1960 Evinrude now has no spark

Ok, getting really frustrated and don't know what else to try now. Been working on this 60' Evinrude 10hp Sportwin for like 3-4 weeks solid now. Did a compression check (80 psi on both cylinders), did a carb rebuilt kit on it, including a new float, got new spark plugs, gapped the points, re-set the two needle valves according to the manual (1 1/8 turns open and 1/2 turn open) and also got a new flywheel. Thing is, even though I have yet to get it to run I have had good spark from the get go. This was verified both visually with a spark plug checker as well as me actually holding the darn wires and getting zapped. I've gotten tons of "pops" and smoke etc., signs of aaaallmost starting but not quite there. Here's my quandry...while waiting for some parts to come in I had removed the wires that come from condenser and coil and screw onto the points post (or what ever it's called) and had them off for a week or so. So when I went back to hook them up I realized that there are actually 3 wires on each side now. The green one from the coil, a black one from the condenser, and now another black one (by each set of points). In another post I mentioned this and someone said yes, that is correct IF you have a "kill switch". I do. I have traced them back and that's what they are. I just don't remember having 3 wires hooked up to the same post when I took them off. Ok, no big deal just hook em' all back up, right? Well I did and now I have NO spark on either wire. So my question now is....do they have to go onto the post/screw in a certain order? It's almost like the kill switch wires are not letting current get through or something. I currently have the wires (on both sides) hooked up in this order....kill switch wire, green coil wire, then last on the outside the condenser wire with the screw through all those. Does it matter? Does the kill switch wire need to be on the outside or in between the two other wires? ANY help/suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks

-B-

Re: 1960 Evinrude now has no spark

no difference in what order the wires get connected, but you may want to eliminate the kill switch wires for now. and clean the points with a strip of glossy paper dipped in acetone .

Re: 1960 Evinrude now has no spark

Thanks for the quick reply. Ok, went out and pulled the flywheel once again. What a pain. Anyway...re-hooked up the wires omitting the 2 kill switch wires. Still a no go. :blue: Oh, and I had already cleaned the points previously with some 400 grit sand paper. I just don't get it. The coils are supposedly new and indeed look new and more importantly have been up till now putting out plenty of juice. How could a coil possibly go "bad" out of the blue and stop working? There's gotta be a bad ground or something somewhere, right? Is there any way to test a coil with a digital meter? Been workin' way to long on this and am at wits end. Thanks again.

-B-

Re: 1960 Evinrude now has no spark

Not likely the coils, more likely the points.

You say you dressed the points. Did you then clean them? If they are dressed, without any pitting or damage, and set to 020, then take a business card, or clean paper stock, dip it in acetone, and run that through. I like to blow off with compressed air after dressing to ensure there is not grit anywhere. Are you getting good continuity across the points when they are closed?

You should bury the needle testing the primary circuit (coil ground to lead at points), and about 3000 to 8000 ohms resistance across the secondary (coil ground to spark plug boot)

That just tells you the cicuits are not broken. Does not tell you that it wont fail under load. For that you need better testing equipment. USUALLY if it looks ok, and is not original, it is ok.

Re: 1960 Evinrude now has no spark

Are the coils properly aligned with the mounting bosses? Too far in and they won't fire properly.

Re: 1960 Evinrude now has no spark

Yes, coils are installed/aligned properly. In answer to HighTrim no, I didn't clean the points with anything other than blowing with canned air to make sure I got rid of any loose grit. I think I might just get a new ignition kit including points and condensers just so I know for sure that part of the equation is good and can be checked off the list of possibilities. Thanks for the input guys. I'll report back if I discover anything else in the meanwhile.

-B-

Re: 1960 Evinrude now has no spark

Update! In a nut shell I'd say it WAS the points. Well, that and the cam and the woodruff key. Let me explain...the 1st few times I ever had the Flywheel off to inspect and set the points the cam would stay seated almost all the way down on the crankshaft (there's a spring underneath the cam that pops it up just a hair) so that the little knobs on the back of the points that come in contact with the cam so the points will open and close as the high node passes etc. But, the washer that is on top of the spring and directly below the cam is very thin and was trashed. So I got a new one and then found out that the only way to remove the washer was to remove the woodruff key. I did that, got a new key and replaced the washer and inserted a new key (the exact same size as the one that came out). But ever since I did that the cam sits way up and of course the back of the points don't even make contact with the cam. I figured, no problem because when I put the flywheel back on it'll push the cam all the way down, right? Well maybe it does but evidently the little arms aren't making correct contact or what ever. Not to mention that you obviously can't set the gap on the points unless the cam is seated all the way. Long story short (I know...to late for that) I landed up re-seating the key and not tapping it as far in. Lo-N-behold the cam now stays 95% of the way down when I let go. So I re-gaped them, cleaned them with a little acetone and put everything back together. Oh, I should mention I noticed that there is a hair line crack in the cam right straight down the front (and all the way through) of the key way. G-R-E-A-T. Ok...now the good news. I put everything back together, stuck er' in my barrel, primed it with the squeeze ball, pulled the choke and gave a tug on the pull start. One pull and it fired right up! Could NOT believe it! Progress, finally. Now here's the bad news. It surprised me so much that it actually startled me and it seemed like it was revved pretty high so I only let it run for about 10-15 sec.'s max and hit the kill switch. I figured no problem I'll just fire it back up and then tweak the slow lean/rich needle etc. Well, after a dozen more tries or so it wouldn't even cough. So I'm guessin' that the either the key isn't holding the cam in place, or the crack in the cam spreads just enough to make some sort of difference, or...????

So that's where I'm at. My plan is to get a new (used) cam, new set of points and I really think I need a key that is the same length and thickness but a hair wider so it fits in the whole key way instead of having a gap between the key and the cam like it does now. Sound about right? Anything else anyone can think of that I should do/try? Thanks

-B-

Rats, forgot to mention.....the other thing that scared me was that I didn't see water pumping out! Mind you, I was a little rattled and didn't look real carefully and only had it running like I said for 10-15 sec.'s, but I was expecting to see something squirting kind of out to the side like my Mercury. Where is the port on this thing where the water will squirt out? I see what I believe is the exhaust port on the spine of the
lower unit, right? That's not where the water will come to will it? BTW...I have a brand spankin' new Thermostat in it as well.

Re: 1960 Evinrude now has no spark

You can only use an OEM key. Hardware store ones will not last, which may be the case right now. They just dont hold up, dont bother trying them.

Re: 1960 Evinrude now has no spark

You could connect a couple of wires to the points or coils and run them out from under the flywheel to check that you have proper opening/closing when the flywheel is on. Obviously that means popping the flywheel off again to remove them before starting it.

Re: 1960 Evinrude now has no spark

HighTrim said:

You can only use an OEM key. Hardware store ones will not last, which may be the case right now. They just dont hold up, dont bother trying them.

Click to expand...

Really? The replacement key I got appears to be made out of the exact same material as the original. Pretty hardened material. The place I got it from is not the usual Lowes or Home Depot. It's one of those hardware stores that has been around for 80 years, is local,privately owned and not a chain store and has every nut, bolt, screw in every type of metal you could ever imagine. It's the one place most all of the contractors in town go to.