Logo

Power pack question

jerin

New member
Hi, I have a 76 johnson 15 that quit on me and won't start. After doing some research, I thought it would be the points, so i pull the flywheel off to try and clean them to find that the previous owner has updated the ignition system to what looks like 83-84 model. The flywheel reads cd flywheel. (Type II) It still has the old coils but newer power pack and looks like this under the flywheel.
77_stator_plate.jpg


My question before I go and buy a new power pack is do you guys think that is what went out. What happened was, i was trolling my sailboat and all of a sudden it felt like the rpms dropped down and it felt like the motor was bogged quite a bit so I just increased the throttle to keep moving but it still felt and sounded like it was hurting for power. When i set sail, I turned the throttle down and tried to get it to idle but as it approached idle speed it died before even revving down. I haven't been able to get it to fire since. So if the power pack went out, would it be able to run like it was at half throttle or should i assume theres more to it?

Also im assuming the right power pack is 0582452? I'm not exactly sure what year this ignition system came from. The pin connectors are 4 on one side and 3 on the other.
 
Last edited:
Don't fall into that thinking trap that says "It's always the power pack". Check the spark and if you have spark, it isn't the power pack. I have my own grudge against those motors. It goes "It's always the spark plugs". They were notorious for fouling plugs. Sometimes we couldn't keep them running one weekend, especially on a sailboat. That's why somebody changed the ignition. Well maybe it isn't the plugs, but they certainly would be the first thing I try.
 
Well, if it didn't have good compression then it wouldn't be very hard to pull the rope start, right? After cranking this engine over 100 times i know how the compression feels. I rebuilt the carb recently and had new plugs in it when it went out, then changed them after trying to start it the first time. When i used to crank it and it had spark, after a couple of turns it would fire and was pretty easy to crank. Even if it didn't start you could tell when it fired. Now its even harder to pull and i can wear myself out all day with no fire. Thats why im almost sure its in the ignition system. I will have to get someone over to do a compression test which i will do out of curiosity but it seems like a spark gap test would be pointless as its obvious there is no spark. I even poured a lil fuel in the intake to make sure the carb wasn't clogged. I did this a few times to be sure, when i did this and the carb was clogged it worked great, i could even get the motor to run by manually adding fuel to the intake. But still nothing this time. And yes there was good gas and oil in it.
Thanks everyone for helping. Your thoughts are much appreciated.
 
Last edited:
I reckon you have your mind made up that there is no spark.....even though you haven't checked it. What more can I say?
 
yea, i pulled the power pack off just to see what model number it was, when i looked at the backside, it was completely melted to the block... so im going to start there. Its obvious that this is an updated ignition system so im gonna find a way to get it in a cooler spot or find some sort of heat resistant spacer to go between it and the engine.
 
Last edited:
"Melted to the block", then this motor has probably been cooked at some point.
Disconnect your kill button and check for spark, i've had 2 old motor's loose spark due to these. You can just snip either wire to achieve this.
Crank it over in the dark with a spark plug out and check that there is no spark.
 
Back
Top