1968 Evinrude 55 No Spark

[float2]

This 55 horse briefly ran good this spring. Suddenly it wasn't getting any spark. I replaced the amplifier (hard time finding it!) w a NIB from Fairwinds Marina. Ran it for about maybe 3 hours run time and no go again, no spark. What or where do I need to look at on this engine? In an aside there is someone local to me that has a '68 Johnson 55 with the same no spark issue after replacing the amp, coil, etc. Where do I troubleshoot next on this?

 

[boobie]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 55 No Spark

Go haffies with the local guy and buy an OMC factory service manual. You'll also need some test equipment to check out properly.

 

[F_R]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 55 No Spark

You sprung for a new amplifier without first going through the rest of the system?? The first thing you should have done is pull the flywheel and service the points and distributor. And there is a silver wire anti-reverse spring in there that requires attention. It needs to be VERY sparingly lubricated with EP grease. If neglected, it disintegrates and fouls everything. Points must be clean and gapped .009"

Flywheel and shaft tapers must be clean and dry and you MUST use a torque wrench to tighten the flywheel nut to 70-85 foot pounds.

Finally, you need to verify enough input voltage to the amplifier.

 

[boobie]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 55 No Spark

Isn't the flywheel torque supposed to be 100-105 ft lbs ?

 

[float2]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 55 No Spark

You sprung for a new amplifier without first going through the rest of the system?? The first thing you should have done is pull the flywheel and service the points and distributor. And there is a silver wire anti-reverse spring in there that requires attention. It needs to be VERY sparingly lubricated with EP grease. If neglected, it disintegrates and fouls everything. Points must be clean and gapped .009"

Flywheel and shaft tapers must be clean and dry and you MUST use a torque wrench to tighten the flywheel nut to 70-85 foot pounds.

Finally, you need to verify enough input voltage to the amplifier.

Yes, points, distributor were checked and were good. The spring didn't look abnormal although maybe it needs a freshening of the EP grease? How sparingly should it be applied and should the entire spring get treated or just a certain part of it? In hindsight what I should have done was put an ohmmeter to the amp and checked that before buying parts? I will pull the amp off soon and bench test it to determine if thats where the problem is. Could be a bad coil I guess thats pretty old.

I'm kind of green with outboards so go easy on me lol.

 

[F_R]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 55 No Spark

You need to isolate the trouble. First make sure you have nominal 12 volts at the amplifier with the key turned on (and cranking).

Then, remove the coil and unscrew the spark wire from the distributor cap, then remount the coil and rig up a spark gap off the end of the spark wire. Disconnect the wire between the amp and timer plate. Now, with the key turned on, lightly brush the wire that went to the timer across a bare metal ground. You should get a flurry of sparks from the coil's spark wire. If you do, then the amplifier and coil are ok, as well as other wiring up to that point, and your trouble has to be under the flywheel. If you don't get sparks, and you are sure of the 12V input, then either the coil or amplifier are no good. You can test continuity of the coil windings with an ohmmeter. Other than that, it is a crap shoot---coil or amplifier. It isn't a bad idea to replace the coil when installing a new amplifier anyway.

Just a thin bead of EP where the spring rides on the crankshaft.

I have the 1968 55hp Factory Service manual right here in front of me. It says 70-85 foot pounds on page 2-3.

 

[boobie]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 55 No Spark

I got my info from some printed matter I picked up in Evinrude service school back in 1969. Manuals can be wrong.

 

[float2]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 55 No Spark

Thanks for the info, I will look into it further and report back when I can.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 55 No Spark

I got my info from some printed matter I picked up in Evinrude service school back in 1969. Manuals can be wrong.

'68 and '69 had different flywheels.

 

[boobie]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 55 No Spark

I sit corrected. As I thought about it I could see both flywheels and they were different.