1998 Lowe 245 with 225 HP Evinrude Fitch motor

[hjcastello]

On this 1998 Lowe Pontoon boat, there is a 1999 225HP Evinrude Fitch outboard motor and I was using it very well last year up until it quite working. I changed out the spark plugs but now it is not getting any spark in none of the 6 plugs. I did some research and I found out that it needs to have the kill switch fixed. Now I located this it did not have a lanyard on this boat. All I did was put the key in and cranked it. I have a 1992-01 Outboard Repair manual (18-01311) and on page 9-4 it shows the picture of item 19 which has the lanyard. I have never had one on this boat.

My question is could the switch be setup to not have one attached to it?

 

[LightningBob]

On this 1998 Lowe Pontoon boat, there is a 1999 225HP Evinrude Fitch outboard motor and I was using it very well last year up until it quite working. I changed out the spark plugs but now it is not getting any spark in none of the 6 plugs. I did some research and I found out that it needs to have the kill switch fixed. Now I located this it did not have a lanyard on this boat. All I did was put the key in and cranked it. I have a 1992-01 Outboard Repair manual (18-01311) and on page 9-4 it shows the picture of item 19 which has the lanyard. I have never had one on this boat.

My question is could the switch be setup to not have one attached to it?

So, this isn’t the CORRECT answer but it’s the answer to your question, Yes.

 

[dingbat]

I have a hard time believing that the motor will not start w/o the lanyard.

The manual for my 1997 Evinrude states that will run without lanyard for safety reasons.

 

[LightningBob]

If I owned a Johnson Evinrude and had a no spark condition on all cylinders I’d be first looking at the power pack, but that’s just me.

dad had an old Evinrude from the 70s (35hp); I can’t remember exactly what had happened but I know he was able to jump something out/around that power pack to test it.
if I had a diagram I could probably recall what we had to do.
it indeed was the power pack that went bad and on another forum I saw people swearing they never went bad and a few people claiming they’ve changed many of them out over the years

Just saying, if it was my engine, I’d start looking at that thing first if I had a no fire, and of course, if it had one on the engine

 

[LightningBob]

The more I think about it, the more is coming back to me.
seems like I went down the rabbit hole of the kill switch. And as I recall, I used a multimeter to check that kill switch electrically.
There’s a sweet spot that kill switch has to be “gapped” to if that makes sense? and it’s the thickness of that plastic tab/connector.

Again, to the best of my memory, that kill switch will kill the engine in case the wearer of that safety lanyard is thrown overboard but should allow for the boat to be restarted; so you can go pick up the one who was thrown out.

seeing that your engine is about 23 years newer than what was on dads bass boat, I’d imagine a new power pack is about $200-300 online

 

[hjcastello]

The more I think about it, the more is coming back to me.
seems like I went down the rabbit hole of the kill switch. And as I recall, I used a multimeter to check that kill switch electrically.
There’s a sweet spot that kill switch has to be “gapped” to if that makes sense? and it’s the thickness of that plastic tab/connector.

Again, to the best of my memory, that kill switch will kill the engine in case the wearer of that safety lanyard is thrown overboard but should allow for the boat to be restarted; so you can go pick up the one who was thrown out.

seeing that your engine is about 23 years newer than what was on dads bass boat, I’d imagine a new power pack is about $200-300 online

Thank you, i will have it checked out and the last time a power pack was put on it was just before I bought it in October of 2018 and the receipt states that it was $799.00

 

[racerone]

model # of the 98 model 225 Ficht ?

 

[LightningBob]

Thank you, i will have it checked out and the last time a power pack was put on it was just before I bought it in October of 2018 and the receipt states that it was $799.00

I would just start there.
refer to your manual with all the prints and schematics. It could be something like plastic connectors that popped loose due to heat making the clips brittle.
if you have a multimeter you could narrow that power pack down pretty easily. Maybe even something “magneto” related if your engine has one of those.
$799 seems like it would be the shop price to install one of those, I think I saw online $300 for the power pack, and you could definitely do that yourself
Good luck

 

[flyingscott]

You are not getting a Ficht EMM for $300. Find the software or go to a dealer and have it scanned.

 

[Faztbullet]

The switch is a mechanical kill and will run with lanyard removed as grease in it has stiffened. The lanyard holds it against a internal detent and is spring loaded. if removed the switch will return the key to off setting. Make sure it turning at least 300+ RPM or the CPS will not sync with ECM.

 

[LightningBob]

On this 1998 Lowe Pontoon boat, there is a 1999 225HP Evinrude Fitch outboard motor and I was using it very well last year up until it quite working. I changed out the spark plugs but now it is not getting any spark in none of the 6 plugs. I did some research and I found out that it needs to have the kill switch fixed. Now I located this it did not have a lanyard on this boat. All I did was put the key in and cranked it. I have a 1992-01 Outboard Repair manual (18-01311) and on page 9-4 it shows the picture of item 19 which has the lanyard. I have never had one on this boat.

My question is could the switch be setup to not have one attached to it?

Do you figure out your boat’s issue?