Please Help!! No Spark!!

ethand

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Jul 7, 2010
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Ok. We just purchased a 1977 16ft openbow Thundercraft with a 1974 50hp Johnson outboard. We were told that the coils were both bad. We replaced them with a nice set of used ones. Nothing. We tried it again. Nothing. Went through a total of 7 coils. Still nothing. I checked all grounds. Still can not get any spark. Can anyone help us out? Please.
 

Daviet

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Re: Please Help!! No Spark!!

That engine has a power pack in the ign system, as well as other componets under the flywheel. Your best bet is to get an OEM manual and use the troubleshooting section to help you find your problem.
You could throw a lot of parts at it and never fix it without knowing what is wrong.
 

ethand

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Re: Please Help!! No Spark!!

Yes. I forgot to mention we tried a different power pack also. Would a bad rectifier cause it to not spark?
 

Daviet

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Re: Please Help!! No Spark!!

Basicaly you have a sensor, stator, rectifer, power pack , coils and a lot of wire in the ign system. Problem could be one or more defective componets, or just a bad electrical connection. You are going to have to troubleshoot the entire ign system to find your problem, unless you just happen to get luckey and replace enough parts to find the problem.
That's why you need a manual.
 

ethand

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Re: Please Help!! No Spark!!

Ok. Thankyou. So is there a possibility that a bad rectifier could cause it to not spark?
 

Daviet

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Re: Please Help!! No Spark!!

Could be a bad rectifer killed your power pack and the power pack you replaced it with.
 

ethand

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Re: Please Help!! No Spark!!

Ok. Thanks. I'll do a few more tests. If anyone can reccomend anything feel free to post
 

Fuzzytbay

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Re: Please Help!! No Spark!!

Double check there is no short to ground on the kill wire, in the harness, etc, after all if the kill circuit is enabled, you will have no spark, no matter what.
 

Daviet

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Re: Please Help!! No Spark!!

One thing I just thought of, I don't have a manual in front of me, but look and see if your power pack has a black wire with a yellow tracer hooked to it. If so disconnect it and check your spark again. That is the kill wire to shut down your ign system, could be shorted to ground somewhere, causing a no spark condition.
 

ethand

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Re: Please Help!! No Spark!!

I have already tried that a few times. No luck.
 

tx1961whaler

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May 31, 2008
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5,197
Re: Please Help!! No Spark!!

No fire at all:
Disconnect the black yellow kill wire and retest. If the engines now has fire, the kill circuit has a fault-possibly the keyswitch, harness or shift switch.
Check the stator resistance. You should read approximately 500 ohms from the brown wire to engine ground.

Check the DVA output from the stator. You should have a reading of at least 150V or more from the brown wire to engine ground (while connected to the pack).

Check the timer bases resistance from the black/white wire to the white/black wire. Reading should be 10-20 ohms.

Check the DVA output from the timer base. A reading of at least 0.5V or more from the black/white wire to the white/black (while connected to the pack) is needed to fire the pack. If the output is low, you may try to reset the air gap between the timer base sensor and the triggering magnet:
A. Loosen the two mounting screws on the sensor and the nut located in the epoxy on the outside of the heat shield of the timer base.
B. Slide the sensor in toward the crankshaft approximately 0.005? at a time.
C. Coat the face of the sensor with machinists bluing or equivalent.
D. Install the flywheel according to the service manual and crank the engine over.
E. Remove the flywheel and check to see if the trigging magnet struck the sensor face.
F. If the ignition fired, finger tight the nut on the outside of the heat shield and coat it with RTV.
G. If still no fire, slide the sensor in another 0.005? and repeat steps C through F.

Check the DVA voltage on each trigger wire to engine ground. You should have a reading of at least 150V or more from the black/white wire and the white/black wire to engine ground (while connected to the pack). If the reading is low, disconnect the trigger wires from the pack and recheck the terminals on the pack. If the voltage jumps up to an acceptable reading, the timer base may have a problem in the internal wiring (A thin spot in the insulation on one wire).

Check the cranking RPM. A cranking speed of less than 250-RPM will not allow the system to fire properly.


No fire on one cylinder:
Either a faulty power pack or ignition coil normally causes this. Extremely rare causes include a weak trigger magnet in the flywheel or a timer base.
 

ethand

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Re: Please Help!! No Spark!!

Thanks for that. I actually already had that printed off. But the problem is I have no way of measuring DVA. And on the stator resistance we measured over 800 ohms on two different multimeters. It says its supposed to be 500. Does that mean anything?
 

Lion hunter

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Apr 9, 2005
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Re: Please Help!! No Spark!!

I think you'll find that you can do enough of the tests without a DVA that if they check out good (or bad) you can really narrow down the results.
 

ethand

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Jul 7, 2010
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Re: Please Help!! No Spark!!

So where should I start? I tried checking to see if there was any voltage going from the power pack to the coils earlier. There was nothing. Zero volts for both coils. The Coils tested fine before installation
 

ethand

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Jul 7, 2010
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Re: Please Help!! No Spark!!

Ok. Thanks for that. May have to try and make it. Just wish I could figure out the problem. Near a hundred degrees here all week and we would love to be out having fun on the river
 
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