94 Johnson 50 No Spark

I'm trying out a virtually unused 94 Johnson 50 (owners Dad died the day after he bought it). No spark. What fuses may be in the ignition system? It is possible perhaps that the kill switch is malfunctioning... How can I temporarily disconnect it from the engine to test the ignition?

Re: 94 Johnson 50 No Spark

Problem at this point is that I can't identify the "kill circuit" wire to remove it from the engine to isolate the problem to engine or harness/controls.

Can anyone help?

Re: 94 Johnson 50 No Spark

Unplug the remote control harness from under the engine hood, then jump the solenoid to crank the engine, check for spark.

Re: 94 Johnson 50 No Spark

That's a good idea and may work for me. I'll try it tomorrow.

Re: 94 Johnson 50 No Spark

I'm about to get back to the troubleshooting.

I know this sounds naieve but I'm totally unfamiliar with the OMC variable ratio oiling and since the fuel tank is empty on this boat and the hose is dryrotted, I've been trying to use a remote portable tank with 50:1 to do this initial start-up. The hose for the oil system has a bulb so hard that I can't squeeze it so I figured it would probably not prime the oil system and that running it on 50:1 would make up for that.

Are there any ignition inhibitors built into this system that might be causing the no spark condition if indeed it wasn't getting oil from the VRO?

Re: 94 Johnson 50 No Spark - solved by voodoo

Re: 94 Johnson 50 No Spark - solved by voodoo

Well I separated the cannon plug for the external harness and jumped the engine to crank the starter; still no spark but I did prove the kill circuit to be correct.

Then we undertook to troubleshoot per the CDI instructions for the armature and power pack and in the process removed the connectors to all only to find them good (at least as good as can be determined without a DVA meter.

Then just out of curiosity I tried it again and the danged thing worked with nice blue spark.

I HATE voodoo problems that solve themselves. Chalk this one up to halloween I guess.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Steve

Re: 94 Johnson 50 No Spark Voodo Problem is back - HELP

Re: 94 Johnson 50 No Spark Voodo Problem is back - HELP

Finally got around to taking the boat to the water today and once again no spark. I'm baffled.

I read on one CDI troubleshooting guide that if the rectifier had been disconnected then reconnected and the system worked that the problem would likely be the rectifier. That of course is the case from the first troubleshooting done. I wonder????

Also, I'm having trouble identifying the right part number for a power pack for this engine. The BRP site lists two possibles... I surmise one is for engines with SLOW the other for those not having SLOW.

Under my model number J50TLERE is one listed for the Electric Start 40 - 50 EL and TL models as part number 0175316.

Under model number J50TLERE is one listed for the Electric Start and TL models only as part number 0585074.

Anyone know which one is correct or how one determines the correct part number?

Steve

Re: 94 Johnson 50 No Spark

Well today I took it all apart again as in the original troubleshooting. I verified the kill circuit to be good to the power pack; inspected, reconnected, and back probed all connectors to ensure at least that no pins were "pushed"; did the resistance checks on the Stator and the trigger base with all indicating acceptable ranges except the trigger base tests of the blue and green wires to ground. The CDI troubleshooting guide showed to trigger base wires should be short for the white and 25 to 30 ohms for the blue and green. The white was short but the blue and green were open to ground. White to blue and white to green passed the resistance tests of 15-50 ohms.

I put it back together and the danged thing has a strong spark and runs.

I can only conclude that maby a pin was pushed or not making good contact but was corrected unwittingly during the process or worst case there is a positional open in a wire somewhere.

GOD I HATE VOODOO PROBLEMS!

I'll test it afloat tomorrow and report the result.

Steve

Re: 94 Johnson 50 No Spark

Well the engine has run ok several times over the summer and last fall but yesterday, once again no spark. NOTHING was disturbed since it was last run. I disconnected the remote cable and cranked it with a remote switch on the starter solenoid and still no spark.

I'm baffled here. I need some help.

Any input guys?

Steve