This is my first post here on iboats....be gentle with me.
My boat has a 1984 Johnson outboard motor, it is a 25 hp electric start model operated by a side-mount OMC remote control. I took it out the other day and it started easily and ran well for about ten minutes, died suddenly and wouldn?t even try to start after that. There was no spark on either cylinder and our day on the lake concluded at that point.
Once home and after some study I followed some troubleshooting procedures from my SELOC manual. One test was to disconnect the three-wire connector between the coils and the cdi unit and to use jumper wires between the plug ends to complete the circuits to the two coils. Doing so disconnects the wire to the key switch and lanyard switch. My motor then started and ran readily.
The wire to the key switch and lanyard (black wire with yellow stripe) should read no continuity to ground when lanyard is in place and the key is in either start or run position and the meter is set to read high resistance. My black/yellow striped wire read 5K ohms to motor ground.
At this point the SELOC guide says bad key switch or lanyard switch.
I disassembled the remote control, tested the lanyard switch with the meter and replaced the key switch. Upon reassembly there still was no spark. After my "repairs" the key switch and lanyard wire now reads 3M ohms to motor ground.
At this point I, and probably you as well, suspect the black/yellow striped wire leaks to ground somewhere between the three-wire connector and where it terminates at the key switch/lanyard switch.
My next step was to disconnect the black/yellow striped wire both at the three-wire plug and also at its terminal end at the key switch. It is not connected to any other component between those points and can be checked for continuity to motor ground from either end. My meter measurements found a continuity to ground that drifted from 3-6M ohms with occasional excursions into discontinuity. Now I am highly suspicious of the black/yellow striped wire.
My next step will be to run a jumper wire to take the place of the now disconnected section of black/yellow striped wire and then check for spark. I will post my findings immediately afterwards so as not to cause anyone to lose sleep from the considerable suspense generated by my posting. :lol:
My question to the forum at this point is:
* Is a 3M ohm path to ground in that circuit even sufficient to prevent spark?
I am curious because usually the ?high resistance? ohm meter setting referred to by most repair manuals is the 200K ohms range. If a 3M ohms leak to ground has sabotaged my ignition system I will feel fortunate that I used the 20M ohm setting on my meter and saved myself from wandering off of the troubleshooting trail and into the wilderness.
I welcome any comments or critiques of my methodology so far or any suggestions anyone has of factors I may have overlooked.
Thank you all in advance and I will post the results of my next testing post haste.
My boat has a 1984 Johnson outboard motor, it is a 25 hp electric start model operated by a side-mount OMC remote control. I took it out the other day and it started easily and ran well for about ten minutes, died suddenly and wouldn?t even try to start after that. There was no spark on either cylinder and our day on the lake concluded at that point.
Once home and after some study I followed some troubleshooting procedures from my SELOC manual. One test was to disconnect the three-wire connector between the coils and the cdi unit and to use jumper wires between the plug ends to complete the circuits to the two coils. Doing so disconnects the wire to the key switch and lanyard switch. My motor then started and ran readily.
The wire to the key switch and lanyard (black wire with yellow stripe) should read no continuity to ground when lanyard is in place and the key is in either start or run position and the meter is set to read high resistance. My black/yellow striped wire read 5K ohms to motor ground.
At this point the SELOC guide says bad key switch or lanyard switch.
I disassembled the remote control, tested the lanyard switch with the meter and replaced the key switch. Upon reassembly there still was no spark. After my "repairs" the key switch and lanyard wire now reads 3M ohms to motor ground.
At this point I, and probably you as well, suspect the black/yellow striped wire leaks to ground somewhere between the three-wire connector and where it terminates at the key switch/lanyard switch.
My next step was to disconnect the black/yellow striped wire both at the three-wire plug and also at its terminal end at the key switch. It is not connected to any other component between those points and can be checked for continuity to motor ground from either end. My meter measurements found a continuity to ground that drifted from 3-6M ohms with occasional excursions into discontinuity. Now I am highly suspicious of the black/yellow striped wire.
My next step will be to run a jumper wire to take the place of the now disconnected section of black/yellow striped wire and then check for spark. I will post my findings immediately afterwards so as not to cause anyone to lose sleep from the considerable suspense generated by my posting. :lol:
My question to the forum at this point is:
* Is a 3M ohm path to ground in that circuit even sufficient to prevent spark?
I am curious because usually the ?high resistance? ohm meter setting referred to by most repair manuals is the 200K ohms range. If a 3M ohms leak to ground has sabotaged my ignition system I will feel fortunate that I used the 20M ohm setting on my meter and saved myself from wandering off of the troubleshooting trail and into the wilderness.
I welcome any comments or critiques of my methodology so far or any suggestions anyone has of factors I may have overlooked.
Thank you all in advance and I will post the results of my next testing post haste.
