Diagnosis Confirmation Needed - 1993 Evinrude 60 Not Charging

[TheGrouch]

I have a 1993 Evinrude 60hp and think I've narrowed down my problem, but could use a second or third opinion to confirm.

Bought the boat in May. It would start only if I charged the battery the same day I used the boat. Bought a new battery, charged it fully, boat starts fine. Run the boat throughout the day and my Humminbird shows somewhere between 11.4 and 12.2V. Never higher. Motor won't start on 3rd day of use. I can jump it or re-charge the battery, but eventually with enough use, she won't start (cranks, but no spark). I have started it and then disconnected the battery and she continues to run.

From my limited understanding of the electrical system, I have surmised that the Stator is working, since the motor continues to run without the battery connected. I suspect the Rectifier/Regulator is bad, given that I'm not seeing any battery voltage higher than 12.2V during use.

What say the group?

 

[Daviet]

Re: Diagnosis Confirmation Needed - 1993 Evinrude 60 Not Charging

Welcome to the forum.
I think you are on the right track. Good thing you rectifier was bad to begin with or you would have blown it when you disconnected battery. Shouldn't run the engine without a battery in the system.
If you go to the CDI electronics website, they have a section on checking out charging systems, might help you out.

 

[TheGrouch]

Re: Diagnosis Confirmation Needed - 1993 Evinrude 60 Not Charging

Yeah, I've seen and tried to follow the CDI troubleshooting guide. I don't have a way to read DVA, so I am hoping to confirm the diagnosis without buying the DVA adapter for my meter.

 

[Daviet]

Re: Diagnosis Confirmation Needed - 1993 Evinrude 60 Not Charging

Don't they list a way to check the rectifier with just an ohm meter?

 

[clanton]

Re: Diagnosis Confirmation Needed - 1993 Evinrude 60 Not Charging

The ignition side of the stator and the charging side are not connected. Your test proves nothing, except the ignition side is working. Ohms reading up to specs on the 2 yellow wires.?

 

[TheGrouch]

Re: Diagnosis Confirmation Needed - 1993 Evinrude 60 Not Charging

OK, so my meter crapped out and I've been off doing other things. Finally got a replacement meter and did some testing.

With the Yellow, Yellow/Grey, and Yellow/Black wires disconnected at the terminal strip, here's what I've got:

Yellow to Yellow/Grey - 105K Ohms
Yellow to Yellow/Black - Open
Yellow/Black to the other Yellow/Black - Open


While I was at it, I opened the harness from the stator and tested the following:

Grey to Grey/Yellow - 835 Ohms
Orange to Orange/Black - 419 Ohms
White to Purple - Open
White to Blue - Open
White to Green - Open

The CDI troubleshooting guide shows the stator charge coil as Brown/Brown Yellow. Mine appear to be Grey/Grey Yellow. If those are the right colors, my resistance is out of spec (835 vs spec of 450-550).

Also curious about the specs for the Yellow to Yellow/Grey and Yellow/Black. Anyone have a source for those numbers?

 

[TheGrouch]

Re: Diagnosis Confirmation Needed - 1993 Evinrude 60 Not Charging

Anyone?

 

[WernerF]

Re: Diagnosis Confirmation Needed - 1993 Evinrude 60 Not Charging

...With the Yellow, Yellow/Grey, and Yellow/Black wires disconnected at the terminal strip, ...

I am a little confused about your wire colors. No yellow/black wires there. The engine wiring should look similar to this:

Yellow to Yellow/Grey - 105K Ohms
Yellow to Yellow/Black - Open
Yellow/Black to the other Yellow/Black - Open

Did you really measure the stator side of the yellow and yellow/gray wires and not the regulator side? If yes, the stator is bad and the regulator may be bad too. This coil should have about 1 Ohm as it able to provide 10A battery charging current.

While I was at it, I opened the harness from the stator and tested the following:
Grey to Grey/Yellow - 835 Ohms
Orange to Orange/Black - 419 Ohms
White to Purple - Open
White to Blue - Open
White to Green - Open

The brown and brown/yellow wires belong to the ignition charge coil and have no connection to the battery charge system. If you find another cause of your charging problem and the engine runs good I wouldn't bother too much.

Battery charge coil and ignition charge coil are both wound on the same iron core. So one coil melting can affect the other. If you really have to replace the stator, both coils will be replaced as one part.

 

[TheGrouch]

Re: Diagnosis Confirmation Needed - 1993 Evinrude 60 Not Charging

Resurrecting this old thread. I got sidetracked last fall once I got back from Pepin and the boat fell off my priority list.

I got the meter out today, disconnected everything from the terminal strip, and here's what I'm finding.

Stator
0.6 Ohms - Yellow to Yellow
773 Ohms - Brown to Brown/Yellow
387 Ohms - Orange to Orange/Black
Open - White to Purple
Open - White to Blue
Open - White to Green
450 Ohms - White to Black/White

Power Pack
137 Ohms - Orange/Blue to Blue
128 Ohms - Orange/Purple to Purple
126 Ohms - Orange/Green to Green

Rectifier with black meter lead on base
3.93M Ohms - Base to Yellow
3.95M Ohms - Base to Yellow/Gray
10K Ohms - Based to Gray
3.93M Ohms - Base to Purple/Black
Open - Base to Red

Rectifier with red meter lead on base
5.43M Ohms - Base to Yellow
5.43M Ohms - Base to Yellow/Gray
10K Ohms - Based to Gray
5.48M Ohms - Base to Purple/Black
3.8M Ohms - Base to Red

From what I can see in the CDI guide, I think the Stator is bad. I also recall reading you should only get a reading in one direction on the rectifier, so I'm wondering if the diodes are fried in there as well.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[WernerF]

Re: Diagnosis Confirmation Needed - 1993 Evinrude 60 Not Charging

Stator
0.6 Ohms - Yellow to Yellow
773 Ohms - Brown to Brown/Yellow
387 Ohms - Orange to Orange/Black
Open - White to Purple
Open - White to Blue
Open - White to Green
450 Ohms - White to Black/White

Doesn't look too bad. Check one yellow lead to engine ground. Must be open.

Rectifier with black meter lead on base
3.93M Ohms - Base to Yellow
3.95M Ohms - Base to Yellow/Gray
10K Ohms - Based to Gray
3.93M Ohms - Base to Purple/Black
Open - Base to Red

Rectifier with red meter lead on base
5.43M Ohms - Base to Yellow
5.43M Ohms - Base to Yellow/Gray
10K Ohms - Based to Gray
5.48M Ohms - Base to Purple/Black
3.8M Ohms - Base to Red

Ohm measurements around the regulator/rectifier are of no use. You can't diagnose it this way.

From what I can see in the CDI guide, I think the Stator is bad.

I can't follow. Why do you think so? Did you already replace the regulator/rectifier?

 

[TheGrouch]

Re: Diagnosis Confirmation Needed - 1993 Evinrude 60 Not Charging

Doesn't look too bad. Check one yellow lead to engine ground. Must be open.

Each yellow shows about 38M Ohms to ground.

Ohm measurements around the regulator/rectifier are of no use. You can't diagnose it this way.

I also checked the rectifier in diode mode.

Red to Yellow gives a reading of 0.5V in one direction and nothing when the meter leads are flipped. No other combination of rectifier leads and meter leads would give any reading in diode mode.

I can't follow. Why do you think so? Did you already replace the regulator/rectifier?

Have not replaced anything. Trying to determine what's wrong before ordering parts. The CDI specs call for 450-550 ohms across the stator. My numbers are above and below that range, thus I figured it was failed. Are you saying the acceptable range is wider than CDI's spec?

 

[WernerF]

Re: Diagnosis Confirmation Needed - 1993 Evinrude 60 Not Charging

Each yellow shows about 38M Ohms to ground.

This is open enough.

Red to Yellow gives a reading of 0.5V in one direction and nothing when the meter leads are flipped. No other combination of rectifier leads and meter leads would give any reading in diode mode.

I'm not 100% sure, but there should be the same diode behavior (0.5V/open) between yellow and regulator housing (engine ground). BTW is the regulator's housing properly connected to ground?
Unfortunately you can't reach deeper into the circuitry with your meter leads. So there are many possible failure modes left that you can't diagnose.

The CDI specs call for 450-550 ohms across the stator. My numbers are above and below that range, thus I figured it was failed. Are you saying the acceptable range is wider than CDI's spec?

The only winding important for battery charging is yellow-yellow.
Brown-brown/yellow is a little high, but this winding is used only for charging the capacitor inside the powerpack. If you had ignition problems, I would say suspect the stator, but your motor is running.
The orange-orange/black winding is also used only in the powerpack, but for the rpm limit (6700 rpm normal, 2500 rpm SLOW mode).
If you don't see any ooze under the flywheel (a sign the stator overheated), I would say with your readings the stator is ok.

If you like to make experiments you can disconnect the two yellow stator leads from the terminal strip and connect them to a car headlight bulb (the high beam filament of an old H4 is usable for this). When the motor is running the bulb should light. But don't race up the motor too much as the unregulated power may blow the lamp.

 

[TheGrouch]

Re: Diagnosis Confirmation Needed - 1993 Evinrude 60 Not Charging

Werner,

Thank you for taking the time to walk me through this. As you can tell, I'm not versed in electrical troubleshooting, so I very much appreciate the analysis!

Chris