No spark, start where?

[kodibass]

my friends Erude would not start for him so he asked me to look at it for him. I said I would' well he brought it by and it was not the boat he had last year he got a new one, this thing is not what I normally tinker with its a E225FPXSRB (2004?) 225 HP Well I did at least pull a plug on each bank and there is no spark. I cut the yellow and black wire and still no spark. When I turn the motor over with the starter there is no spark but when I let off the key to stop the starter form cranking it sparks once? I checked the fuses under the plastic cover all appear good & found one 20 amp up top it is good also. looked for loose connections corrosion etc. found none. So for you folks who work on these Biguns can you help me to move forward. The only reason I am even attempting to help the guy is We live on a Island 180 miles of the Alaskan mainland and have no E-rude/jonny repair shop on our island. Heck they don't even sell them here. I do have a CDI-511 meter & a stevens instruments t-77 dva but I just got them about a week ago and have little knowledge about their use. so what advise could you folks give me as to what your next step would be. I work on many less than 100 hp outboards but in general much older ones. so If I could get this guy going thru your skills & knowledge it would be great. thanks

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: No spark, start where?

I retired from the trade in 1991 and much of your engine's design and circuitry are foreign to me... BUT some things remain the same, hence a small bit of advice here to start with.

The engine must crank over at least 300 rpms in order to have the stator (under the flywheel) to provide approximately 300AC volts to the powerpack capacitor, needed to energize the powerpack.

When testing/checking for spark, remove all the spark plugs in order to have the cranking speed as high as possible. As insinuated above, a slow cranking engine will not be able to initiate the ignition/spark.

The spark must jump a 7/16" gap at cranking speed. The gap is important... checking spark by using the spark plugs is a waste of time. The spark must be a wide strong blue lightning like flame... a real SNAP!

The wire you cut.... if that is the black/yellow wire that leads to the raised "M" terminal of the ignition switch.... fine. If not, remove the black/yellow wire from the ignition switch, then retest the spark.

 

[boobie]

Re: No spark, start where?

Go to cdielectronics.com and look up their trouble shooting procedures. Very helpful.