1977 Johnson 70hp electrical draw

[Bighand2]

New to the forum. Was looking online for an answer to a question and stumbled across this site. Looks to be very informative. I have a question that hopefully someone can answer. I purchased a 1977 Johnson 70 hp motor (with a pretty beat up boat) last year at the end of the season and have not had a chance to put it in the water yet. When I got it the battery cables were disconnected at the battery. I connected them and got a spark when I connected them. I left them connected and started the motor to verify that it did run. I then disconnected the cables and let it sit through the winter. Took it out from the backyard storage today and connected the cables again and the short or draw or ? is still there - not that I thought that it would go away. It appears that there is a large electrical draw in the system. When I connect the cables I hear a clicking type noise coming from under the flywheel area. I removed the flywheel and cannot see anything wrong - not that I know what I am looking for. Is this a common problem? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: 1977 Johnson 70hp electrical draw

Are you by any chance accidently hooking the battery up backwards?

Checking for a short..... disconnect the cable(s) from the positive terminal of the battery. Connect a ammeter or voltmeter between that positive battery terminal and the RED cable that leads to the engine. If a short exists, it should register on the meter. Now, it becomes a trial and error thing of disconnecting a component here and there until the meter voltage drops and registers zero. When the voltage drops to zero, you've found the offending component.

 

[Bighand2]

Re: 1977 Johnson 70hp electrical draw

Joe Reeves. Thank You for the response. The battery cables are connected correctly. The draw goes away if I disconnect the stator (disconnected at the junction block). The clicking noise is also gone when one of the stator wires is disconnected. I don't think that it is possible that the ignition is keeping the stator powered up because I can start it and shut it off with the ignition. Still lost.

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: 1977 Johnson 70hp electrical draw

Assuming that the stator is faulty may be in error. It's possible that the rectifier is shorted out in such a manner that it (the rectifier) is at fault.

There are four wires leading from the stator, two (2) yellow (possibly one is yellow/gray), and a brown and a brown/yellow. Which wire did you disconnect?

 

[Bighand2]

Re: 1977 Johnson 70hp electrical draw

Thanks for the advice Joe Reeves. I do believe that you are correct in saying that the rectifier is faulty. When I disconnected the stator I was also disconnecting the rectifier. I checked the rectifier with a DVOM and it seems to have a problem on the circuit that has the yellow / brown wire. Hopefully that is it. Rectifier is lots cheaper than a stator. Just ordered a rectifier and will try it to see if it corrects the problem. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.