CDI Electronics Outboard Ignition Troubleshooting Guide

71 Johnson/Evinrude Troubleshooting Johnson/Evinrude 4. Replace the power pack. NO SPARK OR INTERMITTENT SPARK ON ONE BANK: 1. Disconnect the Yellow wires from the stator to the rectifier and retest. If the engine sparks, replace the rectifier. 2. Check the cranking RPM. A cranking speed of less than 250-RPM will not allow the system to spark properly. This can be caused by a weak battery, dragging starter, bad battery cables or a mechanical problem inside the engine. 3. Check the stator resistance and DVA output (see Step #13 on NO SPARK ON ANY CYLINDER above). If the power pack has no spark on one bank and the readings are good, replace the power pack. 4. Disconnect the 4-pin connector on the port side of the power pack and see if the spark returns. If it does, check resistance to see if the Black/Yellow wire is shorted to engine ground. Check to see if the Shift Interrupter switch is located in the circuit where there is no spark. Port 4 Pin Connector Starboard 4 Pin Connector a) Black/Yellow a) Brown b) Tan b) Orange/Black c) White/Black c) Orange d) Yellow/Red d) Brown/Yellow POWER PACK OR TIMER BASE REPEATEDLY BLOWS ON SAME CYLINDER: 1. Check the sensor wires for shorts to engine ground as a shorted sensor wire can destroy a SCR inside the power pack. 2. In contrast, a shorted SCR inside the power pack can destroy a sensor coil. Check the sensor DVA output (see NO SPARK ON ANY CYLINDER above). 3. Replace the ignition coil on the cylinder dropping spark. ENGINE WILL NOT SHUT OFF: Disconnect the stop wire at the power pack. Connect a jumper wire to the stop terminal in the pack and short it to engine ground. If this stops the pack from sparking, the stop circuit has a fault. Check the key switch, harness and shift switch. If this does not stop the pack from sparking, replace the power pack. Repeat test as necessary for additional packs. ONLY SPARKS #1 CYLINDER: Check the optical sensor to encoder wheel mesh. You may need to shim the optical sensor upwards 25/1000” at a time to make it engage the encoder wheel. MISS AT ANY RPM: 1. Disconnect the Yellow wires from the stator to the rectifier and retest. If the miss clears, replace the rectifier. 2. In the water or on a Dynameters, check the DVA output on the Orange wires from the power pack while connected to the ignition coils. You should have a reading of at least 150V DVA or more, increasing with engine RPM until it reaches 300-400V DVA maximum. A sharp drop in DVA right before the miss becomes apparent on all cylinders will normally be caused by a bad stator. A sharp drop in DVA on less than all cylinders will normally be the power pack. 3. If the engine runs fine until you get above 4900 RPM and then starts missing, check the Orange to Orange/Black power coil wires with an oscilloscope (if available) or replace the pack. A breakdown inside the pack could cause RFI noise to activate the rev limiter for no apparent reason.