Logo
FULL SITE MENU

Another noob question

B

Bullie

Regular Contributor
I am working on a 1970 9.5 Evinrude. It has no spark. It made one little feeble spark at first and nothing else. I moved the gap tester to almost nothing and even tried with just the plugs grounded. No spark. I have pulled the flywheel and cleaned the points and tried again. Still nothing. I then removed each of the coils and tested them as I saw on youtube. I am getting the readings the videos suggested. I tried both of the condensers and got nothing on those. I felt like I was doing the test correctly but I never got any charge to build. Probably I should just replace them but, my question is, would bad condensers give me a no spark situation or am I messing up more than normal?
 
kimcrwbr1 said:
Did you disconnect the two small wires from the points to the kill switch? If you pulled the coils you will need to take the points plate off of the motor to put the coils back on. Take a picture of the bottom of the plate so you know how it goes back together. You need to push the wires fully into the coils and then slide the boots up tight then install the coil. You need to get the proper air gap between the coils and the flywheel. Have you checked the compression of the motor yet? You want to see at least 70psi and even for a pull start motor. What color are the coils? If they are dark blue just get new coils, points and condensers if the compression is good. New plug wires wouldnt hurt either. Inspect the points plate for any up and down movement is so a new bracket and ring will tighten it up (real important). Use a high quality moly grease for a nice smooth action. Take note of the #1 plug wire has a band on it if you change the wires transfer that band so you know which is top or #1 coil. It is rare both coils or condensers go bad at the same time is why it may be the kill switch is bad. Just leave the two small wires from the points loose and not touching ground and you should get spark?
Click to expand...

I have tested for spark with the kill switch connected and disconnected. Compression was 80 and 82. The coils are brown plastic on the outside with green laminates.
 
I tried to use my meter to test the condenser. I expect I did it wrong but I was trying to follow along with the video. It showed charging it on the ohms setting and then switching to DC to watch the voltage drop.

So, just hold the wire on the condenser to the positive terminal on the battery and the touch the negative to any other part of the condenser to charge it?
 
I forgot to check the ground to the block. I said out loud that I should check that first...then got busy on other stuff. Another noob mistake.
 
The 1970 9.5hp doesn't have nor does it need a ground wire for the magneto plate.

Crude condenser test: Use an analog ohm meter (multimeter). Hands off the test leads probes and condenser, touch the test leads to the condenser lead and case. Meter hand should jump toward zero end of the scale and slowly return to the infinity end of the scale. That shows the condenser is taking a charge from the battery in the meter.
 
fdrgator said:
The 1970 9.5hp doesn't have nor does it need a ground wire for the magneto plate.

Crude condenser test: Use an analog ohm meter (multimeter). Hands off the test leads probes and condenser, touch the test leads to the condenser lead and case. Meter hand should jump toward zero end of the scale and slowly return to the infinity end of the scale. That shows the condenser is taking a charge from the battery in the meter.
Click to expand...

That's what I was trying to do fdrgator. I could get neither of the condensers to take any charge. If they were both bad would there be a no spark situation?
 
Bullie said:
That's what I was trying to do fdrgator. I could get neither of the condensers to take any charge. If they were both bad would there be a no spark situation?
Click to expand...

Depends on how "bad" they are. It is possible for them to prevent any spark, but you usually can get some, even if weak spark. But if they fail the crude test, they surely would fail a more sophisticated test and should replaced anyway.
 
Bullie, let's just start over here. I can tell you that 90% of no-spark conditions are caused by dirty or corroded breaker points. I suggest you completely remove them from the armature plate, degrease them, and individually polish each contact shiny bright. Then reinstall and set gap to .020" at their widest opening. Run a piece of lint-free paper between them to remove any finger prints. I'll bet you get spark. Oh, and replace those condensers for good measure.

Um, I don't see anywhere you saying the coils are not cracked. If they are cracked, you are wasting your time until you replace them.

Also, did you do continuity test on the spark plug wires?
 
fdrgator,
The coils looked good. No cracks. I did not do a continuity test on the spark plug wires. I have never had to in the past and I am running up to the ends of my knowledge. I have encountered several motors with no spark and, like you said, got them firing again by cleaning the points. I did the same thing I usually do to the points which was to lightly sand them with 320 grit paper and reset the gap.

I will remove the points and do a better job of cleaning them up.

I appreciate every bit of direction you have time to provide.
 
fdrgator, no real progress to report as I am waiting on the condensers to arrive to replace the flywheel and give her a spin to see if I have spark, but I have to tell you that the points were in pretty bad shape even after my usual sanding. I did what you said and removed them and polished them shiny...they were far far from shiny and somewhat pitted before. Hopefully I will have good news soon.
 
fdrgator, thanks for the advice. I followed through with your suggestions and fired the little motor up last night. I appreciate it. Learned a good deal with this one.
 
Back
Top