1974 135 H.P. Evinrude (No Spark)

[wildman59]

I have a 1974 135 H.P Evinrude that ran great when it was last parked 2 years ago. I had the boat winterized and parked it in my barn and it sat for the last 2 years. I went to get it out this year and it is not getting any spark. I even held on to the spark plug wire to see if i would get any kind of a shock and I got nothing on any cylinder. I checked all 4 cylinders for spark and none of them are getting any spark. Does anyone know if this motor takes points or if its a CDI box? I was told by a friend to pop the flywheel off and see if theres and corrosion or rust on the magnets or metal under the flywheel but dont know if thats a good spot to start or if that even does anything. I know when parked everything worked good so any advise on where to start would be greatly appreciated. Thank for any help!

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Re: 1974 135 H.P. Evinrude (No Spark)

I know there has been some posts as to how to check out the electronics on this motor. Electrical wise I believe it is the same as all the other V4 from 1973 to early 80's. If no one gets back to you I will check my manual when I get home late tonight and give you an idea of where to start.

If you want to see an exploded parts diagram for this unit try shop.evinrude.com (no www). It will at least give you an idea of what you are looking at.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 1974 135 H.P. Evinrude (No Spark)

Your engine has an early all-electronic ignition system. Before you work on the engine, you need to verify that the control box key switch is not a problem. Disconnect the large red plug wiring harness under the cowling. Disconnect the two cables to the starter. Connect battery jumper cables from a battery direct to the starter. Crank the engine with the jumper cables and see if you get spark. If it sparks, then the problem is in the control box harness (probably the key switch.) If you get no spark, then each component of the ignition system needs to be tested. Critical components are the power pack, stator and the timer base. (Unlikely that all 4 coils have failed at once.) These components are all relatively expensive, so testing the ones you have is the inexpensive approach. A factory service manual will be helpful by providing the specific tests for each component.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Re: 1974 135 H.P. Evinrude (No Spark)

O.K. I am at home now and have dug ou my book, it is for a 1973, but it is all the same for the electrical. No spark to all 4 cylinders can be the sensor coils, charge coils, power pack, key switch or the 10 way connector.

The one that emdsapmgr suggested to check first is the key switch. The recommended way to check the key switch is as follows:

Remove the black/yellow stripe lead from power pack terminal #1. Crank engine and observe spark.

No spark or spark on one or or more cylinders, replace power pack.

Spark present on all cylinders, check for a frayed or pinched key switch lead. If the lead is o.k. replace key switch.

Now there are other tests to do for the power pack but I am not going to type the whole electrical section of the manual. This is just an easy check to start with.

May I suggest one of the followin:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/EVIN...1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Evin...1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

 

[crb478]

Re: 1974 135 H.P. Evinrude (No Spark)

If it has not run in two years you may need to clean your grounds and contacts. You will also need a good battery that can turn the motor over at 300rpm. Making sure that it is not your control or key switch is a good first step. Also check your kill switch. When it was stored was it accessable to rodents or other critters? They can sometimes to lots of hard to find damage. I would suspect that it is probably something simple.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 1974 135 H.P. Evinrude (No Spark)

There is probably not a kill switch on this old engine.

 

[wildman59]

Re: 1974 135 H.P. Evinrude (No Spark)

I removed the flywheel today and cleaned all the magnets and such, and put it back together and there still is no spark. At this point I am thinking the only other thing that could be causing no spark to any cylinder would be the power pack. Does this sound accurate? I found a power pack on ebay for $60 thats guranteed to work so i think at this point this could be a good way to go. Does this sound like a likely problem? Thank you.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Re: 1974 135 H.P. Evinrude (No Spark)

Did you check the key switch? The key does more then start the engine, it has a main ground line that turns off the engine. The switch may still turn over the engine, but if the ground circut is shorted, it will not allow the engine to get spark.

If you did check the key, and with-out doing any further testing and starting to throw money at it, I would think the power pack would be the next thing.

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1974 135 H.P. Evinrude (No Spark)

If the kill wire is grounded at any point on the circuit you will get no spark on any cylinder.

That is why the first check is to disconnect the black and yellow kill wire at the power pack and try for spark.

The second test is to disconnect the rectifier's yellow wires from the terminal block and test for spark.

All spark tests should be done with a fully charged powerful battery, and with all spark plugs removed from the engine.

BTW, Be sure to retorque the flywheel to 100-105 ft. lb. spec; those 10 pound frisbees can ruin your day.