TOPIC: door nail. dead as....

83 cajun bass boat with 82 evinrude 115.

I bought it as a basketcase & im trying to put it back together.

I replaced the ignition switch & i get nothing at all. No buzzer, no crank, no click, no nothin.

I cleaned all connections & the battery is fully charged.

I ran a jumper from the hot post on the battery to the battery terminal on the switch. I have an in-line light on this wire.

When i turn on the switch the light goes on. Switch off, light off.

Still no start/crank/sound.

If i jump the solinoid thr starter kicks in & the engine will crank.

Im not sure where to go next.

btassmomkey,

And MURPHY was an OPTIMIST, too.

yours, satx

Browse the web and find a schematic for the electrical to print off, they're out there. Is there a fuse in line somewhere that might have popped?
The motor is too new for me

Forget the fuses...cut to the chase. First, run a wire from the positive side of your battery to the positive terminal of your coil. Next, check to make sure that the wire on the negative side of the coil is properly attached to the distributor. Squirt a little gas or ether into the carbs and then jump the starter as you did before. It should fire. If not, put a timing light on any spark plug wire to determine if the spark is leaving the distributor. If so, keep cranking. If not, replace the coil. If that doesn't work, take up golf.

I believe many of the OMC motors do run a "main fuse", info on that and the full wiring schematic should be available here;
boatinfo.no/lib/evinrude/manuals/1973-1991johnsonevinrude.html#/0

thanks for the troll satx78247!

Nautilus - there are 4 coils right? I will try that right after I search for a main fuse.

I replaced the ignition switch - yes I got the wires correct thanks to the diagrams on the web.

I put in 2 new relays on the power trim - it worked before but they were all corroded & green - best to fix it now.

All the other lights etc. work as they should. The wires in the harness look clean & not cracked or dry. I sure hope its a fuse - but I have not found any in-line or for that matter any fuse at all except for a couple on the gages (which work).

"I replaced the ignition switch & i get nothing at all. No buzzer, no crank, no click, no nothin.

I cleaned all connections & the battery is fully charged.

I ran a jumper from the hot post on the battery to the battery terminal on the switch. I have an in-line light on this wire.

When i turn on the switch the light goes on. Switch off, light off.

Still no start/crank/sound."

brassmonkey,

When I read your original post closely, you say you had an "in-line light" in the jumper wire. Is the light actually wired into the middle of the jumper? If so you have a series circuit with a high resistance in the middle of it and there will be very little current at the batt terminal on the switch and nothing will work. If you are using the light in line, does the light go on when you just turn the ignition on, or when you turn it to start? I would expect the light to glow to some extent when in the on position, but glow brightly in the start position because the light is being grounded by the low resistance solenoid winding.
To test for voltage at the switch you should run a heavy jumper (at least 14 gauge or preferably 12 gauge) to the batt terminal on the switch and use a 12 volt test light or voltmeter with one end hooked to ground and the other to the batt terminal. If you have power there then turn the switch to start and check the start terminal. If you then have power there run another jumper, or move the jumper you have over to the start terminal and run it to the starter solenoid. Try and start it again. You have already proven the solenoid and starter work if adequate power is jumped to it.

I can't stress enough about using large enough wires (or jumper wires when testing) for the starter circuit. The solenoid can use 20 to 30 amps and routing the current from the battery in the rear up to the front to the switch, and back to the solenoid can cause a large voltage drop if the wires are too small. Also make sure to crimp terminals on your jumpers. Alligator clips don't transfer heavy current very well.

The wiring diagram for your motor does not show a fuse in the starting circuit , but does show a neutral start switch in it. It also shows a fuse in the main power wire from the battery to the main plug.
By using jumpers, you go around all those and the motor should crank. If it does it then becomes a matter of finding out where the current stops when you try use your exisitng circuit.

Don

you already know if you jump the solenoid it cranks..that ends good..
you have a new switch.. as long as its wired correctly you should be good..

now all you need is power from the switch back to the solenoid while cranking... if you have power in the crank pos. at the switch.. you need to trace out the wire from the switch back to the solenoid..

your pic was a little to hard to read.. got blurry as i blew it up.. but by this pic trace out that yellow and red wire.. you can unplug the harness at the engine and trace the wire from the engine plug to the solenoid.. if its good then trace it from the harness plug back to the switch..once you understand electrical its not hard to check out..if this was in front of me it would take but a few minutes. to know where the problem is..then again i've been doing electrical work in automotive for 30 years..

thank you everyone!!

I traced it to a teeny tiny fuse on the engine!

Now its late at night & I don't have a bunch of teeny tiny fuses laying around - so I wrapped the blown fuse in copper wire (I KNOW) & it cranked perfectly when I turn the key. I can hear the choke click when I push the key in.

I did not go any further than that as I need to do a couple other minor things before going any further.


Thank you all for your help! I am certain I will have this one back on the water in very short order!

glad you found it.. thats the main power fuse that powers up the key switch...