94 25p Evinrude won't stop

It was a day of mixed blessings today. Got the boat back out after a two month hiatus (lots of crummy weather and other obligations) and got my first Walleye on the lake I was on! but then the motor started to act up in a weird way.

The motor fired right up, and we were off to fish. We got out to our spot, and I went to hit the stop button (the motor is set up with a tiller) and the darn thing wouldn't quit!

I put it back into gear, and lowered the speed to below idle, and it finally died.

I remember the last time I had it out, before 4th of July, 5 had to hold the stop button for a while for it to quit.

With as many problems folks have getting these things going, you think shutting one off would be a snap!

How does the stop button actually work, and what should I be looking for to try and fix it?

We have about six or seven more possible weekends with good weather left, and I would like to get out a few more times, but if the stop button isn't woking, the mrs. will probably shoot that idea down.

Thanks again,

Peter

Peter,
the stop button works by grounding the power pack (when pushed). If you can trace the two wires coming from the stop button, one should be connected to engine block (ground) and the other to a round connector going to the power pack. I would start by checking both of these connections. Also, check for any nicks or breaks in the wires.

If connections are good, with the motor running, jumper the above wires together and see if engine shuts down. If that works your push button is faulty. Good luck.

jasper

A buddy of mine just had the same thing happen on a 25hp Mariner a few weeks ago. After making some checks with the multimeter, we determined it was a bad kill switch on his. Replaced the switch and everything is working fine now.

As has already been said, there are two wires coming out of your stop switch.
Now for a little better explanation of how to troubleshoot - One wire goes to ground and the other will go to a black/yellow wire that goes into the power pack.
You can disconnect the wires and check them with an ohmeter. With the wires connected to each lead of the Ohmeter push the switch and see if the meter indicates a full connection. If not you have a bad switch (probably what it is). Sometimes you can sit there and push the switch a bunch of times and the internal contacts will clean up enough to make proper contact. The meter will show this - or not.
To check the power pack you can ground the black/yellow and see it the engine will start - it should not. I say this because this is the safest way to check this wire as there is around 300V on it while running. You can also have it running and then ground the black/yellow - the engine should shut down. Be careful of touching the terminal on that wire while running!

Pull the rubber cap off your kill switch. There will be a flat piece of metal inside that is probably corroded. Clean it.

Look into the kill switch. You will see 2 contacts that are probably corroded. Clean them. Reassemble and test.

Usually that fixes them unless one of the wires is broken under the hood.

You can buy a Seadog unversal replacement for about $10

If your kill switch is not a dead man switch it would be a good time to up-date that.

All good advice here.

Talons

I fiddled with it a bit the other day. Could not see where how to disconnect the wires at the switch end, but it sounds like that may not be necessary. I was able to trace the wires back to the powerpack and ground. just need to take a closer look at how to disconnect them so I can hook up the meter.

I had thought about a deadmans switch before this as well. I've looked quickly on Eby and Amazon, but have not found them. What is the name they are sold under?

Thanks for the help!

Peter

Dead man, kill or tethered switch are the names I know them as.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000BYNUH/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01

I'll be putting that one in the cart!

I was out looking at the switch that is in their now. I took the switch apart, and the contacts were clean.

I then tested each side of the circuit with the multimeter. The side going to ground worked fine. I pulled the harness apart and tested that side. Nada. It was then that I noticed that there is a splice in that side of the water. I think that might be the culprit, but I ran low on daylight so I didn't get a chance to take that apart. It looked like a crimp connection, so I plan on firing up the soldering iron and give seal it up that way. It looks like I will have to reuse the wires that are in there when I put a new switch in.

Hopefully I can get that taken care of soon, there's some good fishing to be had in the fall

Thanks!

Peter

What do you mean you tested one side of the switch at a time?? How did you check it?
It's a switch!! You put an ohmeter across both leads and push the button on the switch. If the ohmeter says it makes a connection.......its good. If not.......it's not. Simple.

LOL, I can hear my wife saying the same thing! I've learned that anything that I say is going to be easy ends up kicking my ar***!

There ended up being a bit of destructive testing! I had to pop the switch apart to get to the leads, so at that point I was able to test each side of the switch. More accurately I tested each side of the circuit to see if I had a bad connection somehwere else along the line.

It turns out I did. On the wire going to the harness, someone had made a splice with a crimp connector. That connection went bad. I cut out the connector and temporarily reconnected the wires for testing, and it worked. Unfortunately In the process of stripping wires, I pulled the ground wire off of it's connection :evil: :evil: :evil: !

With the ground wire, does it matter where it attaches to the motor, within reason? To re attach it where it was would require removing the power pack, and I would just as soon let sleeping dogs lie on that one. Can I just loosen the bolt in front of the power pack and attach the ground wire there?

When the new switch with the deadman's lanyard comes next week, I'll be able to solder everything else back together and be good to go.

As much as I want ice fishing to get hear, I still hope to get out and try the fix on the water!

You can attach the ground wire to any convenient screw/bolt that will ground the wire to the engine block.

funny thing about the kill switch. my mechanic did mention that is why so many johnnyrudes have power pack issues. interesting. my kill switch went out and the mechanic ask how i shut it off, " i just choke the motor" and he claimed that was better??

For long term storage shutting the engine off with the choke probably is better as it floods the rotating mass with fuel and oil.
Glad you have a handle on it.
For years and years there was never a kill switch on engines and we either choked them or had the idle set way low to shut them off.

I finally got the new switch installed this past weekend. I found a place that was easier to get to to attach the ground wire. Everything went in easy as pie.

To bad i was only able to start the engine to get the stabilized gas flowing through it, before putting it away for the winter.

Almost time for ice fishing!