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1988 vro 90 Erratic Spark/Wont Start

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Scott59

New member
Hello All, Newbie to the Forum, Purchased the Boat last spring (1988 Lund 18ft. E90TLCCA) ran decent all last Summer, started the motor for the first time this year, Started hard, Smoked really bad, ran for about 2min. and died, wont restart, Compression 116,119,115,120, Inspected the Cylinders with a Bore Scope, All cylinders still show hone marks with no surface scoring from rings (I feel the mechanical side is good), All coils,Primary and secondary windings tested good, did a Spark Gap Check, All jumping a 7/16 gap with a Blue Spark, Hooked a Timing Light up and notice erratic spark on 3 of the 4 cylinders (sometimes firing 2 or 3 times per revolution of the crank), Pulled the flywheel and inspected the Stator/charge coils and Timer Ring both look good but appear to be Factory equipment buy the look of the wires. Did a Charge Coil Cranking Test with a Fluke meter set on V AC Peak Hold and got 16.3 on A terminal and 15.6 on B terminal with the plugs removed, Installed the Plugs and got 4.6 and 3.8, on a third attempt at the readings I got 6.8 and 5.4, ohmed the Charge Coil windings, tested good, now I understandthat the fluke is not the same as a CD Voltmeter, but the service manual states that any reading other than 0 is indicating a bad charge Coil and recommends Replacing the Stator, Timer Ring ohmed OK but I did not do the Cranking Test,Control Module has been replaced and shows Evinrude Numbering on the module, Rectifier looks Original, Purchased Carb Kits from you and will rebuild carbs once I get the Electrical verified, The thought process I'm having is to replace All the Electrical Components, Stator, Timer Ring, Control Mod. And Rectifier simply because3 of the 4 could be OE equipment and 25 years of life would warrant new parts.I have reviewed several post's and got the impression that CDI's Aftermarket Parts are as good or better than OEM,
There is more information that I could add but I didn’t want this post to be too long winded, (Any suggestions on my thought process)
The Cost of replacing the Parts is not as much a concern as reliability. (I HATE IT WHEN MOTORS WONT START)

Thanks in advance for any help


 
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Just going out and buying all new parts may be a waste of good money.------I would suggest cleaning the grounds on the coils or perhaps start moving the coils from one cylinder to another and run with a timing light again.-----These electronic components are really quite good and rarely do all the pieces fail all at once !-----Veryfy that the oil injection is indeed working ( if still in service ) before you take the boat out at full throttle !----Erratic firing is usually a fault of the powerpack / ignition module
 
HI Racerone, thanks for the reply, I have cleaned all the Coil connection points when i had them off checking the ohm readings, moved coils around to see if it made any differance, No change, Still erratic spark on 1,2 and 4 cylinders, VRO system is working, plugs are getting fuel, New Spark Plugs, rather than buying a single componant(say the Control Module) and having something else fail (Stator or Pickup Ring) becouse its 25+ years old is what i was trying to avoid by replacing all the Componants at once, Several Post's on this forum indicate that failure of one componant leads to something else failing later on.

Last summer when i got the boat I started it it in the driveway on muffs and it ran a little rough so pumped out the fuel tank replaced the fuel filter add fresh fuel and seafoam, motor seemed to get better during the summer with just me and the wife out fishin, Starts decent, would run up to 4000 RPM without any problems ( i have not ran it at full throattle yet). Last fall while on a lake in minn. with 4 Adult's in the boat it would't get up on plane, just dident seem to have the power it needed. A couple of times that week with all 4 of us in the boat, the motor came to life jumped the boat up on plane for just a second or two then went back to running like it was, now if there is only two people in the boat it doesent have any problems getting up on plane and up to speed, it acts like the motor is only running on two cylinders, it runs smooth and has no ploblems with just 2 in the boat.
 
Have you inspected all the pins / sockets on the " plug in connecters " to the powerpack ??----A slow cranking motor will also show weak spark and the starter motor is easy to inspect / test and I change brushes all the time on these $4.50 a set to me.
 
No Sir i havent done that yet, I inspected all the pins for corrosion, everything looked good. As for actualy pulling the pins out of the boots to inspect the connections, no i havent. Getting the pins or sockets back in the boots is what im not sure about,
 
Thanks’ Chris, the whole electronics thing kinda......... well its FM (Fu*#ing Magic)
I’m going to replace all the Electronic Component’s, The age of some of the Parts and connection issues related to the older electronics(wires breaking inside the boots) kind of bothers me. The stator, Timer ring and Rectifier all look like Original Equipment.
I do have a Question, Should i buy all the same brand of Componant's? thinking CDI over OEM or does it matter?
 
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Update: Pulled the Carb's and installed the Rebuild Kits, Everything is super clean inside, did not find anything inside the float bowls or ports, Did find several of the hose clips broke, replaced all with new clips, the hose that goes from the VRO to the Pulse limiter valve did not have a clamp on it and was really loose on the fitting, the area around it was covered with an oily film, so I cleaned everything and put a clamp on it, the loose fitting hose would create a vacuum leak.... right?

I received all the Electrical components today, (ordered them Sunday and received them Tuesday, Excellent Service from MarineEngine.com)I have a few Questions about the CDI Components I purchased.

1. The 193-4204 Regulator installation Guide states not to use maintenance free battery with this regulator, my primary motor battery is a maintenance free battery, is this going to be a problem?

2. I can’t seem to locate the Rectifier anywhere on the Motor. In a previous post I mentioned that the rectifier looked like OE equipment, I meant the regulator looked OE. It has to have a rectifier somewhere......Right?
The instruction for the 153-3408 Rectifier also state not to use a Maintenance free Battery with this type of System as Over-charging may occur,What does the battery style have to do with regulation of charge?

3. I would like to install an Amp Gauge, any suggestion on how to do this? Do I need to run wiring from the motor to the Dash?

I’m waiting to install the Electrical stuff until I fully understand what I’m doing,
 
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More Interesting News,
ON the Paperwork thatcame with the CDI Parts it states that the Warranty is Void on the Regulatorand Rectifier if a Maintenance free Battery is used!
So I sent them an Email and asked why, they said
(The reason maintfree batteries are not suggested is because of the state of charge. Thesebatteries have a fast discharge rate and require a fast re-charge rate. Thesebatteries are designed mainly for motors with alternators that put out 90 to150 amps for charging purposes. In the majority of outboard motors, we havestators that provide the charging for the battery. Stators are designed to putout between 9 and 40 amps, depending on the application. This is only rated atwide open throttle. So, for cruising operation, these stators are only puttingout about half of that. This puts a stress on the stator and the other ignitionparts, because the stator provides voltage for the other ignition parts. Damagecan occur because of this and warranty does not cover this damage.)(Unfortunately,the non maint free batteries are getting harder to find due to the lead contentin these batteries and all of the regulations dealing with them. The bestsuggestion that can be made for a replacement for these is a good name brandbattery, such as Exide or Interstate that is a marine starting battery with theminimum of 800 Cold Cranking Amps (Cca). I know these may be maint free, butthey are the better choice for today's outboards. The part numbers for theseare Group 24M-XD. I hope this helps.)
So,,, it kind of makes sense,
Anybody have any Thoughts?
 
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