Evinrude 115Hp v4 Sensor coil problem

" Hi, I've got a 1976 115

" Hi, I've got a 1976 115 Hp evinrude.

I'm experiencing problems with the sensor coils.

To begin with, the motor was only firing on cylinders 1 and 3.
So I tested the sensor coils resistance, checked for shorts and found nothing wrong with them.

I also tested the charge coils a the stator coils and they checked out also.

The problem is that when it put it all together,
And tried to start the motor, None of the cylinders
were firing! Everything is connected correctly!

I'm wondering if the clearance between the sensor coils and the flywheel magnets could be too large.
If so, how do I adjust there positions?
I'd appreciate your advise!
thanks,
Brad "

"Bradley.... There is no adjus

"Bradley.... There is no adjustment pertaining to clearance of the sensors/flywheel magnets. Don't attempt to move them as you could very easily damage them ($$$$).

If you're absolutely sure that you have everything back together properly, an that all of the componets are okay, and you did have some spark previously, there is a possiblity that the engine is not turning over (cranking) fast enough. The engine must be cranking over by least 300rpm in order to fire the coils.

If the engine is cranking over slower, it is usually due to a low battery/bad battery, loose or dirty connections, or a faulty electric starter.

The proper way to check the spark is to have the s/plugs removed, and to have some kind of spark tester rigged so that you can check for the spark to jump a 7/16" gap on all cylinders. Let us know what you find.

Joe "

" Bradley,

In total a

" Bradley,

In total agreement w/ Joe; I was recently troubleshooting a '77 85 HP and ran into the same problem, things stopped making sense. For sure, check the lead that grounds out the power pack and be sure there is not ground there, or just disconnect it next time you check for spark (keep in mind you won't be able to kill the engine with it disconnected).

I had to put mine aside for a while, but what I did to diagnose the problem is switch those leads that come from the sensor coil, so that they "trigger" different cylinders (switch leads coming into power pack). What happened was that the lack of spark switched cylinders, which took the power pack, stator, and ignition coils out of question. I'm pretty convinced it's the sensor coil, but this engine needs a bit more than that and I put it on the back burner. Oh and as for you getting no spark - another funny thing too is mine is also inconsistent, after a bit of testing, I started getting spark on all, then it went to none.

Anyway.. if you pull the spark plugs out, it will take the load of compression off and make things easier on the battery/starter. If it does end up looking like a sensor coil and you need the part, shoot it past Joe, as he may have one to sell you.

Jon "

" Thanks for your advise guys,

" Thanks for your advise guys,

In my last message I meant that cyl 2 and 4 were firing.
I ran a spark test as you have suggested and found that this is still the case.

Here are some more things I have discovered:
During these tests, I had the black/yellow wire at terminal 1 disconnected to rule out problems with the stop circuit.
1.
I suspected that the 1/3 sensor coil was not working,
so I connected it to the power pack at terminals 2 and 4. Then I ran a spark test and found that sparkplugs 2,4 were sparking.
In my opinion, this proves that both sensor coils are working!

2.
I reconnected the sensor coil leads to their correct terminals on the power pack.

Next, On the power pack I swapped orange ignition coil leads:
I connected the wire of cyl 1 to terminal 3 and the wire of cyl 2 to terminal 10.
I also swapped cyl 3 and 4 wires in the same fashion.

I ran the spark test and found that spark plugs 1 and 3 are now firing.(2 and 4 not firing)

Does this sound like the power pack is faulty?
thanks,
Brad "

" Brad,

Unfortunatly I

" Brad,

Unfortunatly I don't have a manual in front of me, so I'm having trouble picturing this, but here's a scenario.

Proove to yourself that all sensor coil leads work by swapping sensor coils around to known-to-be-working ignition coils, using know-to-be-working power pack circuits. This prooves that the sensor coil leads are OK.

Swap the known-to-be-working power pack posts to all the ignition coils and proove that all the ignition coils & wires etc.. work.

Last, test the whole system and observe that spark is not present on all coils.

I think if that checks out you have isolated the power pack, although I think if things don't add up so cleanly & consistently, there's a small possibility of a stator problem. So.. my guess if all the above checks out is a power pack.

Jon "