1968 Johnson 65 hp VXL-14B No Spark On Any Cylinder

JDusza

Ensign
Joined
Apr 21, 2009
Messages
990
Hi. Been a while. Hope you are well.
I am working on a 1968 Johnson 65 hp that has been sitting in a boat house for 40 years. I'm working on ignition. not introducing fuel yet. There is no spark on any cylinder.
Found boat side of the harnessing good.
Cleared out the mice and found most of the engine wiring crispy, cracking, exposed and rotted on both the engine harness and components. There was no chance of putting voltage to it.
Replaced the engine harness with new CDI. All matched up perfectly. Fits like a dream.
Found used amplifier and rectifier with good insulation and connectors so I took the chance on being cheap.
Installed the battery. Give it a go and no ignition on any of the four.
I used a CDI ignition manual to help in troubleshooting a 1968 4-cylinder but it was not for the exact engine. It was for a 1968 4-cylinder 100, 115 and 125 hp.
I have 12+ v going to the amplifier from the key switch and when cranking this voltage stays above 9.5 volts. I measure 10.1 v.
Monitoring that red wire feeding the amplifier and striking the points to ground gives no spark and the voltage remains above 9.5 v. I measure 9.9 v.
Attached an induction timing light to the coil output and spark plug wires and got nothing.
DVA attached to the blue wire feeding the coil shows nothing. Based on the "not quite applicable" CDI manual I was expecting 200+v on the blue wire.
Is all this indicating a bad amplifier? The manual never explicitly says "bad amplifier".
Also, what does the rectifier do? It appears to be just for the battery charging circuit. I see it is attached to 12v volts at the battery connection post and 2 yellow wires from the stator but that's it. No connections to anything else. It appears the rectifier does not feed 12 v to any engine electricals. Is this correct?
Thanks,
J
p.s., yes., A service manual has been ordered.
 
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Crosbyman

Vice Admiral
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
5,847
tried searches on past problems , google, chatgpt etc.. ?

Also, what does the rectifier do? It appears to be just for the battery charging circuit. I see it is attached to 12v volts at the battery connection post and 2 yellow wires from the stator but that's it.

rectifier converts an AC signal (2 yellows) from the stator and converts it to DC (red) to charge the battery. it usually does so via the connection on the main IN lug on the solenoid where another fused wire takes the same 12v and distributes it to the engine...lots of reading to do here ! see ex: of a 1972 65 hp diagram
https://maxrules.com/graphics/omc/wiring/1972_65_Eshift.jpg
1756986930954.png
 
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TN-25

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
621
There were a few different ignition systems on those old V4s.
The 1968 65 was the final year for the 70.7 cu. in. power-head (that started out as the original 50-horse V4) & the older lower unit.
For 1968 they switched to surface-gap plugs, switched to solid-state Power Pulse ignition & boosted the compression on the 60, making it a 65.
 

jimmbo

Supreme Mariner
Joined
May 24, 2004
Messages
13,996
Here are couple of pages from one of the better 3rd Party Service Manuals. Might or might not help. Some of the Pics shown are for prior text
img146.jpgimg147.jpg
 
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