Electric primer quit 1985 70hp

[Slojoe]

I no longer get a click when pushing in the start key and the motor won't fire. I don't see a manual choke rod like on the earlier motors. Instead it has a black solenoid with a bicycle air valve and a red lever that moves back and forth.

Can someone tell me the testing procedure for the electrical primer solenoid. Is there a way to bypass it to get the engine started? What about the air valve, what is that for, should i try pumping it up? What does the little red lever do? Finally, where can i find a new solenoid if it ends up being defective?

Motor has great spark, compression, fuel delivery, strong batter/starter, ran perfect all summer, now, no primer click=no start. Boat is on a mooring so i would like to gather info here first, so that i have the right tools on hand the next time i row out for a look. thanks

 

[keefallan]

Re: Electric primer quit 1985 70hp

Don't put any air into it!! That's for putting a cleaner into the system. If you move the red lever to the front of the motor, you just put into manual choke. You won't hear anything when you do that. The primer valve(red arm) points to itself in the normal mode and away from itself in manual choke(180 out). As far as testing it goes, Disconnect the purple wire of the solenoid. If you apply 12v to that wire directly, you should hear the clicking noise you want to hear. That way you know if it's the solenoid or bad wiring from the key switch back to it.

 

[boobie]

Re: Electric primer quit 1985 70hp

Turn the key on, push in the key and see if you're getting 12 volts to the purple/white wire on the primer solenoid. If not you have a boat wiring prob. If you do you could have a bad primer. Move the red lever so it is perpendicular to the solenoid, pump the primer bulb and see if it will start.

 

[Slojoe]

Re: Electric primer quit 1985 70hp

Thanks guys i will check that out.

 

[Slojoe]

Re: Electric primer quit 1985 70hp

This is a followup as I got the problem fixed. Here is what I found out in case someone else has a similar problem. Putting the voltmeter on the purple wire and pushing the key in showed 12 volts at the solenoid and no click= bad solenoid. So I rotated the red lever 180 degrees forward, primed the tank bulb, and the motor fired. Lots of smoke so I rotated the red lever back to "run" and it ran fine. It would start fine the rest of the day without moving the lever. Morning cold starts I'd have to remove the cowl and move the lever to fire. Since there were only a few weeks left in the season it wasn't a big deal to do.

Once I got the boat off the mooring for the season I looked for a new solenoid. Got the part# from the brp catalog online which had 4 or 5 supercession #s. Part from the dealer new is around $200, not available aftermarket. Running the different part #s on ebay finds new for $160 and up, still too much. Used they can be had around $50 or less. I ordered the newest part# I could find, hoping the newest used part would have that much more life left in it.

First one I received off ebay had obvious melting to the plastic where the wires came out, and the red lever was cracked. So I returned it for a refund. Lesson learned: look for a picture of the bottom where the wires come out, or ask the seller if there is any evidence of melting on the bottom.

Not trusting that seller any more I found one with a best offer price and a missing red lever. Seller guaranteed there was no melting and the electrics were fine. He took my best offer, $30, and I swapped out the top with my old unit, 4 screws, easy to do. I put it on the boat and got the proper click with the key.

The newer solenoid had a different connector on the purple wire. Once I made sure it worked ok, I cut off the connector and installed a ring terminal to match the wiring on my outboard. Put it back together and I now have a new, used solenoid that works for $30 and with any luck should last for another 10 years as the part# is 10 years newer than my original.

Thanks for the help it ended up being an easy fix just needed to ask a couple questions here on iboats and do a little parts research online.

I also noticed here on the forum that the schrader valve on the red lever makes a good port for fogging oil. As luck would have it i already winterized the old fashioned way but next year will look forward to using the charge port and saving a lot of time winterizing.

 

[rick001]

Re: Electric primer quit 1985 70hp

That solenoid pumps a shot of fuel into the intake. I had problems with mine and disconnected the wiring from it and if I had problems starting, I would use starting fluid in the shrader valve. On mine the red lever cracked, and I bought a kit from the Evinrude dealer and repaired it, only to have it crack again 8 or 10 hours later.