1968/1969 Evinrude 55hp Motor, please help

[lawrence722002]

Okay i looked every place i could find for help on this. Not to go into personal history but i cant replace the motor due to income, this is my dream just to have my own boat to go fishing. and now at age 37 i have a boat and a motor that seemed to be kept in excellent condition.

problem:
as in a previous post by some one they stated they had no spark to there plugs. I have the same problem! Now what i mean is that there is no spark coming from the rotor to spark plugs nor spark plug wires. First i have manualy taken each wire in the wire harnes and replace them manualy one at a time (all of them) include all the way to the power pack. Ive checked the power pack but am unsure if I tested this correctly. First i have power to the power pack and to the breaker points, i belive that the power pack is functioning correctly or at least that it is functioning. What i am not sure of is how to test and ingination coil, now everyone says just replace it, well im not sure that the coil is the prob or the rotor under the flywheel. I kind of need to figure out what these parts do so i can figure out how to test them, and or re build them. for instance the power pack, Ive discover it is just that from what i can tell is that it has a transformer in side of the power pack and other parts that i can see when slowly taken apart.
POWERPACK: when taken apart somewhat i found that acrouse the
ingination wires when switch is on drops low volts (around .2
amps) across the breaker pts. Why?,,,lol, or how does that
create the power to fire the spark plugs and or rotor under
the fly wheel when trying to start?
Ingination Coil: I can not find any power to this at all, coming from the
cap/rotor nor from the power pack to the ingination coil.
Breaker points: Altho I am quite stupid in these matters, i know these turn
on and off by opening and closing, from what i can tell i have
re-set them correct, but cant find information on how to
make sure that by turning the shaft to the high and low
spots that i have set these correct, i have set them so they
open and close and can see that they do,,,,,lol
Stator: I am unsure how to test this properly, but from what i can tell when
the motor is turning/cranking over there is volatage coming
from the stator. How or were can u find out if the readings
correct!
Cap/rotor: okay now this im a blank on. I can not figure out how this thing
works. I see the spark plug wires coming out of it and what i
assume to be the cap which is a peice that fits in the center of
this. But I see no were that any other wires goto this that can
power this with the exception of the wire that comes out of the
coil that has no power, now does power flow from the cap rotor
to the coil or from the coil to the cap rotor? and if the flow goes
from the rotor to the coild were does the rotor get the power
to fire the coil if there is no other visiable power sources going
to the rotor?

Okay sorry that was lengthy and sorry about my spelling for a 37 year old im not the brightest light bulb when it comes to spelling.Please remember tho most people would be able to go out and just start replacing parts to the motor or just by another motor I can not, so If i can fix this I will forever be looking at the boat/motor and grabing my lawn chair and fishing poles and fishing off the land with a tear in my beer. Im trying to at least pin point what the problem is weather it is the power pack/coil/rotor/stator. Ive looked all over month after month and now its close to the end of the season for
boating and still have not got the plug wires to get power to fire the spark plugs. Finding site for cheap used boat parts would also be helpfull. So far all i can find are site's that want to charge around 200 $ for a wire harness or 250$ for just the power pack. I would just like to get spark to the plug wires to see how the motor fires/starts, that would make my year! So any helpfull info would be deeply appericated, thank you, esp. if u read all of this, that tells me there is hope and that there are a few people left in the world that go out of there way to help a stranger!

[lawrence722002]

Another thing if i have mis-stated the compentonets please let me know so i also can correct my termonology. And yes I keep hitting refresh praying some one replys to this above question,,,,,,,lol

[Frosty]

Lawrence you have very old motor there,--older than most forum memebers, but not me!!! Dont worry let the thread run a while and see if any one really knows what they are talking about. Your terminology is a bit confusing but lets see what happens. I will keep an eye on you and if nobody picks it up we will see if we can do something. I used to have one myself years ago. I blew a con rod clean out of the side, I had to buy a new short block, Oh happy days.

[lawrence722002]

jack frost, thanks lol, ya this i will run and do what ever i have to till i get this motor running, the one thing that i have discoverd is that the power pack on this motor goes to a 85 hp johson motor, but that the motor ran with this power pack, and again like i said i tested the power pack/amplifiyer and it seems to be working. as for terminology sorry about that b4 i starter working on this motor i know nothing about boat motors(well apperaently still dont being that i can figure out whats wrong),,,,lol

[lawrence722002]

Okay spent all day on this again as usual. Well i have discovered what I think would be refered to as the cap/rotor and some what how it works. When I take the flywheel off I see the stator windings which with the flywheel i guess would be like a generator that sits on top of what I think is the cap/rotor. For now I will call the part were the plug wires are comming out of as the rotor also one wire runs to the coil (ingination). When the 3 screws are taken out of the (rotor) under that is what i think is the cap, there is a conector on this part, it is almost invisiable because it is just a small peice of brass that from what i can tell connects to a ring in the bottom of the rotor in which there is that ring and then another set of connectors (3 that is in the shape of a single ring that each are approx 1.5 inches in length then plactic and then another then 1.5 inches then plastic then 1.5 inches) all of which were brass and corred so i shined them up along with the stator/flywheel put back together and stared at the motor for about an hour (to dream what it would be like if it worked) cross my fingers and turned her over. Well no luck. still no power to the plugs wires, and still no power anywere to the coil. But i did discover that when she is turnning over there is power comming from the two wires that lead to the stator windings. So I am still at a loss why there is no power to the coil and to the plug wires. I attempted to try and test the cap and rotor by applying a low voltage from one plug wire to the wire that leads to the coil while the whole cap/rotor assembly was disasembled from the motor, i placed the cap in the rotor and turned it in hopes that i would get a connection turning the cap, I did not so either my cap/rotor is bad or it can not be tested this way,,,,,,lol.

Any hints on how to test the cap/rotor?

[lawrence722002]

Okay another question.

I cant find the cap and rotor asyblemy anywere for sale were do i go to look?

[Frosty]

Lawrence I think the biggest problem here is people dont know what you mean, I certainly dont know what you mean by cap and rotor.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to get hold of a manual, I was doing a quick google for wiring on 55's and saw many manuals on Ebay on these motors. This may even solve your problem, and in any case you will need to know this engine and be able to fix it yourself if your out fishing. I hope its in a small lake.

As it is so old a photo or 2 would help ,--maybe jog some ones memory!!

[lawrence722002]

thanks jack, in time i will supply a picture with detailed spec, working on it now, if nothing else perhaps it also will help anyone else with a motor close to the year of mine, a 1968 and 1969 are almost excatly the same with very little differences. Im working on the picture now.

The biggest thing that I cant find anywere, online in a libiary anywere, is detalied spec's for the power pack which is also refered to as amplifyer. If anyone has a site or anything showing the (inner) workings of this please post. By the time Im done Hopefully I will be able to post a thread with detalied spec's for all of the electrical systems for this motor and how to fix things with next to know money,,,,,lol. but seriously I really need the spec's for the power pack a schmetic would be excellent!,,,,,,thanks

[lawrence722002]

Well guess what, I found the probs with the motor and it was a B**** to fix. First the cap and rotor were shot and 2nd 2 of the plug wires were shot and next the ingination wire was shorted. I repaired the cap by sodering to the 3 inner connectors and to the one prong that from continual turnning was wore all the way down. On the rotor i soder again on the prong that spins on the cap, then tested each plug wire from the plate to the end of the plug (were it would plug to the spark plug). After doing all this and putting it back to gether I cranked her over and presto she fired and tried to start,,,,,damnn if I knew this was going to happen I would of went out and mixed up a few gallons to see if i could get her to run. For now i just sprayed a little starting fluid in the carbs to get her to fire, well im tickled pink!!!!! Except that I have searched non-stop and found that no longer are cap and rotors made for this motor, so my next step is to find a unervisal cap and rotor for the motor (and remember to get the gas). lol....Well in either case Im going to complete the picture that i started with the whole electriacal system that Ive worked on. Ive discoverd ways to test for things that are not in the tech manual or on line anywere. Ill let u all know (well u Jack,lol) if she stays running. God I still may have a chance to go fishing this season even if i have to bring a tool box and electriacal tape and duct tape along, now i can get her to work........


Larry

[Frosty]

I am very pleased for you Lawrence, you will have learned far far more fixing it yourself. If it tries to run with starter fluid just think how well she will run with gas in the carbs.