Re: Starting problem with 1993 Johnson 150 outboard
Looks like I may have found the problem. I thought that it was the stator because resistance is only 52 ohms between orange and orange/black wires and should be 90 to 110 ohms according to the service manual. However, the problem seemed different than the stator because the motor would go from good spark to no spark and back again. Had already ruled out the key switch and kill switch using the manual troubleshooting steps. Clanton suggested looking at the plate behind the coils for arcing between the coils and plate. When I looked closely at the plate, and brackets under the bolts, I noticed that the brackets were black looking due to corrosion. Thanks for pointing me there Clanton! I removed the bolts that attach the coils to the power pack and lightly sanded the metal grounding strips. I made sure that the lower left strip and terminal were clean. Then I applied di-electric grease to prevent future corrosion build up and help with conductivity. I tried to start the motor and it fired right up. I will monitor it for the next week or two and post another reply when I am sure that this fixed the problem. My guess is that the terminal at the lower left coil bolt grounds the power pack and was not providing a good, consistent ground.
