1989 Evinrude Looper 120 lost spark

[biglurr54]

Saturday, I had a horrible time getting the motor to start which is out of characteristic for the motor. Sunday I went out for a ride and it started no problem like usual. i went for a nice evening cruise with the family and then it was time to do a fast hot lap around the lake. I got the boat up on plane and about 45 seconds later the motor just shut down. It didn't sputter or slow down it just died. I cranked and cranked and nothing happened. So I pulled the plugs and they were wet so I put my spare set in as this is an old evinrude and we all know they eat plugs like i eat potato chips. Still nothing. Then I check for spark on by grounding the plug to the block. (I know i should us a spark tester but I was in the middle of the lake and didnt have one in the boat.) I got no spark on any of the cylinders. I pulled the power pack to inspect the wires in it and two wires looks as though they had touched. the insulation was melted away and the wire looked like it had shorted at some point in time. i wrapped the wires with electrical tape and put it all back together and still no spark. I got towed back to the dock and tied it up. Where do I go from here? I have basic back ground in mechanics. Where should i start testing to find whats wrong and how do I test each component? Thanks for all the help. This site is great!

 

[mikey456]

Re: 1989 Evinrude Looper 120 lost spark

I used to have a '88 Johnson 120 Looper and ran into the same situations. Motor would just die for no reason. If you look under the Power Pack, there is a Bridge with all the wires screwed down. One of those wires is for the Kill I believe. Wanna say it was solid orange and on the end of the bridge. I removed it and the motor fired right up. I remembered asking others who had these motors at the time and they couldnt figure out exactly what the one wire controlled. One time, while the motor was running, I touched the wire to the bridge where it was originally screwed down and it arced. Motor went to stall but recovered and continued to run. I screwed it back in and never had a problem again with it.
Not saying its your problem but it seemed my problem was always with the electrical grounding out. Maybe trace the wire I explained and just do a crank test to see if you get spark.

 

[biglurr54]

Re: 1989 Evinrude Looper 120 lost spark

I will defiantly disconnect that and see if it does anything. Are there any fuses i could check that would blow if the wires that were bare did short out? Can I test resistance or voltage across the wires under the power pack to test the power pack or the signal to the power pack to eliminate other components?

 

[biglurr54]

Re: 1989 Evinrude Looper 120 lost spark

bump