Topic: '65 BigTwin 40hp 1/2 spark – Antique Outboard Motor Club,Inc

This topic has 37 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 11 months ago by fleetwin.

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May 6, 2019 at 2:07 pm #174900
rapier
Participant
Working on a motor that consistently fails to spark on the upper cylinder – bottom cylinder is fine. This is the e-start motor with pull start.

I’ve replaced coils and points on top & bottom, new capacitor/condensor on top & another set of points on top (in case). Points are ‘clean’ on my meter. Coil and HV wireresistance/continuity test produces 6.8K Ohms for both pots – and I swapped the coils over. I’ve isolated the kill circuit wires. Spinning it over by hand has no spark for the upper pot still. I must have serviced 10 of these motors and their Johnson / Gale equivalents, but an stumped. Am I missing something, are there further tests I can run?
May 6, 2019 at 3:45 pm #174901
Tom
Participant
US Member
Have you checked the upper HT wire for cracks or areas of wear?
May 6, 2019 at 4:28 pm #174902
bobw
Participant
US Member
Also look to be sure the spark plug wire is solidly engaged with the coil pin and that the spark plug terminal is making good contact with the plug wire core.

Bob

1937 Champion D2C Deluxe Lite Twin
1954 Johnson CD-11
1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18
1958 Johnson QD-19
1958 Johnson FD-12
1959 Johnson QD-20

“Every 20 minute job is only a broken bolt away from a 3-day project.”
"Every time you remove a broken or seized bolt an angel gets his wings."
May 6, 2019 at 8:34 pm #174909
fleetwin
Participant
US Member - 2 Years
How did you isolate the stop leads? Did you remove them from each set of points? Did you replace the HV plug leads? Perhaps one of them is arcing under the mag plate. Sounds like you have replaced the coils, points, condensers, then swapped them again with no change, still no spark on the upper #1 cylinder….
May 7, 2019 at 3:17 am #174913
rapier
Participant
I disconnected the stop leads from the points and the loom / anti-pop, but haven’t replaced the HV plug leads yet. I’ll check the top lead again – it looked OK (and was screwed well into the coil pin), but I’ll pull the armature plate again and have a closer look under a decent light.

There was a small copper / brass washer under the points adjuster screw that had broken, how important is it?
May 7, 2019 at 6:19 am #174914
garry-in-michigan
Participant
Lifetime Member
Sometimes what is perceived as a crack is actually a carbon track (short to ground) They are found in coils and distributers in damp dusty conditions. They may be cleaned out and sealed with liquid electrical tape. (High voltage dope) – Just a thought . . .
May 11, 2019 at 5:26 pm #175083
rapier
Participant
Thanks Garry.

I tried again today – replaced the HT lead with another, cleaned the bottom HT lead and removed all and cleaned the armature plate. Checked the continuity & resistance of HT leads and re-attached the kill circuit. With no success.

To re-iterate; new points on both, set to 020, new J4Cs set to 030, good HT lead on top cylinder, checked, with continuity and 7.01OHMs, old bottom HT cleaned up and 6.85OHMs, kill circuit checked for breaks, both new coils screwed properly into the HT leads. No evidence of any wires to ground..

Am not sure whether what I call the ‘bugger up team’ might have been there before me.

I think the only option left is to remove the kill circuit wires. Am left wondering whether this is a cusp motor at 1965 with a different setup, but nothing in the Seloc, Clymer or a pre ‘1969 35hp Intertech service manaul has any clues..
May 12, 2019 at 11:25 am #175116
rapier
Participant
Wanted to load a pic of the plate, but can’t find a way to do it…
May 13, 2019 at 7:29 pm #175207
fleetwin
Participant
US Member - 2 Years
Sounds like you removed the stop leads from the points, but the problem persists…So, there is no need to rip the mag plate apart and replace the stop leads… Sounds like you have replaced the plug wire, but the problem still persists. I thought I read that you have swapped the other components from one cylinder to the other, but the issue remains on the same cylinder…. There is really nothing much else to this system, so we must have missed something here…..Happens to all of us all the time….Our confusion and incorrect conclusions are directly related to the amount of times we have ripped into the same system without success, while our frustration level increases…
You can email the pictures to me if you like, and I will attempt to post them here….
don
dkellogg56@gmail.com

One more thought….Are you sure you are attacking the correct components for the cylinder that isn’t firing? The coil facing forward (towards the carb) controls the top (#1) cylinder….The aft facing coil controls the bottom (#2) cylinder. This is an easy enough mistake to make, we have all done it…. Once I get to this confusion level, I usually walk away from the project for a few days….Oftentimes the simple solution comes to me while trying to sleep….Might be time to start over again from step one….
May 13, 2019 at 7:33 pm #175208
dave-bernard
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US Member
how about the spark plug?????
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