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1976 55HP Johnson 55EL76E

J

Jim Batten

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"My brother is the boat owner

"My brother is the boat owner but I have the computer so I am the middle man. The problem started last year up at Lake Erie when the motor quit and he had to be towed in. When he got back to the dock he hit the key and it fired right up. A friend of ours told us to change the power pack so we did. We had problems trying to start it but it finally started, ran for a little and then quit. He got it started again and then it was acting like it was only running on one cylinder. While still} running poorly, the RPM's started getting slower and slower and then finally shut down. He hasn't been able to restart it. Before this point though, he did have new gas, new battery and he said that he didn't think that he was getting a very good spark. I have no idea if the carb or carb's have ever been rebuilt or cleaned. Please advise! Thank you"
 
"Remove the spark plugs, check

"Remove the spark plugs, check the compression. What is it? With the plugs still removed, rig a spark tester whereas you can set a 7/16" gap. The spark should jump that gap at cranking speed with a strong blue lightning like flame... a real SNAP. Does it?

If not, remove the black/yellow wire from the powerpack, then retest the spark. If you now have spark, the ignition switch most likely has an intermitent short.... replace it.

However, before replacing the switch if it needs replacing or not, do this.

Having that black/yellow wire disconnected, attach a volt meter, set to its lowest DC voltage reading, between that wire and a powerhead ground. Observing the meter, turn the key to the ON position (engine not running). If even a milivolt registers, that indicates that the ignition switch is shorting out to that black/yellow wire and is applying DC battery voltage too the pack which will destroy the pack rather quickly. Any voltage reading... replace the ignition switch.

Check the fuel for water contamination. Simply pump some fuel into a glass jug of some kind. If water exists, it will seperate from the gasoline, and since water is heaver than gas, the water will be at the bottom of the jug."
 
Thank you! We'll give it a

Thank you! We'll give it a try and let you know!
 
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