1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

dom_litty09 · Jun 19, 2012

i have a ebbtide with a 79 evinrude 140. the other day i noticed the volt gauge was reading about 11 volts. when i went to leave the island it wouldnt start. luckly i had a jump pack. started it back up and got to the docks. gauge read about 11 volts the whole time. i checked the battery on a volt meter before starting and while running. they were both the same. about 11.5 volts. shouldnt it be around 13 or 14v when running? whats the problem? thanks

CadillacsCowgirl · Jun 19, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

We had a similar problem recently. On our '89 Johnson GT150, under the flywheel at the top rear of powerhead, the regulator assembly is mounted. Ours was obvious due to melting of the "gel" on top and a black, sticky ooze running off of it. Remove the flywheel, Replaced the regulator assembly, Reinstall the flywheel, and we were charging again...

boobie · Jun 19, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

You may just have a rectifier on that mtr. The prob could also be in the stator. Go to CDI Electronics.com and look up the test procedures.

emdsapmgr · Jun 19, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

That rectifier-only engine should charge at around 16+ volts after running it for 15 minutes. Usually a bad rectifier also show up on the tach readings. The tach readings get really odd-or no tach reading at all.

dom_litty09 · Jun 19, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

yes it has a rectifier. i was told by the shop its either that or the stator. how would i test them?

emdsapmgr · Jun 20, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

There are good test procedures in the factory service manual or the website which Boobie mentioned in his post. If you don't have a factory original service manual, you can get a new one from Outboardbooks.com. (Ken Cook Co., Milwaukee, Wisc.)

Barnacle_Bill · Jun 20, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=190638

dom_litty09 · Jun 20, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

i red the blog posted above. and also red some info on a page on rectifiers on cdielectronics.com. the page above said the tach would fail if a reticifier is bad. my tach is working good to my knowledge. but on cdielectronics it said alot of small electronics can fail. i recently had my speedo quit working. my fish finder didnt work for a couple days. and my lights didnt work once for about 30 mins. im hoping its the rectifier. i tried to test it but didnt get anywhere really.. (just got off nights and am not that smart with electronics). ill try and test it again later. i ordered a rectifier already. they are pretty cheap so if i cant get the test to work ill throw the new one on when it gets here and hope for the best.

dom_litty09 · Jun 26, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

put on the new rectifier today. it seems to be charging. i noticed more volts in both batteries. but after i put it on the idle incresed. i set the idle back down to around 800. but when i use the high idle lever to start it the idle will only drop back down to around 1200 or so unless i go back to the motor and actually push the lever into the place where it needs to be. why is this?

emdsapmgr · Jun 27, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

Your throttle cable probably needs to be adjusted slightly at the engine end. If it's slightly off, it will affect idle rpm's. There is a thumbwheel which can be turned (rotated) in order make this adjustment.

dom_litty09 · Jun 28, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

I noticed the thumb wheels and it was my first thought but I left them alone. There are 2 of them. Do you know which one I turn? If not I have a repair manual now I'm sure I can find it in there.

emdsapmgr · Jun 28, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

You've got two cables, shift and throttle. You want to adjust the throttle cable, attached to the spark advance lever. If you are unsure of that lever's location, you can check out the factory exploded parts diagram for your engine: epc.brp.com

dom_litty09 · Jun 28, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

ok i was thinking of the right one then. i will adjust it later today and let you know how it goes. like i said it will idle fine around 800 but when given throttle or high idle then brought back down it idles around 1200. unless i go back and push the spark advance lever back to where it should be, then it idles fine again

emdsapmgr · Jun 29, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

You should be fine with a minor cable adjustment.

dom_litty09 · Jun 30, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

ok. got the boat on the water today. everything was going good. except we were running about 4400 max rpm. about 2 mins in the motor killed. didnt sound like it was idling right. cranked up the idle, reset the timing and now its running like ****. the idle is almost as high as it can go, max throttle im hitting about 2600 rpm... not sure whats wrong.. i think its over my head.. opinions? thanks. (good news is the reticifier is charging the batteries perfectly)

dom_litty09 · Jul 3, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

replaced the plugs in the boat. running a lil bit better.. but now much. got everything set about where it should be, idle, timing, etc.. but with the idle running at 800 it misfires when i rev the engine to about 1000. but if i set the idle at about 11-1150 it revs as high as i want it to without misfiring.. it almost seems like at 800 its sucking too much air and not enough gas.. any suggestions?

dom_litty09 · Jul 11, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

anyone have any ideas? no shops can get it in for about 2 weeks..

emdsapmgr · Jul 12, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

It's unusual for an engine to quit for no apparent reason. I doubt it killed because the idle and timing sudently changed. Something else is going on. Check your spark on all 4 cyls when the engine is fully warmed up. Make sure the link arm between the spark advance lever and the timer base is still connected. (sometimes the ball and sockets can become disconnected.)

dom_litty09 · Jul 14, 2012

Re: 1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

spark is good. link arm good. im starting to think my tach isnt reading right. because if i set the idle at 1100 (according to the gauge) it runs fine, engine raps as high as i want it to. havent tried it on the river yet tho. ill let you know how it goes

1979 evinrude 140. battery not charging

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