Home › Forum › Ask A Member › 1975 Johnson 135 No spark starboard side
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fleetwin.
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July 4, 2016 at 12:18 am #4659
Hi guys,
I heve a 75 Johnson V4 135hp. I have spark only on the port side bank. Starboard side is dead. Coils look ok… power pack looks ok… no obvious of damage. How do I start diagnosing this issue?Thanks, Wannabe
July 4, 2016 at 12:51 am #39553Switch power packs, see if no spark moves to port side. Sure sounds like a power pack problem.
July 4, 2016 at 2:25 am #39561I had a ’74 Johnson 115 for 40 years and did all the maintenance on it so am very familiar with those motors.
Do the easy things first and don’t assume anything. I learned this the hard way one time changing out almost every component in the ignition system to troubleshoot a no spark on one cylinder only to find out that the spark plug that LOOKED perfectly good and I assumed worked was actually dead. All kinds of time and effort and money spent needlessly because of an untested assumption. Du-oh!!! 😳
Start at the bottom end of the ignition system and work your way up eliminating components as you go. You may have one thing wrong with one cylinder and another thing wrong with the other. Don’t assume ANYTHING works based on looks. Test everything to verify that it works or doesn’t work.
Eliminate problems in this order:
Spark plugs
Spark plug wires
Coils
Power Pack
Stater/timer unit.To eliminate problems with the spark plugs, wires and coils, swap the components with the other cylinders that you know are working or swap in tested and known (NOT ASSUMED) good spares.
My experience with those power packs is that they either work or don’t work and very seldom fail partially so my guess is that the problem(s) lies/lie in the components downstream of the power pack. Your testing will either bear this out or prove it wrong.
Good luck and let us know what you find out.
July 4, 2016 at 2:54 am #39562Jeff, turn it over with the plugs out. That will increase the cranking speed. If it fires on all four cylinders then you may not have a problem. I can bring my sensor washer with me to Tomahawk & we can set the sensor gap closer to the flywheel hub magnets. Cranking speed needs to be 350 RPMs minimum to fire all cylinders. The minute the engine fires it will pick up speed and all cylinders will spark at that point. They built a later set of sensors #581900 (red sensors) that had more windings which would fire at a lower RPM, but you can adjust the older sensors sometimes. Taking out the spark plugs will give you an idea if this is what you are up against. See you in Tomahawk.
Dan in TN
July 4, 2016 at 10:32 am #39567Thanks for the responses guys. I had all the plugs out and grounded when I tested it. Was spinning over well. I swaped the power pack with another known good one off a 115 I have and same issue. I’ll try some good plugs and coils off the 115 today.
July 4, 2016 at 1:51 pm #39571If you have a DVM (digital volt meter) you can test the voltage out of the stator. Sounds like you have a dead charge coil? You have two on the stator (one for each bank of cylinders). Voltage should show around 180 at cranking speeds. You can try the one off your other engine or I can bring you a new one if you want?
Dan in TN
July 4, 2016 at 2:34 pm #39572This series of engines is one of my favorites, simple, rugged, and easy to work on/troubleshoot. The screw terminal powerpacks make troubleshooting much simpler.
Just want to make sure I have all the facts. You were cranking with the plugs out, the battery is fully charged, and cranking speed is not an issue. You swapped a known good powerpack from another engine which changed nothing. I am assuming the engine probably won’t start or run because it is on only two cylinders. Tell us just how you are checking for spark. I am assuming you are just grounding plugs and cranking the engine with the plugs out. This engine should be able to jump a 7/16" gap on a conventional spark tester. I understand you are doing what you can to test spark, but please know that cranking the engine with the plugs out is a real fire hazard, might not be great for the coils as well.
Like Roj says, please start with the simple stuff and make no assumptions. So, the simplest test is to remove the black/yellow stop lead from the powerpack and restest. I realize that it is unlikely a partially shorted stop circuit could affect spark this way, but anything is possible with electronics and this elimination test is simple and easy to do.
Next, it is important to realize that that aluminum support bracket that holds all the ignition components is not grounded directly to the block, there are a few ground straps that supply the ground, check bracket ground with an ohmmeter set on the low scale, check and clean the ground straps.
The next step is where the nice screw terminal powerpack comes in handy. Not likely you have two bad coils, but anything IS possible. So, how about swapping #2 & #4 coil leads on the powerpack with #1 and #3 coil leads, then check for spark again. If #1 and #3 coils now spark, it is safe to assume the coils are OK for now, there is no powerpack output to the #1 and #3 pack terminals for some reason. Do you understand my methodology here?
Please don’t forget to reinstall the coil leads on the proper pack terminals, there should be a decal on the pack cover showing were all the terminals belong. Next, I would swap the sensor leads on the powerpack. There are only two sensors, one for #1 and #3, the other for #2 and #4. So, the next test would be swapping the two sensors. Simply connect the #1 & #3 sensors to the #2 #4 outlets on the powerpack and vica versa. I’m suspecting you will find the problem during this test. So, with the sensors swapped on the pack, if the #1 and #3 coils now fire, then the problem is with the sensors. If the #1 coils still don’t fire with the sensors swapped, we have missed something or made a wrong "assumption".
These tests can be a little confusing, so it is easy to head off in the wrong direction based on confusion or wrong assumption, so take your time and be sure to reconnect all the leads properly to the pack after each test, before beginning the next one.
Once we isolate the problem, and I think it will be with the sensors, we need to go back and check every ignition component with an ohm meter and do the output tests…
Hope this helps, I know that ONE picture would be worth much more than several hundred of my words. Let me know if and where you are confused if my instructions don’t make sense to you….July 4, 2016 at 10:38 pm #39593Sorry everybody, Don set me straight! I was thinking later model engines with two packs. This engine does have two charge coils, but in series. They wouldn’t effect each bank of cylinders separate like later model engines. Just go with his recommendations and you should be able to narrow it down.
Dan in TN
July 5, 2016 at 10:59 am #39623Everything you described makes sense to me Don. I was following the same train of thought when trying to figure this out. Looking at the exploded views at marineengine,com, it looks to me like the sensors are in the timer base? So would I need the timer base or the stator?
July 5, 2016 at 11:18 am #39625My apology to both Dan and Don, I should have included the model number. 135ESL75E
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