Evinrude 90; 1964 Ingition

newbe to the forum and new to this vintage engine. Just aquired 90hp and have not gotten it started yet. When trying to start it only tries to fiire when you release the key. You can crank and crank and nothing. Then when you release the key it will pop and try to start.

It getting too cold to play outside. Thought I would start asking questions.

Seems odd. Any ideas?

Thanks, REL

Re: Evinrude 90; 1964 Ingition

Most likely a bad key switch. Put a voltmeter on the + terminal of the coil and observe while cranking. Should show a voltage as soon as you turn the key to "ON" position, and also while cranking. I'll bet the cranking voltage is missing because the key switch isn't sending it. Exact "ON" voltage will vary according to whether the breaker points are open or closed at the moment.

EDIT: If it passes the above test, the coil may be weak or the spark wires may be bad. Reason: The supplied voltage to the coil will be less whild cranking due to the starter load on the battery. Less input to the coil results in less output from it (spark voltage).

BTW, check the battery too. All bets are off if the battery output is low.