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Trying to figure out why my Evinrude 35 is missing every so often in a very regular way? Electrical? Fuel?

http://youtu.be/3x5WVLu_CUw

When it does hiccup, it shakes pretty violently.

Any advice for trouble shooting much appreciated!

http://youtu.be/3x5WVLu_CUw

YZ

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Well, you need fuel, spark and compression for the engine to run. I don't think it's possible to have an intermittent fuel problem. It also appears your compression is good. There is therefore an intermittent electrical problem. Is the misfiring regular or sporadic? If its sporadic I would suspect a loose wire somewhere or a corroded connection. Intermittent problems are the hardest to find. Is it only one cylinder? Does it only happen while running at speed but not at idle?

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The misfire is at regular intervals. The intervals seem longer apart when at idle. I'm thinking an electrical problem but I can't figure out why it would be regular. I've checked all wires and connections, they all look good... Thanks for the reply.

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This thread might be my exact same problem. Lower end gears... The description sounds similar, but my engine will "shake" or misfire even when idling out of gear... Hmmm...

http://www.marineengine.com/boat-forum/showthread.php?292933-35-hp-Johnson-shakes

YZ

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I tend to doubt that's your issue. Can you describe or post a vid of what happens when it's idling?

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Here's a couple more videos... The first when it was just started and warming up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRahQ...RahQ1FFXx0

And the second when it had been running a while:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRahQ...RahQ1FFXx0

It doesn't appear to shake violently when it misses under no load. Under load the shake jolts the whole boat.

YZ

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What's happening when you're cruising along is that the engine/prop is momentarily stopping and the force of the water on the lower end is whats causing the jolt and shaking of the boat.

At idle it almost sounds like the classic "sneeze" which is caused by an air leak in the intake system somewhere.

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I just did a compression test and the numbers were 126 and 128 psi which I believe is good.

I tried seeing if I could lower the idle speed a bit by turning the control located just above the air intake / carb butterfly. It didn't seem to make that much difference, seems I had to turn it several turns just to get a change in speed. I put it back to it's original setting after moving it. I'm assuming that's the low speed idle adjustment. It has a black thumbscrew thing on the end and a graphic on the end showing lean and rich? Or slow and fast or some such thing.

Sorry, I don't have a manual for the engine and am actually not sure what year it is. Probably 1980's vintage I believe.

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I don't know if it's possible, but could you disconnect one spark plug and try to start it? if it runs ok on that one cylinder, pull that plug wire and reconnect the one that was disconnected. If you could isolate the problem to a single cylinder that would narrow the engine components which could be causing the problem.

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Do you have a tag numbers on the motor?
If so, what are they.
Model number, etc. will help identify the year.

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It will run on either the top or bottom cylinder alone, but seems to run smoother / stronger on the bottom cylinder. It ran on the top cylinder but after a while it stalled.

It appears to have electronic ignition. "CDI Electronics" Cd 2 Date code: 7412 113-2453

Running on both cylinders, if I screw the slow idle adjustment screw (top center of carb) in, I can get the engine to "sneeze" and a puff of smoke comes out the exhaust. I quickly unscrewed the adjustment to get it back to normal idling.

I found the following numbers on some engine parts:
326713 cylinder cover? opposite side of engine from fuel screen
327730 Bracket starter comes up through
390765 bracket that part of choke linkage attaches to

Thanks for all the replies...

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Found the Model Number and Serial Number plate...

Serial: E0239025
Model: E35ELCTS

Looks like it is a 1983.

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Model: E35ELCTS

Yep.
E = Evinrude
35 = HP
E = Electric
L = Long Shaft
CT = 1983
S = stands for something I don't remember at this time.

Now you know what year it is.

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The screw above the carb intake opening is actually a lean/rich mixture screw. you'll need to adjust the idle speed on the side of the motor where the throttle cable attach to the engine (at the peg).
If you look below the peg the throttle cable attaches to, there should be a thumb type screw that will adjust the idle. Be careful as this screw was made of plastic, don't worry though if it does disintegrate as you can clean the threads and replace with a stainless screw or bolt just be sure to keep the spring and re-use it.
On the lean/rich mixture screw, you need to be careful spinning that item as you could lean the motor too much when idling.
I have a 1982 virtually identical and it would sneeze but not as severe and never at any rpm above idle, I did a carb rebuild and it helped tone down the sneeze.
I had found I had an intake leak at the lean/rich mixture screw but the worst leak was a freeze plug/cap (these are removed to thoroughly clean the passages of the carb and come with the rebuild kit.

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Other symptoms / issues:

- the throttle lever on the remote control (throttle only, not transmission) doesn't really work
- the throttle / trans lever on the remote control shifts fine but only has a small range at the very end of the position.

It seems that the cables are either poorly adjusted or corroded perhaps. I'm wondering if this could be causing an issue with the transmission not being far enough in gear and thus causing the jump at high speeds???

I'll see if I can figure out why the remote controls only have a throttle effect at the very end of their throw range.

I'm also wondering if it could be a faulty CDI CD2 electronic ignition? Rectifier? Or coil pack?

I'm going to put a timing light on the the spark plug wires tonight and see if they flash in a regular pattern of if there's a hiccup to the pattern.

YZ

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So a reply on another forum on another site says that I have the "classic clutch dog" problem.

http://youtu.be/3x5WVLu_CUw

I would have thought my rpm's would increase slightly when it hiccups instead of the dropout I think I'm experiencing.

If anyone familiar with the clutch dog issue could comment on the video, I'd appreciate it.

I'm also going to try and disconnect the shift linkage cable and just use the shift lever manually to see if the cable adjustment might be the problem. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and it will just be a cable issue. One can dream! ;)

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If you were just having the issue when you were in gear, the clutch dog would be more likely. When in neutral, the dog sits in the middle position between the two gears and isn't engaged.

I'd try spraying some fogger or carb cleaner around where the carb body meets the reed box, then the reed box to engine, and see if the RPMs change at all indicating an air leak.

The timing light is also a good strategy to check for consistent spark. If you do it at night or in a dark area you can also look for blue light that indicates a voltage leak. So inspect the wires and boots carefully for signs of perforations or burn marks.

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I just wanted to follow up and say that I finally fixed this problem. Rebuilding the lower unit and replacing all the bearings and clutch dog and forward gear seems to have fixed it.

If you want all the details and pictures, they can be found here:

http://forums.iboats.com/johnson-evin...15424.html

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Hard to imagine a mechanical problem in the lower unit could cause such a regularly spaced symptom. Thanks for sharing the solution.