78 Evinrude Problem

[nmhellraiser]

Alright, so my journey begins again. This motor has run good up until last weekend. I get it out and am getting it ready to go to the lake and the motor won't start. For some odd reason when it decides it wants to spark it will. It's off and on with the spark. When it is firing it tries to start but then it goes back to not getting any spark. Does this sound like something is grounding out somewhere? Any other suggestions?

 

[ezeke]

Re: 78 Evinrude Problem

You could try disconnecting the black and yellow wire at the engine. If they are grounded at the ignition switch, in the harness, or from an emergency kill switch, the engine will not start, or will behave erratically. The normal function of the wire is to stop the engine by grounding the powerpack when the key is turned to off.

Note that with the wire disconnected, you will have to choke the engine to stop it.

 

[nmhellraiser]

Re: 78 Evinrude Problem

I found out what the problem was. The contacts in the key switch to kill it are sticking. I just cut the ground that kills the powerpacks and it fires right up. Here's the funny part, somehow it's backfeeding into the controls now and when you touch them you get a good little buzz. I guess I'll have to hunt down a keyswitch now. Anyways, thanks for the quick response.

 

[ezeke]

Re: 78 Evinrude Problem

Hope you did not cut anything except the black and yellow kill wire. The key switch is pretty universal, get it at any dealership.

 

[nmhellraiser]

Re: 78 Evinrude Problem

There are 2 wires that make up the kill circuit. I just found out which two they were and I just cut one in half. When I get a new keyswitch I'll splice it back together. I just wonder why I'm getting buzzed at the controls.

 

[ezeke]

Re: 78 Evinrude Problem

Probably because you have a loose wire contacting the control. There should be no current at all to the control box. If you cut the black wire at the ignition switch, you have no ground for your system. Take a look at the control circuit diagram:

 

[nmhellraiser]

Re: 78 Evinrude Problem

Thanks for the diagram. Upon further investigation, I found out that the lanyard clip switch went bad. Easy fix but a pain in the *** to figure out what was causing my problems.