Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

I've got a 1982 Evinrude 35 hp, remote start and steering. I've never had any problems until yesterday, my first time out this year. Attached a charged battery the other night, ready to go fishing the next morning. In the morning, the engine would not turn over - it tried but the battery didn't have the juice. Swapped the cables to the trolling motor battery and tried again. It then turned over great but wouldn't catch.

At first I though it was a gas problem - the tank had some in it from the previous season. I got another tank with all new fresh gas and oil, but it did not help.

After getting it home, I checked the plugs. They appear to be in good shape, but I cannot see any spark when cranking over. I attached a jumper cable from the negative to the plug ground but still nothing from either plug wire. I assume this is my issue.

I've searched the forums and see that I need to figure out what's bad: powerpack (cdi I think?), coils or stator. I already tried disconnecting the black/yellow wire from the powerpack and it did not help, and neither did jumping the kill switch.

I have no experience with troubleshooting this. I will get a dvi, but I don't understand what to do or measure. Can you help me out?

Thanks.

Re: Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

Does that motor have an emergency kill switch lanyard? Just a quick spot to check if it had that switch. Another possibility is that the neutral safety switch has gone bad. If the voltage and amps are not strong enough I do not believe that you can get the flywheel spinning at the correct speed to get the required spark. A good place to start is with a properly charged new battery and tight terminals. At least by going that route you can rule out battery and can move on to troubleshooting the rest of the system.

Re: Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

Yes, I did mention that I'd jumped the kill switch, as well as disconnecting the black/yellow wire from the CDI. Also, the engine will not even turn over if the neutral safety switch wasn't working - and I know for a fact that it is good.

The trolling motor battery is good and was turning the engine over nicely. I just don't have spark.

Re: Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

Go to CDI Electronics.com for trouble shooting procedures.

Re: Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

Here's my situation: I've purchased a DVA and have a multimeter to go with it. I downloaded the instructions for measuring the voltages, but I am a bit confused (please excuse me if these questions seem dumb):

1) The stator has a plug which goes into the powerpack. When I measure the voltages, must the stator be plugged into the powerpack, or can I unplug it and measure the voltages inside the plug itself? If it needs to be connected, do I need to poke into the wires or is there a place where I can measure the voltage easily?

2) The guide has two voltages - dva connected and dva disconnected. Does disconnected mean that I measure the voltage without the dva, going straight into the multimeter?

3) These voltages are always read with the engine cranking, right? Since I have electric start, is it enough to simply have the key in the on position, and jump the solenoid to turn the engine over, or is there something else I should do?

Thanks everyone.

Re: Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

bump

Re: Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

Nobody can help here?

Re: Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

"disconnected" means that you're measuring the component by itself using the DVA+multimeter.

you want to be cranking your engine when performing DVA tests. If you're measuring Resistance (Ohms), that's done without the engine cranking and with your multimeter only.

its recommended that you ground your plug wires and remove the plugs to relieve cylinder compression and maximize RPM's (you want to be turning 250-300RPM minimum). You will not get spark if the flywheel isn't turning fast enough. Personally I don't like performing spark tests with the plugs removed for reasons highlighted in the Compression test by JB sticky. If you can get the proper RPMs with the plugs-in, then all-the-better.

Also note that your ignition switch or wiring harness could be the root cause of the problem. To test this, you disconnect the red harness and activate the solenoid directly. I use a 2-pole light-switch (and a rubber band to make it momentary)

Re: Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

Thank you so much! I've managed to test my stator both connected and disconnected (I believe) since I ended up plugging the probes ends into the plug itself and also tested without the plug attached to the powerpack. It seems weird to me that the ohms are correct but the voltages seem way off. In fact, the voltages (through the DVA) are not stable at all - they move up and down regularly as I crank.

I am pretty confident that I am reaching 250 RPM (although I don't know that for a fact) - with a single battery attached, the RPMs are strong with a single plug out - no spark. I also jumped the battery to my truck and the RPMs are really, really strong, still no spark. I purchased an in-line spark tester last night but haven't tried it yet.

Also, I did disconnect the large red plug that leads to the ignition switch but it did not make any difference.

One of the wires I was supposed to measure was an orange wire, but the only orange wire I could find was coming from the power pack - is this correct?

So, given that it seems the voltages do not seem good, I feel that the problem is in the stator area. In my research, it seems like there's both a stator and a trigger/timing sensor thing. I don't actually know about pulling the flywheel (other than the physical act) - do I need to be concerned about lining it up properly when I put it back on? Should I make marks on the flywheel so I can realign it when replacing it?

When I pull the flywheel, aside form ohms, is there anything else that I can do to assure that I am replacing the correct part?

FYI I've purchased an OMC service manual for my engine but haven't received it yet. Any help I can get in assuring that I am doing the right thing would be terrific.

Re: Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

Just wondering... can you still have good ohms but bad voltage coming from the stator? Does that sound like a bad stator or something else? The CDI Electronics manual also mentions a reading between the orange and orange/white wires - are these wires actually on the stator, or are they somewhere else?

Re: Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

I am wondering - is there some reason I can't get much response to my thread? I'm just trying to understand this system and I don't think I have anything new or unseen in troubleshooting these outboards. Should I do something like HELPPPP!!!!! I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING AND I NEED IT FIXED RIGHT NOW!!!!

Re: Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

Have you checked out your battery? As you crank your voltage will drop the longer that you spin the starter. I don't know much about the charging system when it comes to stator's. Have you checked out your coils and wires?

Re: Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

Yes, I've even jumped off the motor using two batteries. It runs very strong and fast when I do this. I had my strong battery hooked up, then connected jumper cables from it to my truck as well, while my truck was running. If the flywheel had props the boat would taken off like a helicopter. I am sure this isn't a battery issue, but *thank you* for responding.

Re: Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

you have to understand, not everyone knows how to help you, so you may not get alot of responses.

Re: Dead battery, no spark 1982 Evinrude 35hp

Believe me, I understand that - I run a forum on Microsoft and know how it goes. However, my questions aren't of the genius-required type. I was wondering where the orange wire is on these engines. Nobody knows that?