Boat won't start, no spark.

[lewistonskier]

First of all, I have been following the "no start, faq" pdf already. I had the boat out about two weeks ago, and everything ran fine. It sat for about a week, and then we went to start it on Tuesday, and it turns over fine, but won't start. My first thought was that it wasn't getting fuel, so I tried pouring some gas directly into the carburetor, and that made no difference. No change in sound, no sputtering or back firing etc. Checked for spark, and there was none. Got new spark plugs as it had been a couple of years, and installed them, still no spark and no start. I've looked in the distributor, and the rotor and cap don't seem to have any corrosion, and I didn't see any moisture, but I did leave the cap off this afternoon in the sun, to make sure if there was any, it would dry.

I checked for power at the coil with the key in the on position, and on the positive side, there are 12 volts. The negative side is reading 3 volts, and the plug wire that runs to the distributor is reading 6 volts.

My questions.

Should those two readings be higher? or lower?

Is there a way to test the coil. If so, what is it?

Could there be something wrong with the distributor, and if so, what should I check/replace?

What should my next step be? Are there any more places that I should be checking?

Final note. Gauges work when the key is turned. I have the commander 351 engine. The alternator was replaced at the beginning of the season. I've see people say to check the kill switch on newer boats, but I was under the understanding that a boat of my vintage doesn't have that. If someone thinks that it does, please tell me where I would need to look.

Thanks everyone, your help is much appreciated.

[zone 5]

I'm not sure if your engine has electronic or points. Which you have will affect other parts that could be bad besides the coil.

On any Coil,

1. the positive side should have 12v as it does.

2. The negative side is the trigger. If you put a test light on it while cranking the engine, it should flash. If it stays on, or does nothing then you have other issues which the below link tells you how to test for.

Believe it or not Autozone has a pretty well written test that will save me a lot of typing. Don't go so much by their (or any other sites) ohms numbers. They vary all over. But the test is pretty well written

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/repairinfo/repairguide/repairGuideContent.jsp?pageId=0996b43f8038eb9d

I don't know what if any volts are supposed to be at the negative side of the coil with the key on. I've never tested it. Most cases, when we have no spark, if the coil wire makes no spark, we get a new coil or known good one and check it that way.

Edited August 19, 2013 by zone 5

[lewistonskier]

My engine was points, but has had the electronic conversion done. I assume that the two primary terminals that the test refers to are between the positive, and negitive terminals with everything disconnected? If it is bad, is there going to be no resistance, or is there going to be way too much? I'll try this and the spark test and see what I've got. Thanks.

[lewistonskier]

I checked when I got home from work this morning. There was connectivity, but there was no resistance ( same ohms reading touching black and red together as when touching + and - on coil) Spark test on coil wire resulted in no spark.

Also, after 3-4 tries at cranking it for 5-10 sec, the coil was hot to the touch. Not burning, but hot. Should I try the light test, or should I just go straight to getting a new coil?

Edited August 19, 2013 by lewistonskier

[malibu2004]

My guess is coil.

[zone 5]

I checked when I got home from work this morning. There was connectivity, but there was no resistance ( same ohms reading touching black and red together as when touching + and - on coil) Spark test on coil wire resulted in no spark.

Also, after 3-4 tries at cranking it for 5-10 sec, the coil was hot to the touch. Not burning, but hot. Should I try the light test, or should I just go straight to getting a new coil?

you can do the light, but what you have said says that its a bad coil.

[lewistonskier]

I replaced the coil and it still didn't spark. My co-worker, who has more experience than me came over, and helped me find that it was the condenser in the distributer. When I called skidim, it turns out the the coil that I had, wasn't the correct one for my distributer, so, got the new condenser, and the new coil, and installed them yesterday afternoon, and it started right up. It sounded to me like the engine noticably less loud. Anyone have any thoughts? Is this normal or something I should be concerned with. The coil was the mds blaster 2, and the correct one that I switched to was the flamethrower 2. Unfortinitly, I probably won't be able to water test for a while, if at all before winterizing, so I don't know if it is providing the same power.