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1995 Evinrude 115 has Water on Spark Plug

Adjust one carb at a time and just listen to the engine. Turn the screws 1/8 turn at a time and wait 10 seconds to let the engine adjust to the change.
 
Before I did any carb adjustment I decided to pull the plug wires off one at a time with the engine idling and try to hear any difference.
Pulled the upper left and lower left plug wires one at a time and there was a definite change in idle.
Pulled the upper right wire (this is the cylinder that had the water droplets in it) this seemed to make no difference.
Pulled the lower right wire and the engine died probably because the cylinder above it isn't firing properly.
I tested the spark on the upper right with a spark tester and it would jump a nice spark at least a 1/2".
I am now afraid that I may have a compression problem or something with that upper right cylinder.....it's getting fuel because the plug was wet when I pulled it out, seems to have good spark, I guess the only thing left is compression or possibly the spark is weak under compression?
 
Hi Reelcat. What your describing seems very similar to an issue i previously had with a blown diode on one of my powerpacks.

I would suggest doing a compression check first to make sure you have no remaining problems in that cylinder.

If the spark is jumping 7/16" at least then it shouldn't fail under compression, unless you have a spark plug problem. Switch the sparkplug and see if what you described above still occurs.

If your motor has two powerpacks swop them and try the test again. When the diode blew on mine the spark "signal" on the one cylinder was messing with the signal on the other causing it to fail intermittently, but it would still jump the required spark test gap. If you only have one power pack i would check out cdi's site for a trouble shooting guide for your motor.

If the spark all works out fine and compressions is fine then carbs are the only other main thing left. Start with compression then move to spark
 
As a co-incidence this is the exact cylinder that gave me trouble with an intermittent failing spark. Also try switching the coil from this cylinder with one from another cylinder
 
I actually did try swapping out the spark plug last night with another one but that made no difference.
I like your suggestions.
I'll do another compression test this evening.
If the compression is ok I'll swap the power packs (luckily mine has two of them...as I found out while poking around last night)
By swapping the power packs I assume you mean physically removing them and swapping sides then hooking the plug wires back up as normal?
 
Keith, by "switching the coil from this cylinder with one from another cylinder" do you mean switching the power packs or am I missing something?
 
Hi Reelcat. My motor has two powerpacks and four coils. Yours is quite a bit newer than mine.looking it up on this site you have one powerpack and two coils. The coils attach to the spark plug wires, the power pack tells the coils when to fire. I would revise to suggest swapping the coils around to see if the problem moves. If it does not you may have a power pack issue. The CDi website has great trouble shooting guides. Can you confirm your motor model number as there was a cross flow and a looper in 1995
 
This evening I did a compression test and this is what I found:
Upper Left Cyl. 103 psi Upper Right Cyl. 104 psi
Lower Left Cyl. 105 psi Lower Right Cyl. 107 psi.

This all looked ok to me so I moved to the next step. I swapped the top and bottom coils, the problem did NOT follow the coil, same symptom, same problem with that Upper Right Cyl. I could still pull off the Upper Right plug wire and could near no difference in idle. When I would pull the Lower Right plug the engine would die.
I swapped plugs and plug wires on the Upper Right Cyl., still no difference. When I pulled the plug on the Upper Right Cyl. the plug was plenty wet with fuel but it was obvious it had not fired because the plug was clean with no black or brown residue from combustion like the other plugs.
I also checked to see how far the spark would jump with a spark tester. The spark jumped at least 7/16" if not more and looked comparable to one of the other cylinders' spark.

As I looked closer it does appear that I have one power pack and two coils, but from what I saw it's not a spark delivery problem?
I really expected to nail down the problem this evening but I'm still stumped? Could it be the proper amount of fuel is just not getting to that Upper Right Cylinder? . Maybe I could squirt a little fuel into the throat of that carb with it idling and see if I hear that cylinder pick up?
 
Hi. Ok so spark appears to be checking out ok and compression seems good. When you say the plug is clean do you mean it's clean like a new plug? Perhaps you can post a picture of it? A plug that is white or light grey or very light brown can indicate a lean condition and that's definitely a carb problem

My carbs are fixed jets and have no adjustments so in that area you will need to follow the advice of the guys given above. It can't hurt to try and adjust them to see if this fixes the problem as we're running out of things it could be.

have you ever dismantled and cleaned the carbs and put new kits in them? It only take a microscopic particle to block an idle channel or jet preventing the motor from running properly.
 
The plugs I have installed I cleaned with a wire buffer wheel. When I pull the plug on the Upper Right Cylinder after the motor has run a few minutes the plug looks just like when I installed it except it has some gas on it. It doesn't look like it has ever fired. When I pull the other plugs they also have some residual fuel on them but they have a brownish or blackish electrode and you can definitely tell they have been firing.

I did try adjusting the mixture screw on the Upper Right carb to see if that made any difference. I turned the screw a 1/2 turn each way from where it is set now and noticed no difference.

I have dismantled and cleaned the carbs with new kits but it has been several years ago. I think I'll tear down that one carb and give it a thorough cleaning and kit.....I really don't see any other direction to go at this point.
 
Frustrating indeed. I believe that may be the only option as I'm out of ideas. Anyone else got any thoughts on this?
 
I pulled the upper right carb this evening and took it apart for inspection and cleaning. First thing I noticed was how loose the top two carb mounting bolts were.
I barely put any pressure on the ratchet to loosen them....this didn't seem like a good thing at all. I checked all 4 mounting bolts on the remaining 3 carbs and they were all tight.
The oddly shaped base mounting gasket/o-ring thing was more flat than round. It seems to have lost its' elasticity. Maybe this is the cause of my odd problem with that upper right cylinder?
I went ahead and disassembled and cleaned the carb with a new bowl gasket. It was very, very clean. Really nothing dirty at all.
I'll put it back together tomorrow with a new base gasket/o-ring and see how it goes.
 
Additional air getting in between the carb and the intake manifold will definitely make the motor run poorly. Hopefully you're getting somewhere. While you have the carbs apart make sure that the jets and idle passages are free of dirt. A gentle blow with a compressor and a very narrow gauge wire through the jets (be careful not to force the wire and make sure it's small enough to pass through easy) should make sure there are no other problems on the carbs.

Let us know how you go.
 
I had a similar issue, ended up being the power pack had an intermittant failure, It would work fine one day, then occasionally quit firing on the upper right cylinder. Swapping coils had no effect, neither did plugs or wires, when cold it would provide spark, but would fail when hot after running the engine for a while, slowly getting worse over time, leaving me stranded on the water. After reading many many threads on here and other places it was determined to be the power pack that solved the problem, I had the spark tester with me on the water, good spark when I left the dock and none after running 5 minutes, I even swapped the coils while on the water to make sure. I'm an aircraft mechanic and it had me puzzled, but after figuring out the operation of this 2 stroke, its a different process for sure.
 
I am sure an intermittent problem would be very tough to pin down. Luckily my problem is not intermittent, it does it all the time.
Ok, got the carb installed with a new intake seal. Cranked her up and guess what....SAME Thing! I cannot believe this thing is beating me, I'm no mechanic but I do have pretty good mechanical ability and I was sure I could beat this.
Ok, I have only one more thought. If it truly is a carb problem couldn't I swap carbs with one of the others and see if the problem follows?

This problem is so strange, I never had this problem with the engine until the head gasket problem occurred and I started getting moisture into that cylinder. I cannot help but think that somehow the problems are related.
 
I would try to swap the Carb and see if the problem follows.

Although i know the spark check worked i would still trouble shoot the power pack using the info on the CDI site.

If this works reeds and the timer base are just about the only things you haven't checked yet.

Racerone, joe, guyjg any more suggestions?
 
I also checked to see how far the spark would jump with a spark tester. The spark jumped at least 7/16" if not more and looked comparable to one of the other cylinders' spark.
Click to expand...
MrRodeoCC makes a good point. I would like to see all of the plug wires sparking in sequence next to each other on a spark board to compare them. You could make one using screws w/heads large enough for the plug wires and finish nails for the ground tied together w/wire. The one cylinder's spark may just not be up to snuff to fire the fuel/air mixture.
 
I swapped the top two carbs yesterday and the problem DID follow so it was obviously a carb problem after all even though I was seeing fuel on the plug it must have not been enough. I pulled off the bad carb again tore it down and went through it with a fine tooth comb. I think the problem was a restriction in the small brass tube that extends into the bowl. I could get a small wire through it but one a little larger would not go. I messed with it some with a bit larger wire and felt like something broke loose. Flushed it good with carb cleaner. Didn't find any other problems as the carb looked spotless. Installed the carb and fired her up. It's firing on all cylinders now and I can definitely hear the cylinder drop out and pick back up when I pull the plug wire and put it back.
Still need to do a water test but I'm pretty sure it's going to work out fine.
I sure have appreciated the help and suggestions from all of you.
 
Hi Reelcat. I'm glad to hear you have pinned it down. The channels in the carbs are so narrow that the smallest piece of dirt which is near invisible to the ***** eye can cause all sorts of trouble. I look forward to hearing the result of your water test. Cheers.
 
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