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1981 evinrude 90 hp timing question

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Spence648

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I have an E90TLCIH motor. I have been trouble shooting an issue where it dies when give throttle. Today I pulled the flywheel off and greased up the stator and the timing arm because it was pretty stiff.. haven’t had boat out yet to see if it helped anything after freeing it up.. but I noticed that when I push the throttle in the timing arm does not move all the way to the stop. My question is does it rely on centrifugal force to fully advance?
 
No centrifugal force involved in any way.----Any other trouble shooting done ?----Did this issue develop suddenly ?
 
I didn’t think so, this is a new boat I restored and just getting it in the water.
compression is 115-120# all cylinders
good spark
carbs are clean, I have not checked the main jet with a wire so it is possible it’s bigger than what I’m seeing but it looked really clean to me.

idles fine, reverse is fine but when in gear go to give throttle and it just dies. Starts back up fine.

im new to outboards but not new to mechanics and especially not 2 strokes..

I originally was thinking that the stop was out way to far, but I used that joe reeves method and held the timing arm against the stop and got 24* so if that was accurate would put it at 28*. Wich I believe is what the engine calls for. I was just really confused on why when the throttle is opened all the way the timing arm is still pry a good 3/8” away from the stop.
 
Shouldn't cause it to die, it would just run like crap at higher RPM.

If it is completely shutting off when you give it throttle, my reaction would be to check the controller.
 
It was pretty sticky, I will double check the control box cause I did run a new kill wire. This weekend I’m going to put a new water pump in and check the exhaust for carbon.
 
Get rid of the grease on the stator it will cause problems. Clean it all of and a couple drops of light oil only if needed. Sounds like you need to do a link and sync.
 
I can not see or touch your motor.-----Question for you.-----read carefully.------Are the wires ( orange ) FROM the powerpacks going to the correct ignition coil ?
 
Thanks for the help guys... yes racerone the primary wires go to the correct coil.
here is some more information to help everyone understand.

I bought a 1973 glastron t-156 with a rotted transom last year.. I’ve been restoring it for the past 6 months. New transom, stringers, floor all fiberglassed in. The boat came with a 1981 evinrude 90 hp motor on it. I’ve just got the motor back on and everything hooked up. I did clean the carbs, all new fuel lines, fuel pump, filter, and new recirculating lines. First test in the water it died right away.. I found that one of the cdi power packs wasn’t supplying anything to one coil... I bought new power packs and 4 new coils. After I put those on and started on muffs the motor ran great for a bit then started to misfire and back fire. I traced that problem to the kill wire (black/yellow) from stator to the power pack. It had a bare spot and was arcing to ground. After repairing that it ran great on muffs so i decided to take for another test run on the water. I thought all was good because I reversed off trailer , idled out of no wake zone. But when I went to give throttle it just died.. tried like 4 times with same result. Decided to idle back to launch and put back on the trailer.

After that is when I cleaned up the timing base, I have not tried it or even started it since then. The boat is at my dads shop so it’s hard for me to work on through the week. When I say it died I mean it just died. Not bogged down or anything.. to me it acted like timing. Like when you move a dist too far and it just kills the engine.. I’m gonna work on it this weekend and see what I come up with. Thanks for ideas for things to check.
 
My old 90 had the timing advance get stuck in the idle position. It never died, but it would run like crap the more throttle I gave it.

Same 90 had an issue with the controller, where as soon as the throttle was pushed forward it will die. I pulled the controller apart, cleaned everything up and made sure the wires were connected and not grounding out. Put it back together and it ran just fine.
 
Thanks, I will definitely look at it again. Did you have a tether on your control box? All I have is the ignition switch but it won’t hurt to check it again.
 
Well I 100% figured out it’s the timing arm today..put new water pump in it.. fixed a few wires and decided to give it a try again.. put boat in the water and it died again when give throttle.. so I putted over to the dock and started messing with the motor.. when I pull the timing arm up manually I can give it throttle and it runs great. I’m thinking that the spring in between the the throttle arm and the timing arm is completely wore out.. it looks to me that the spring is the only thing that will move the timing arm forward when the throttle arm is pushed back... idk if I explained that right.. but I’m 100% it’s the issue.. I’ll post some pictures to show what I’m talking about.. the way it is now throttle goes to about 3/4 way before timing arm moves...
 
I got a new spring for 10$, put that in and got rid of the grease like flyingscott suggested. Just put a little bit of oil on it. The timing arm now moves right with the throttle arm all the way to the stop. No longer dies in the water. It runs great now!
 
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