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1971 johnson 85hp hydro electric drive spark trouble

R

rockinron

New member
"Hi all,i am having a hard tim

"Hi all,i am having a hard time figuring this one out,i put my boat in the water this year and started it up with no probs,after riding in it for a bout 1/2 hour it stalled and would not start again,i checked these things ,1. it was getting gas 2.lots of compression ,but absoulutly no spark,after i let the engine cool ,(for an hour or so)it would finnally start but then do the same thing ,any suggestions to try? ty all in advance :)"
 
"I wonder if the overheat circ

"I wonder if the overheat circuit has a protection switch/ or circuit that kills the ignition. I wonder if the Power pak is failing under heat. Try searching the discussion board for other similar problems with engines of the same or similar configurations. such as the 1971-72-73, 50 thru 115 hp. engines that use the same basic ignition process."
 
"i was told today that it is m

"i was told today that it is my cdi box?,is this what everyone is reffering to as a power pak?.
i was told that instead of buying one at a very expensive price to just do this,can anyone tell me if this seems ok to do
1, buy a 12 volt coil with resistor
2, buy a 12 volt condenser
3, hook the white wire comming out from under neith the fly wheel to the neg side of coil
4,hook any 12 volt positive (with ingnition on wire) to the condenser.

By doing this i am told will switch my ignition from a cdi to just a 12 volt ignition.
is this safe to do and does it make sense to the more mechanicly inclined?
ty in advance for any and all imput:)"
 
"Call a Deal with your model,

"Call a Deal with your model, and serial #'s handy and they can tell you what part yours uses. It depends on the year and HP of the engine. Some have CDI, some Have Power Paks. My 72 65hp has " Power Pak 3" stamped on it under the cover. I Googled, " CDI ignition box, Evinrude" and it shows pictures of CDI boxes, they dont look like power paks. I think they operate on a different principle than a Power pak."
 
"Dont Hose up the Motor with a

"Dont Hose up the Motor with automotive parts! Bite the bullet and fix it right. My power pak over the counter was $121 at an OMC dealer. i saw it for 75 online at Sierra but if i have a problem,,, then i dont have a parts counter to return it to, and will have more "down time" with shipping junk back n forth. once you find the Part # you can hunt for one online. If your totally strapped for cash, maybe a used one? good luck"
 
"Ron, I had a 1970 Johnson 85h

"Ron, I had a 1970 Johnson 85hp V4 that would eat CDI boxes. These boxes were $250 through NAPA (Sierra). I used a MSD 6A CDI box instead of using the original CDI box. The MSD is a much stronger and better system than the factory CDI box and the motor runs better with it too! Eamil me at [email protected] and I can send you a more detailed explanation as to how to use the MSD system. PS: I wouldn't consider the MSD ignition "hosing up" the motor with automotive parts. This would be upgrading a system that is 35 years old."
 
"When i say "hosing up the

"When i say "hosing up the motor", I was picturing an automotive coil, and condenser cobbled to the block with zip ties and mechanics wire.

When I run hard I want my equipment to be able to handle it. It's really unfortunate that the CDI's dont last.

I wonder if its feasible or possible to "upgrade" it to the Power Pak style ignition..."
 
"Doesn't the power pack st

"Doesn't the power pack style utilize a seperate coil for each cylider? You know John, If you could get a distributor cap to handle the 45,000 volts that a MSD CDI unit puts out it would be a great thing. The MSD box has to use 2 coils to reduce the voltage down to 22,500 volts so the cap won't melt. It took 2 or 3 caps and a lot of searching the internet to figure out why the caps were failing after 30 to 40 minutes. But what a 30 minutes. Those motors would idle better than a new four stroke and there was no exhaust, everything burned. Talk about throttle response, too."
 
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