1972 Evinrude 40 outboard no spark?

[Crosbyman]

those magnetos are awfully simple....disconnect all extra wires of the points except ones from the coil primary and the condenser.

clean the points !! finish with acetone or carb cleaner to remove any residue or oil

install the FW and spin with plugs out. if you have good sparks now and you did have extra wires on the points they are grounded so find out why.

if no sparks ... measure your seconday HV plug boots with frame ground and you must have continuity between 4-8 kohms if not redo all coil connections till you ave 4-8kohms on the boot plugs . while doing the fix check for same Kohms on the HV pins and secondary wires just in case the coil secondaries are open .

you can do a BASIC test on the condensers but only a high voltage test is real proof !! they are good

Outboard Condenser Testing

Simple Condenser Testing with an Analog Multimeter

pochefamily.org

 

[bcontento]

Picked up an open air spark tester and same results. No spark with the main black plug disconnected and the plugs out.

 

[racerone]

Find one of many u-tube videos.----Repair the simple magneto as needed.

 

[Crosbyman]

we know you have no sparks....try post #21 and utubes.....millions of these magnetos run fine. nothing special about yours .

 

[film495]

put an ohm meter on your points. check that they pass current when closed, with very litte to no resistance, and they do not pass any current at all when open. my guess is this won't work correctly, and when you pick up the feeler guage you should pick up a points file as well.

 

[bcontento]

Again thanks to everybody. For your help.

I pulled the plate off that has all of the ignition components on it. Underneath is a notched washer that aligns with holes in a ring below it around the crankshaft. As somebody mentioned earlier there were screws missing from the top plate that go through the coils which indicated misalignment likely and it does appear that the underneath washer wasn't aligned fully with all four holes. Not sure if that would cause this issue. Now I need to know does it matter where the ring around the crankshaft is rotated to before I put the other plate on top and then screw it back together. It has a direct correlation to the position of the ignition plate above it I think.

I also cleaned filed and set the points again. They were still okay and in an ohm check and they show zero resistance when closed

 

[Crosbyman]

the base ring under the mag plate must be secured properly.2 short bolts and 2 long bolts .
did you try to adjust timing per the video. at the very least.... adjust the points gap to .020 at the highest point of the cam lobe.

 

[bcontento]

the base ring under the mag plate must be secured properly.2 short bolts and 2 long bolts .
did you try to adjust timing per the video. at the very least.... adjust the points gap to .020 at the highest point of the cam lobe.

I was able to put the missing bolts in through the coil and re-secure the plate correctly. I did set the points again correctly and tested resistance on them. I put the flywheel back on and with the open air spark tester still get nothing. I haven't set the timing yet but I can't imagine that it would be far enough off to keep any spark from happening on either cylinder would it?

 

[racerone]

The position of that ring does NOT MATTER.----Just line it up so the 4 screws go in.----Are the breaker points absolutely clean , with zero resistance when closed ?

 

[Crosbyman]

we keep going in circles...
stick a screw driver to see you FW magnets feel strong
adjust the points
adjust the timing per video
retest all ohms between primaries and KOhms from plug boots to frame
test or replace the condensers
remove any kill wires on the points leave just coil primary and condenser wires
remount the FW & spin with plugs out and plugs grounded
stick a screw driver to see you FW magnets feel strong

 

[bcontento]

we keep going in circles...
stick a screw driver to see you FW magnets feel strong
adjust the points
adjust the timing per video
retest all ohms between primaries and KOhms from plug boots to frame
test or replace the condensers
remove any kill wires on the points leave just coil primary and condenser wires
remount the FW & spin with plugs out and plugs grounded
stick a screw driver to see you FW magnets feel strong

Flywheel off and upside down with a screwdriver the magnets on one side are strong magnets on the other side are not. Correction I just realized that only one side has magnets so they seem to be fine

Sorry I don't know what primaries are and how to test them.

I did replace the condensers and I have set the points multiple times including file and cleaning them. Did an ohms test on closed points and got zero resistance.

I didn't ohm's check from inside each of the plug boots to a frame ground and get no reading at all. I also lifted each coil off so I could do an ohms test at both ends of each of the wires and I get OL on both.

I removed all of the wires except the coil and condenser at the points with the same no spark results.

 

[Crosbyman]

2 coil short wires are the coil primary winding.... resistance around 1 ohms max usually.. one wire is grounded under a coil mounting bolt ( scrape away paint) the other goes to the point screw with the condenser wire

either of the primary wires measured with the high voltage pin should read 4-8 KILO ohms approx

with the plug wire installed resistance from the plug boot spring to either primary or actually....the engine frame if the coil is installed properly should read 4-8 Kilo ohms approx.

test and report back.

 

[bcontento]

With each of the coils out I get 0 ohms between the two wires on the coil itself. Then I get open loop 0L from each of the coil wires to the respective spark plug wire.

Like I said previously I get open loop on each of the spark plug wires when I test them independently from one end to the other. That doesn't seem right does it?

 

[Crosbyman]

no it does not !!!

what do you get from either primary wires to the HV pin itself in the coil alone ( presumed you measured with the plug wire installed ...)

if you read infinity the coils are bad. see previous video I linked
if ok to the HV pin but not the plug boots...install new 7mm wires pushed on or screwed on the HV pins ( some coils have needle tip pins some have screw pins either is fine).

install new plug boots with the prick pin centered on the 7mm wire
personnaly I use automotive solid strand s wire 7mm with boots molded on the wire. cut to length using the old ones as guides. front coil goes to the top plug.

wish I could post picture of internally broken plug wire where bending has eventually broken the inner strands. plug wire 2 feel long MUST measure 0 ohms (no reistance)

DO NOT USE CARBON FIRE WIRE...ONLY METALLIC cooper being the best ...check out you local lawn mower or bike shop to purchase a feet feet.

 

[bcontento]

I WAS TOTALLY SCREWING THIS UP! I DID NOT REALIZE WHERE THE PLUG WIRE CAME INTO THE COIL!

With the coils installed I get around 3 kohm on the front coil and 8.08 pretty steady on the back one going from either lead on the coil to the end of the plug wire

And in the process I broke the little push button on the black little box under the flywheel with the two blades coming off and now I get no ignition from the key switch. Would that cause it?

 

[racerone]

That unit is the safety switch to prevent starter from working with throttle open too far.-----So for your testing here put the white wire to ground and starter should work.

 

[bcontento]

That unit is the safety switch to prevent starter from working with throttle open too far.-----So for your testing here put the white wire to ground and starter should work.

Nada. I grounded that wire and still no ignition. I'm about ready to throw in the towel and let a pro look at it

 

[racerone]

Might not be easy to find a shop willing to work on a 50 year old motor.

 

[Crosbyman]

I DID NOT REALIZE WHERE THE PLUG WIRE CAME INTO THE COIL!

why not spend some serious time reading up on all this stuff.

 

[film495]

Nada. I grounded that wire and still no ignition. I'm about ready to throw in the towel and let a pro look at it

how good is the ground? I'd add a jumper wire off wherever you grounded it to a really nice bare metal spot, maybe a common ground with other connections.