motor if it is going to be a lot of trouble anyway.

 

[F_R]

Re: Evinrude 55hp 1969

Hello, I purchased a 1965 Thunderbird with a 55hp Evinrude. The motor kept dieing on my when I tried to throttle it up. It ran perfectly for about 15minutes. It starts right up and will idle forever. I have checked the compression. 121,123,123. I also changed the water pump when I brought it back home. It appears that the wire harness is completely fried. I can't believe that it ran at all.

Does anyone in the Santa Clara, Ca. area know where I can get a harness? I do not want to spend a lot of money on this motor if it is going to be a lot of trouble anyway.

Sorry, but you are going to be spending a lot of money if you find a new harness. Used ones are liable to be as bad as what you have. Third option is to hard-wire it from scratch. you will need a diagram. Be warned, defects in wiring can cause very expensive damage to the igniton components and charging system. It is not a motor to "make do" with the electrical system.

 

[OutboardDave]

Re: Evinrude 55hp 1969

At this point you would be a mile ahead to either buy a brand new wiring harness. Or find a good set of schematics and hardwire one by hand. Buying a used one is a shortcut that will probably not pay off in this case. Just my .02 cents.

 

[Robert_Martinez]

Re: Evinrude 55hp 1969

Thanks, I have a manual and a diagram found here in this forum. I think I'll go ahead and hard wire one myself. The manual is pretty good about wire gauge and color. Thanks

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Evinrude 55hp 1969

read ethanol and carb cleaning, in the TOP SECRET FILE, 1st thread in this forum.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Evinrude 55hp 1969

for many years the old 3 and 4 cylinder hydroelectric engine wiring harness was avalible from Sierra and some other suppliers for about 110 dollars.
sounds like a typical carb issue,rebuild or replace the fuel pump and fuel lines. if the lines are close to original they wont be Ethanol resistant and WILL break up and feed nasties to the carbs.
that motor uses the old point controlled amplifier setup.
the last cap and rotor set I bought was about 160 dollars and maybe 10 years ago.
the amplifier was over 300 dollars.
one mistake with the wiring and that amplifier goes to amplifier heaven.
while that motor was a technological marvel when new its not so good 40 years later.
be aware that some of the electrical parts are NLA and even when they were they were expensive.
if for any reason,like to check and clean the points for maint, you remove the flywheel make sure the anti reverse spring is correctly installed or the motor may run backwards and the wave washer is installed on top of the rotor.
without the anti reverse spring you may find the powerhead will run just as well backwards as foward but the shift and cooling system wont work.