Evinrude 60hp 3 cylinder 2 stroke cranks but won't start

rog1206

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Jul 6, 2023
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Hello all,

I’m new here and asking this for my father law. I don’t have a boat, nor do I have any experience with outboards, carbs, or two strokes. More of a landlubbing shade tree mechanic and only work on fuel injected 4 strokes.

Here goes; he has a 96 Evinrude 60hp 3 cylinder 2 stroke and model is E60TLED. The problem he’s having is a cranks but won’t start condition. He did say that he was cleaning the carbs with seafoam but later on, he was able to start it up for a little; similar to how someone would use starter fluid to get it going. He also said he tried the shotgun/parts cannon approach to solve the issue and here are the parts he replaced: plugs, plug wires, coils, CDI Box or Power pack, rectifier/regulator, and the stator. None of these parts seemed to have fixed the issue. He also said he rebuilt the carbs.

At first, I thought he had a fueling problem after he mentioned the seafoam getting it going for a little. I had him check if the cylinders were getting fuel (which they were) and I did find out his fuel has been sitting for months, possibly longer than 6 without any stabilizer in it. This led me to believe that his fuel was old and possibly bad. I had him clear out the cylinders and carbs of old fuel, then bypass the fuel tank while using a fresh can of gas directly to the carbs. This didn’t work either.

Next step was to see if the engine was getting spark but after using an adjustable spark tester, there was no spark across all 3 cylinders. We also took all the plugs out and grounded them to verify that there was no spark. This made me wonder how he was able to get it started with seafoam in the first place. He did say he started replacing parts after it wouldn’t start. I tested the wires for continuity, and they tested fine. The aftermarket coils on there tested at 333 Ohms and out of curiosity, I asked to see the original coils that he removed, and they all tested to spec at 240-257 Ohm. Possibly wrong type of coil packs?

I’m thinking that he might have a fueling issue along with a no spark condition, but I’d like to narrow down what is causing the no spark issue first. Is there anywhere else I should look? I wanted to test the power pack/CDI box but have no idea how. He’s got a new one and I heard these can be bad right out of the box. His original one might still be good.

I was also going to check the pulsar coil to see if that was sending out signal but since my dad in law doesn’t live close by, that’s another thing I’d like to look at.

Thanks in advance,



Roger
 

racerone

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Dec 28, 2013
Messages
37,850
Running to the parts store gets expensive in a hurry.---Going to do this one little step at a time.-----Check the flywheel key.----If it is sheared timing will be way out.----report on what you find.
 

racerone

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Next little step is to charge the battery and load test the battery.
 

rog1206

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Jul 6, 2023
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Running to the parts store gets expensive in a hurry.---Going to do this one little step at a time.-----Check the flywheel key.----If it is sheared timing will be way out.----report on what you find.
Oh yeah! I told him to look at the simple things first before taking the shot gun approach. All his old parts might still be good too.
 

racerone

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Dec 28, 2013
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I suggested you charge the battery and have it load tested.-----Not sure why you would argue with that.----Sorry , I will step aside.-----Perhaps others will help you.
 

rog1206

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Jul 6, 2023
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I suggested you charge the battery and have it load tested.-----Not sure why you would argue with that.----Sorry , I will step aside.-----Perhaps others will help you.
Hi Racerone. I wasn't arguing with you. I meant that I would perform a load test on the battery next time I go to my in-law's place. Thanks for the input.
 

rog1206

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Jul 6, 2023
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Thought I would give an update:

About 2 weeks ago, did a battery load test and he had 2 batteries hooked up. During cranking, it didn’t fall below 12.3 volts. Next on the list was to figure out if the kill switch was preventing the spark. Looked over the Seloc manual to see that it was the black/yellow wire. Can’t remember if it was an ohm’s or voltage test but that wire gave the same reading even after pulling the lanyard off the ignition. I pulled the wire out of the 5 pin harness on the power pack side. Gave it a crank while testing for spark and cylinder 1 & 2 had spark now. Couldn’t figure out why cylinder 3 had no spark but thought this would be a good stopping point and to spend some time looking over the wiring diagram.


Fast forward to last night, swapped the wire coming out of the power pack for cylinder 2 and plugged it into coil for cylinder #3 and coil had spark. After this, traced the orange/green wire, from the coil back to the power pack. Looked ok but didn’t do any test on this wire but when I was looking over the green wire on the 5 pin harness that goes to the timer base, it looked frayed. After disconnecting the harness and looking inside, it looked like the pin for that wire wasn’t going all the way through. I pulled both sides of the wire out and bypassed the harness. Hooked up the spark tester and cylinder #3 had spark! Not the engine will start and run but cuts out after about 30 seconds. Figured it might be a fueling issue but my father in law continued pumping the fuel bulb thingamajig and the engine will continue to run, but horribly. This led us to believe that not enough fuel was getting to the carbs.

When it was running, I heard a loud buzzing noise and saw a red light on the dash. When I asked about it, he said it was a low oil light and it’s never come on before and that he also said it might be a faulty sensor since the oil was full. Later on, the brother in law joined us and explained that the fuel pump also works as an oil pump..or VRO, which confused me since I have heard of no such thing. Next step is to test it.
 

flyingscott

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Apr 8, 2014
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Is it on? Yes the VRO is an oil pump and fuel pump combined. What way is the red lever on the primer pointed?
 

rog1206

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Jul 6, 2023
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No. I figured the emergency stop circuit is shorting but we can figure this part out later. Does this impact the VRO?
 

flyingscott

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Apr 8, 2014
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8,095
No the Vro is separate from that. The VRO is a mechanical pump. Which way is the red lever on the primer facing.
 

rog1206

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Jul 6, 2023
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I'll ask my father in law since I probably won't help work on it until 2-3 weeks later. Thanks for the quick responses though.
 
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