1962 Evinrude Fisherman Lost Spark

[wildlandff05]

Evening all,

New to the site. Though I’ve been checking out the forums for old Evinrude outboard info.

I bought a 62 Evinrude Fisherman 5.5 at a garage sail a few weeks back. Cleaned the carb, changed the lower shaft oil and it started right up. Impeller shockingly works well. Put it on my 12’ aluminum boat and it ran great for about 20 mins. Suddenly it was running on only one cylinder (top).

Popped the flywheel and both ignition coils looked like they’d been smashed with a hammer. Points looked to be fine so I ordered the coils. Installed a nada. Still no spark. Bought an oem tune up kit and installed new points and condensers.

Put the flywheel back on and spun it by hand. Spark on both! I mounted the outboard up by a garbage can and it started on the first pull. Problem is it was only running on one cylinder again. Flywheel off and nothing obvious. Pulled the coils - cut the spark plug wire about 1/4” to expose new core - reinstalled.

Now I have spark again. I’m a little nervous to reinstall the flywheel completely as I don’t have a puller and I’ve already made 3 trips into town to rent one from Oreillys.

Am I missing something? I’d have replaced the wire as well but I can’t find any in town. Could it be as simple as that? The only other thing I’ve noticed is the new points seem to ride up the pivot post after a few turns.

 

[oldboat1]

Buy a steering wheel/harmonic balancer puller. Those little wire clips hook into notched slots on the shafts -- should hold everything down. Make sure the condenser wires are flattened down so they don't hit the flywheel (can't tell from the overhead shot). Think you need to replace the impeller or risk bits and pieces suddenly ended up in cooling passaged.

good little motor. (24:1 ratio)

 

[wildlandff05]

Hey thanks for the quick response. All the wires are tucked in. Clips for the points are seated properly. Impeller is definitely on my list but I want to make sure she runs before I tackle that.

 

[racerone]

That green wire is normally not routed around the condenser as shown in the pictures.----Normally I remove the magneto plate.------Put wire through and SCREW it into the coil.------Then set the coil I place.

 

[wildlandff05]

Gotcha. Yeah I was looking at it again before I went to bed and re-routed the green wire before I even saw this post. Haha. Good call.

Flywheel is still loosely installed and I put the recoil back on. It sparks just fine. But again, it did the same thing the first go round. I’m going to try to find some new spark plug wire today as to eliminate the last possibility. Thanks again for the help.

 

[racerone]

The stuff you need is 7 mm with metal wire core.------Not automotive stuff.

 

[tomhath]

Don't run it without the flywheel properly torqued down, you'll shear the key on the shaft. The flywheel is held in place by the taper lock, the key is only there to help align it. Make sure there's no oil on the tapered shaft before you tighten it for the same reason.

 

[kdiddle]

What tomhath said...I sheared my flywheel key while trying to 'test run' my '64 Evinrude without it being torqued down.

LPT - valve lapping compound makes a nice clean surface between the crank/flywheel if needed - just spin the flywheel without the key in place using the compound and it will clean it up nicely...just don't overdo it.

 

[F_R]

New points often have an invisible non-conducting coating on the contacts, which will quickly burn off with a few minutes running---IF you can get it running. Otherwise, you need to clean it off Sounds like you got it running on both so it likely is good to go. What's with the riding up on the post though?

 

[wildlandff05]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the ideas. I completely disassembled the coils, points, and condensers. Reinstalled and routed the wires a little better. Spark seemed solid so I reinstalled the flywheel and took it for a short spin on the river. Started on the first pull and ran great. Hopefully I’m in the clear now.

Impeller ordered and I’ll be putting that in before I take it on the water again. Thanks for all the help.

 

[wildlandff05]

One last question for you fellas. I took the power head and lower unit off this morning. Attached some pics of the impeller. Looks ok? It sure does fit tight in the housing. The veins are all curved and the impeller I ordered has straight blades.

At full power the motor would sometimes make an odd sound - and for a brief moment it wouldn’t spit nearly as much water. Maybe this impeller was getting held up?

Let me know what you guys think. This is all new to me. The impeller isn’t brittle or anything like that.

 

[racerone]

Fact-----They take a set after they have been in service.-----Yes new impellers have straight vanes.

 

[wildlandff05]

New impeller is in. She runs great. Thanks again for the help.

 

[Crosbyman]

Great conclusion...just be aware those wires can break…in the bend to cause headaches ...

normally you should have installed new solid core copper 7mm plug wires to prevent this
see pict