No Fire

[bill]

What happens when you take a jumper from the + side of the battery to the + side of the coil and crank over the engine?
bill

[legendlc]

Bill, when I jumper as you mention I get spark from the plug I have removed. Then and only then. I am waiting on a ignition control module as Jeff mentioned. I can't find a diagram to see where that is inline on the ignition wiring but I am still looking.

[legendlc]

I found some notes that I took over the weekend checking wiring etc I had misplaced them until just now. On the main wiring socket that goes to the module I found a diagram and guide that said I should have 12v at pin#1 which I do. Then I should have 12v at pin #2 which I have 0 volts at. I tried tracing down the wires bit they go into the main loom and head off through the firewall somewhere. I do have a diagram I am just not certain if the automotive and marine ones are the same. I think this one is auto.
Thanks again electrical Gremlins are a blast

[Busia]

It's all automotive except the distributor is modified to make it spark proof marine rated. ( there's a little screen in the vent) I highly recommend a Motors Manual, or even Chilton's manual or NAPA will have a little handout diagram. It will show the wiring. To check for spark I recommend pulling the coil wire out of the center of the distributor. If you use a plug wire, you only see a spark once every 8 times it fires, and rotor and cap have to be good. Get a good spark and then make it go to the right plug at the right time. Can you see how the distributor works and how you have 2 different circuits? Low voltage and high voltage. Do you understand how the coil works? It is a transformer. It's all pretty simple once you know how it works. Call me if you have questions.--Ed

[legendlc]

Ed, I'm getting their slowly on understand all of this stuff. New ECU hasn't helped anything so now looking elsewhere. I found a Mopar car forum that someone made a post about checking the +side of the ballast resistor with a probe attached to it and the other attached to the battery +. It mentioned if you have over 0.3 volts that you have wiring issues. I have 1.1v on one engine and 0.9v on the other. I haven't found any data that corroborates what was said yet though.

[Busia]

That measurement will give you the voltage drop of the circuit up to there. Will show if you have a poor connection. BUT you have to do it when you have current flow, when the engine is running, don't think you have yours running. I would check the battery voltage when you are cranking the engine. (can you put a charger on it?) If you have a weak battery all the power is used to crank the engine and you will have a very weak spark. I recommend: pull all the plugs, pull the coil wire from the center of the distributor and put it 1/4 inch from the block. ( set something on it to hold it there ) Hotwire the ignition, just jumper +12 volts from the battery to the coil. Crank it over and you should have lots of big sparks. You don't want any gas or gas fumes around when you do this. Get the ignition fixed then worry about getting gas to it. So connect fuel lines back up and move any gas cans far, far away. Do this test to check the coil and reluctor (or points, whatever you have) When this works good, move the +12 volts to the resistor and test. Keep adding more parts to the circuit and testing if they work. When you get a good spark, then time it so it sparks at the right time. Then make the spark go to the right spark plug.

[legendlc]

Ed, thanks for that walkthrough. I did jump the coil+ straight from the battery last week and had good spark. Enough that I was still cranking and my dad started to pull away with the sparkplug and short pliers he had holding it and it jumped up and bit him. I see something a little strange in my wiring but I'm not certain it matters. I have a wire running to the +coil straight from the ignition switch. I am guessing it's on ign2 but can't tell. All the diagrams I see say it should be spliced at the output of the ballast and going to coil +. But I assumed if it was spliced it's just looking for 12v regardless but could be wrong.

[legendlc]

And speaking of If I ever get it started the cooling issue. Right now I am just trying to get it to try and start. At that point there is a system here that may work. The PO had a 5 gallon bucket with a ball valve tapped into the side about 4 inches from the bottom and a long hose coming off the valve. I found instructions in my file of receipts that he left on the boat to remove the inlet hose to the strainer and connect the hose from the bucket to the strainer. Fill the bucket all the way up with a water hose and leave it running and then start the motors. I am curious to see if the impeller out pumps the bucket and water hose but it may just work. Right now I would love to be to that step but currently I'm just trying to find a spark lol.

[Busia]

So it sounds like you have a good spark. Do you have a good spark when you get 12 volts from the key switch? ( all the key switch does is have +12 volts in and sends it to one terminal for run (sometimes called ignition) and another terminal when the key is in start- usually spring loaded to return back to the run switch. So, easy to check. Key in run- 12 volts to the resistor? Key in start- 12 volts to start solenoid? If it cranks over you know it does. So when you have spark, make it fire at the right time on #1 cylinder. That will be the compression stroke, about 8 degrees before TDC (top dead center) Turn the crank in the direction the engine runs because of gear backlash. ( slop or wiggly between the gears) If you go past your timing mark, back it up some and then turn it the correct direction to the mark. Then don't touch it. I would pull all the plug before you do this, makes it easier and you can check the plugs. If yours are good, just oily, wash them off and let them dry. Then look at where the rotor points when it is at #1. Does it point right at one wire on the cap? Sometimes it will be in the middle of two wires, so you have to pull the distributor and move it one tooth. When the rotor points at one sparkplug wire-that will be your #1 cylinder. On your motor it doesn't matter which one it happens to be. Install a plug wire from that spot on the distributor to #1 cylinder. So you have one cylinder done, just install the rest. Which way does the rotor go around? What order do you want the sparkplugs to fire? (one goes backwards, so draw a picture) then install the wires.

[legendlc]

After 3 hours of test probing today here are my results. 12v on ignition. I have a single position ignition switch and I have a s position toggle switch with ign and start on both one in main cabin on on flybridge. Flybridge is totally disconnected currently. I have 12v into key switch and 12v out. I have 12v into igntion switch but have yet to figure out where it goes out of the switch. There are 3 terminals on the switch. Two on the bottom side by side and one larger on top. So far the only reading I'm getting is on the larger terminal. I know it is working but I can't figure it out. I have 11.5 volts going into ballast and about the same or a little lower during cranking. I am thinking maybe a voltage drop issue? I can only find about 1 volt less coming back to the ECU etc from ignition as the battery has