1989 evinrude tracker TE60TLCEA

I will be running down the lake and the motor just quits like you shut it off. Starts back up and I am able to go again after a bit it seems. Happens very random, I can sometimes go a trip and it wont happen. I am guessing electrical somewhere but dont know where to start. Thanks for any help and advice.

One of five things will do that. You are problably right about the electrical.
1st CD ignition box is shorting out
2nd Emergency kill switch is shorting out
3rd Key switch is shorting out
4th Break in the Black/yellow stripped wire and it is going to ground
5th Stator is getting hot and stops working. however when this happens it takes about 5-10 minutes before it restarts.
It is NOT fuel related, because you say it will restart right away. If it was fuel related, you would have to either vent the tank, reprime the carbs, refasten the fuel fitting, crank for 5 minutes to get the flooded engine to blow out the extra fuel, or squeese the primer bulb while your underway. It is not the fuel pump because if it was you would either be flooding the engine or have to reprime. Since this is not happening, It is not fuel or carb related.....As if it were, it would do it all the time and not random.......No you do not have points in that motor........

Would a mechanic be able to check these things or would I be better off just replacing the switches and seeing if that gets the problem taken care of. I thought about something heating up too but it starts pretty much right away after it does it. As always thanks to all the info you guys in the know give to the TFF.

You could possibly simulate the heating process by running the engine on a water jacket at the house and using a hair dryer on the CDI. Just don't over do it. But if the cd is heating up and shutting down it is highly likely it will shut down when you do this. Just an ole mechanics trick.......

Well I tried the blow dryer trick on the power pack thing. It shut the motor down probably two minutes into warming it up. I went to the side and started the motor back up and tried to get the blow dryer to shut it down again but this time I couldnt get it to shut it down even after about 10 minutes. So I guess i am probably going to change it out. It just seems wierd that it would do it once and not again. But like I said it will happen sometime and not others when I am on the lake.

My bay boat was doing the same thing and I figured out it was the water pump. The impeller inside was just bad enough to kill the motor periodically. This was in an 89 nissan 70hp 2 cylinder.

I guess I havent looked at that angle, the impellor anyway. How did you discover that was it . I guess I could just change it out to rule it out. I keep trying to find out what it is .

I dropped the lower unit and it was in a housing at the base of the drive shaft (the one with the splines on top). It had 4 bolts to remove and just pull on the housing. the impeller is rubber and will erode after time. The reason my motor was shutting off (I think) was because of overheating or lack of enough water moving through the motor (thank god for sensors that do that for you). the impeller was moving water through the motor, just not enough water. If you do decide to check it remember that it is likely that you will have to replace the gaskets unless you are very careful not to crack or damage them.

I determined this was probably it before checking because the motor would take a little while to start spitting water out, but would spit water out a lot faster and stronger when I connected the water hose to it and ran it at home. It also would run for as long as I wanted it to at home without any problems.

Hey guys, would that power pack fail just every once in awhile like that. I heated it with blow dryer and the first time it shut the motor down. I have tried several times since then and I cant get it to repeat the shutdown. But thats kind of like how it happens when on the lake. I can go for a whole trip and nothing then just all of sudden it will just quit. I guess I just wish it would do it again to confirm that is what it is. thanks

Yes it can do it irratically. I had one that would shut down at 3500 rpm. If I ran 3450 rpm it would run all day. I had one that might shut down 10 times in 20ft then run for an hour with no problem. I had one that the kill wire coming from it would short out and ground to the block. As soon as the motor would stop turning, it would release itself and start right up. That one drove me nuts for 8hours. I have even had one shut down on a port turn, no problem running straight or turning starboard, But POOF!~~~on a port turn. And I had one that on full plane it would shut down, you could throw the shifter in newtral, activate the starter, motor would restart, slam the shifter in gear and barely even slow down. That drove my fishing partner crazy......

Thanks for the help, I am going to replace mine and hopefully I will be fixed up.