Evinrude 25 wonbt start

" Please help me gather inform

" Please help me gather information about the problem I am having with my Evinrude manual start outboard -1995 model E25REO. It is a very dependable engine that has always started for me since I got it about 6 months ago. Just the other day I was stranded for the first time ever and I am now trying to troubleshoot the problem. When I try to start it is is almost as if the kill switch is pressed. I cleaned the plugs and found there is no spark. I tested the plugs again after disconnecting the ground connected to the kill switch and still no spark. I am not sure what to do next as far as electrical goes. Additionally, it seems that fuel is getting as far as the fuel filter and the screen seems very clean so I assume it goes past there, but even after many pulls the spark plugs do not seem very wet, but it is hard to tell and I definitely smell gas. Thanks for any advice on how to figure out the answer to this problem. "

"Davel..... Without going into

"Davel..... Without going into a great amount of trouble shooting, I would suggest the following.

Rig up some kind of spark tester whereas you can set a air gap to 7/16". Connect one end of the tester to an engine ground at the powerhead, the other end to one (or both) of the spark plug leads. Remove the spark plugs. Crank the engine over, if you have spark, I would assume that you have a clogged carburetor.

If on the other hand, you do not have any spark, remove the black/yellow wire from the connector that leads to the powerpack and crank the engine again. If you now have spark, in all probability, if your engine has an ignition switch, it has a short across the black/yellow terminal to the black terminal, in which case the cure is to replace the ignition switch.

Note.... with that black/yellow wire removed, you will not be able to kill the engine ignition wise.

If after removing the black/yellow wire as above, you still have no spark when cranking the engine, replace the powerpack if for no other reason to simply eliminate the most likely cause of the ignition failure. Having a spare powerpack is a common practice with many boaters. Let us know if the problem is not solved and we'll try to help further.

Joe "

" Thanks for the response. In

" Thanks for the response. In your troubleshooting, you say to disconnect the black/yellow wire. On a pull start motor is this the wire that comes from the tiller out of the stop button? There are two wires that come off the stop button ?one goes to a ground and the other to a plug with several wires leading to the power pack. I disconnected the wire from the stop button (not the one to the ground) and still did not get any spark. Is it possible to test the power pack at home using a basic multi-meter or do you need a much more specialized testing tool? "

" With some cheap plastic plie

" With some cheap plastic pliers, hold a removed spark plug with the secondary lead still attached against the engine block while someone else pulls the rope (Cheap, quick ignition test). More specific test: If you don't have a peak-reading adapter for your volt-meter, switch it to AC and connect the two leads to the brown and brown/yellow leads coming from under the flywheel and pull the rope. This will check your charge coil output. On the AC scale, you should have at least 30 volts. If you do, the power-pack, which is probably around one hundred dollars, is bad. There is no bench test for the pack. The charge coil generates the juice that runs the ignition system. Another component is the timer base or pulser coil, but it is a cold day in hell before they blow. If you have ignition, check your fuel system. That old two-cylinder cross-flow motor is also a famous head gasket blower. If it has overheated recently or the thermostat is stuck open the head loves to pull away from the deck thereby corrupting the head gasket. Happy boating. "

" Thanks for the help. Come t

" Thanks for the help. Come to find out, the ground wire to the power pack had a little corrosion on it which prevented me from getting any spark. To see this ground the power pack was removed the wire connection cleaned and the power pack replaced. The motor was then getting spark and had no problem starting. "