62 5.5 Fisherman Possible Ignition Problems Oil Under Flywheel

I have a 62 Evinrude 5.5 Fisherman. I recently began having trouble getting one of the cylinders to fire, it would start up on one cylinder then the second one would kick in after revving the motor in neutral for a bit. After the 2nd cylinder started the motor ran fine at speed and at idle. I bought the motor used about 7 months ago & it ran great when I bought it. I removed the flywheel to install new coils, points & condensers & discovered cracked insulation on one of the plug wires. The ignition area also has some oil in it. The Clymer manual says possible main bearing seal leakage requiring powerhead removal & disassembly to change the seal, a much scarier job than I was looking forward to. First Question: after I replace the ignition parts is it likely the oil would interfere very much with the spark?<br /><br />When the engine runs I can see very small bits of oil/water foam coming from under water. They rise to the surface then dissipate. Second question: If a compression check is good, could an oil rich mixture, maybe 16:1 or 20:1 cause this? I tend to run the engine slightly rich on oil.

Re: 62 5.5 Fisherman Possible Ignition Problems Oil Under Flywheel

If memory serves me right, there is no top main bearing oil seal. Rather it has what is called an oil slinger that rides in a groove in the block.<br /><br />I'd suspect, unless there a lot of side movement of the crankshaft within the block, that the oil has simply loaded up in that top cylinder due to not firing etc properly, and was forced out.<br /><br />Clean away all of the oil and hope for the best. It may never bother you again.

Re: 62 5.5 Fisherman Possible Ignition Problems Oil Under Flywheel

If it does, there's always MagnaTune. No points to coat with oil and lose spark. But they do require a hefty yank on the rope to get enough RPMs to fire them. Shouldn't be too difficult on that little motor. click here

Re: 62 5.5 Fisherman Possible Ignition Problems Oil Under Flywheel

I bought new NAPA plug wires but they are high energy igition carbon trace wires. They no longer stock the old fashioned wire fiber core ones. Will the new cables work OK for this application? Any special precautions necessary to connect them to the new coils?

Re: 62 5.5 Fisherman Possible Ignition Problems Oil Under Flywheel

No, you need to use metal core wires. Even the apparently minor resistance of carbon wires has been known to cause problems. Usually midthrottle misfires. <br /><br />You can get metal core spark plug wire from any marine repair shop, or most any mower repair shop. It must be 7mm to fit the coils.<br />The aftermarket coils often use a threaded stud, so when installing the plug wire it'll want to be spun into it. I find it helpful to lubricate the wire with silicone grease. Some people cover the end of the wire where it mates with the coil with liquid electric tape.

Re: 62 5.5 Fisherman Possible Ignition Problems Oil Under Flywheel

If there is a leak in upper flywheel seal that affects running, you wil not only notice its oily under flywheel, but oil and mess running down block on both sides, hood getting messy inside from oil thrown out everywhere, and I've seen a few that ran fine anyway. I think if you fix your ignition problem, and get it running fine, just forget about it.