Outboard Has No Spark

[Deadhead]

I have a 1970ish Ted Williams 4.5 hp outboard w/ a Tecumsah engine. 2 weeks ago it would not start so I replaced the magneto, points, condenser & spark plug. It started right up & ran like a champ for at least 45 minutes in the barrel outside my garage.

It ran so well I decided to paint the top half of the housing. Masked everything really well, primed & painted after it was back together. Got to the marina today attached it to the dink & nothing. Pulled it apart & once again have no spark.

Any ideas?

 

[Ross]

Check and make certain that you don't have the stop button taped down.

 

[JoeWhite]

Like Ross says - check the run switch - that happened to me too and against all my rules I pulled out my engine manual and there it was the solution - I laughed hard since I had made such an idiot of myself...

 

[Deadhead]

Stop button?

This thing doesn't even have a transmission, let alone a stop button. When the engine is turning so is the prop. In fact, I propelled myself half way across the harbor just pulling the starter.

Nope, no lanyard to connect, no dead man's switch, no nothing - including spark.

 

[Ross]

Re: Stop button?

How do you stop it? There must be some means for killing the engine other than turning off the gas.

 

[caguy]

I have a 1970ish Ted Williams 4.5 hp outboard w/ a Tecumsah engine. 2 weeks ago it would not start so I replaced the magneto, points, condenser & spark plug. It started right up & ran like a champ for at least 45 minutes in the barrel outside my garage.

It ran so well I decided to paint the top half of the housing. Masked everything really well, primed & painted after it was back together. Got to the marina today attached it to the dink & nothing. Pulled it apart & once again have no spark.

Any ideas?

I did the same thing with my 50ish SeaBee. It turned out to be the points were gummed up and sticking. Got it running great at home and took it to the landing with the dink and got it to fire up for about 10 min and it died. Brought it home and it fired up again and ran great. Took it back to the landing and nada. Took it home and put it in the backyard, and bought a cheap used Nissan 8hp 2 cycle. It ran ok in the driveway. Took it to Ventura Harbor and what to you think? It wouldn't start, and neither would my 10hp Honda which always ran well. My imagination was beginning to notice a cloud hanging over Novelman.
I got the Honda tuned and it ran fine for that trip and the next year. I should have repaired the Nissan at the dock but at this point I was so frustrated we decided to row the dink. When I did get the Nissan home and I opened the carb it turned out that the screw holding the float had backed out. Probably why I got it so cheap. I reassemble the Nissan and it runs like new.
The moral of the story is they're only mechanical devices that follow the laws of physics, and they only seem like they are out to get you.

http://www.youtube.com/user/xcaguyx1#play/all/uploads-all/2/7cHpWWtKZQo

 

[caguy]

How do you stop it? There must be some means for killing the engine other than turning off the gas.

Ross, stopping it isn't the problem... (you turn the fuel mixture to lean/off and starve it)

 

[Deadhead]

Stopping

The throttle slides from stop thru start to fast. Sliding it to stop kills the fuel/air mix. There is also a lean-rick idle adjustment knob. The spark plug is wet w/ fuel. Just nothing to ignite it.

Not to worry for now though. My dock neighbor has loaned me his 3.5 hp 2 stroke merc. We are leaving in minutes for a 2 week cruise. Planning on the Fairlee Creek, Corsica River, Queenstown, St. Michaels and spending the night of the new moon on the Dividing Creek off the Wye East River. Last 2 days will be relaxing at Osprey Point YC in Rock Hall.

Thanks for the input. Regards.

Teddy

 

[Ross]

Re: Stopping

Have a fun trip. Watch your depth sounder in the Wye River the bottom is very lumpy.

 

[Warren Milberg]

Man, I have some fond memories of sailing my old C&C (draft 4-ft) all the way up the Wye East past Dividing and Granary Creeks (great places to spend a night) to that little landing where you can buy bait and rent row boats just before that low bridge. The wind was perfect for it, but as Ross notes, keep an eye on your depth sounder. A beautiful river!

 

[stevec22206]

If it has a CDI ignition that could be the issue. I have an older ESKA 9.9 with CDI on it and I believe ESKA also manufactured Ted Wiilliams, GameFisher and a few others. I've done some research and these ignitions can fail with time. You may want to check this out. Do a search online for outboard CDI ignition systems, found several topics on it. My 9.9 has had little use for it's age and yet a month ago I tried starting it after cleaning the carb, plugs and adding new fuel. No spark at all. Have narrowed it down to the ignition. Unfortunately, this ignition is very hard to come by for these older motors and if you can find one the cost far outweighs the value of the motor. Might be time to look at purchasing a newer outboard.

Steve

 

[kloudie1]

Intermittent is the hardest to troubleshoot !!! I’d start with the things worked with first.. Points and condenser.. point gap good? Contact faces clean, connections good.. Then to plug wire then to coil

 

[Deadhead]

Enjoying the Bay

We arrived in St. Michael's yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon. A Beneteau 46 named Steve Cooling, Jr. is tied up across the dock. The 1st mate heard them speaking - a foreign language. I googled the boat name and found they have recently completed a Trans-Atlantic voyage from Oslo. Looking forward to chatting (in English I hope) after we return from the maritime museum later today.

I am extremely happy with the 35# manson supreme I switched to earlier this year. We had a couple of serious blows. Sunday evening @ 6:00 pm in the Fairlee Creek the wind went from 0 to 30 in a microsecond. I had just finished splicing in shackle to give myself an all rope rode for a lunch hook and happened to be on the bow faking it down when I saw the wind coming across the water over the spit. I increased the scope on the manson to about 10:1 and we were glued to that spot. There were 2 cats rafted next to me who ended up at least a half mile up the creek before they got their shit together.

Monday night in the Queenstown Creek another t'storm came through. Serious wind & rain. The mate went to bed but I stayed on anchor watch until midnight or so. Again, we were painted to that spot.

Thanks for the advice about the Wye River. I will watch carefully. And kudos to whoever mentioned Cruising the Chesapeake - A Gunkholer's Guide by William Sheelenburger here on SBO last year at some point. It was worth the price just to be able to time our transit through the Kent Narrows to coincide with both slack tide and the bridge opening.

Teddy

 

[RichH]

The spark plug is wet w/ fuel. Just nothing to ignite it.
<snip>
Teddy

A wet spark plug will short out easily. Youve probably 'flooded' the engine with excess fuel and all you have to do is let it 'dry out'. Dry the plug, clean the terminals, let the engine also dry out with the spark plug removed. Then with the sparkplug out of the engine attach the coil wire, ground the sparkplug body to the engine and pull the starting rope ... If it was 'flooding' you will see spark when you pull the rope. These old engines are easy to 'flood' with fuel; so, next time start with a lean mixture (choke off) and increase the choke in increments until you actually start.

 

[geoffschultz]

Have you checked the stator? I had one fail with similar symptoms. You can check with an ohm meter and compare that to either factory spec or another motor of the same make.

-- Geoff

 

[Hermit Scott]

In fact, I propelled myself half way across the harbor just pulling the starter.

Problem solved. Just remember to change arms every once in a while so you don't get too tired.