70 hp Outboard Issue

[carpedium]

1984 Johnson 70hp

Problem:

Motor intermittently does not start when cold and there is no spark. When it is running or warm its completely fine.

Info:

There is not voltage on the black/yellow wire at the power pack

All connections are completely 100% good

Right now the motor is running both jumped from the solenoid with the red connector disconnected and also with it connected and controlled by the control box.

I am using a standard interstate deep cycle battery

There is resistance between the black/yellow wire and ground

Suspected issues:

Maybe its an intermittent problem with my ignition switch? I will have to wait for it to happen again to see if I can start the motor with the red connector off... but as of right now there is no continuity between the black/yellow and ground at all in any key position except OFF.

Can this be a problem with the power pack? Stator? any other compnent? Has anyone heard of this happening to one of these other electronic components and having them come back from the dead?

At one point my depth finder said that my battery voltage was up to like 16.8v Anyone know if my motor has a regulated charging circuit, if so, is this out of spec?

I use the motor primarily for trolling, so it runs at a slow speed for hours.

Anyone have any ideas?

Can a high battery voltage cause the thing not to start (no spark) but not stall? Would this voltage normally just blow the power pack?

Thanks in advance.

Matt

[Has Been]

I had a 70's Johnson that would do pretty much the same thing. Looked at the coil & it had small cracks in it & I replaced it but the coil only lasted about 3 months. Was running it at dusk in a barrel & saw the plug wire under the flywheel was arching & cracked. Taped it good and problem went away till I sold the boat. A Freind had a Johnson ,maybe a 115 and was experiencing same thing. , it had more than one coil with cracks & he replaced them & it fixed it.Not an expert but that was my experience.

[LongLine]

84 Evin & John's 70 & 75 (same engine) are unregulated. My 75 runs up to 16v when cold but settles back down to 13-14 when warm & trolling. (Changing the cables & new battery helped mine.) If you figure it out please let use know.

You may want to ask on Iboats.com.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[rolmops]

When you say:"Does not start",does the starter turn the engine over or is there no reaction at all? Just trying to eliminate a few possibilities,sometimes it is as simple as a malfunctioning lanyard switch or the connection on your ignition to the lanyard switch.

[carpedium]

When it doesn't start, it turns over, but there is no spark.

Good suggestions... I'll have to run it at dusk to see if I see any arching

[ray koziatek]

some of the 70 s vintage used a coil that is a greenish color and they break down ,sorta dry rot. my experiance with coil leakage is the start ok but drop out with rpms but any coil issue can go from dead,partial leak (drops out) to intermittent,,,something as little as high humidity could explain the cold start issue,,,but total failure will happen and not in the driveway,,,,,,,give hank a call..you can scratch yer head for a week or he will figure it out in 20 min.

[carpedium]

Thanks for the tip Ray - From what I can see the actual coil/stator/powerpack are all ok in appearance. My stator (under the flywheel) IS green - but I would need to pull the flywheel to inspect further.

If you think he'd be willing to help, can someone PM me Hank's number?

I posted over on Iboats - not really too much help over there. One guy kept responding with questions that were answered in my original post. I thought it was some sort of bot - so maybe they are all pissed at me. lol.

thanks for the help!

[carpedium]

I'm thinking of just clipping the black/yellow or black/green whatever it is - and just adding a N/O switch at the helm and/or at the back of the boat that will ground it out when pushed as a kill switch. Just eliminate the ignition switch all together. I don't know of any other way to move forward with this.

[ray koziatek]

did i mention HANK------------------L&M Repair--------pm..

[carpedium]

okokok

[L&M]

pm sent