Re: 5 hp evinrude
Somebody has had the coils out, right?? They have to be installed so that the ends of the laminated cores are flush with the machined edges of the aluminum posts on which they sit. If they are too far out, they will rub on the flywheel magnets and the rotating flywheel will drag the armature (magneto) plate to the slow/off position.
There is one other possibility: If somebody installed the tapered armature plate retaining ring upside down, the armature plate will flop around and allow the coils to rub the magnets with the same result.
You need to remove the flywheel and adjust the coils back to their proper positon (or turn the retaining ring right side up). When you put the flywheel back on, use a torque wrench to tighten the nut to 40-45 ft/lbs.
