no spark

[Jakob5pennies]

no spark

last week had to be towed off the lake thank you cat fish for the help, but th boat was running great at 100 feet of water it just poped and quit . i replaced the cap rotor, coil and the electronic part at the bottom of the disturber still no spark coil is getting power . any ideas 

[Jakob5pennies]

is a 3.0 ,4cylinder , 1995 starcraft Islander 

 

[Bozeman Bob]

What about the points ? Sounds like there closed up. Also could be the shift interrupter switch not working, but if you were trolling along and it just died I would check points. I would also consider putting a Petronix Ignition system in the distributor to do away with the points all together. Can't  tell by your post if you have points or not, you should be getting a good spark from the coil

wire going to the distributor ,check that out without getting zapped. Then start looking into fuel delivery

[stoneam2006]

I'm sure it's obvious but is battery confirmed good...i am going thru same battle....another guy on here reached out to me and said to remove all other wires from coil and see if get spark could be a power loss in wires going somewhere else.

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[stoneam2006]

Had to go back and look but it was joetroller who mentioned that to me....worth a shot

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[thumbburn]

If you replaced cap rotor and all the goodies without replacing the points..... it's prolly the points..... I ditched my points and converted to pertronix .... and am happy so far....... I have a3.0 liter mercruiser....


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[Jakob5pennies]

ok it has the pertronix  distributor , I did check the the , also the neutral switch . I did put my battery charger on to test but maybe still the problem , i am old but what is the what is that thing that is replaceing the points the points called 

[mr 580]

I believe a 1995 Mercruiser should have electronic ignition and no points.  I'd suggest checking connections and voltage at ignition switch and kill switch lanyard if you have one.  Will need a multimeter to read voltage in the system.  If not comfortable testing, probably need to have someone look at it.  Can be expensive throwing parts at a problem.  I'd look for corrosion in a connection before I bought a new electronic module or other high buck pieces.

[Jakob5pennies]

yes I agree I have tossed money at it , that didnt work .  yes I will check the kill switch and the key I should be testing voltage there on start or when the switch comes to rest in  the on position ? thank you Mr. 580 

[mr 580]

If something happened with kill switch that would let engine turn over and you would not have spark so make sure that is working.  Check ignition switch in on position.  I'd also check fuses and ground connections for corrosion-clean with emery cloth.  Sometimes a little green crud can make electronics stop working.

[Jakob5pennies]

thanks for the info hope to check tomarrow , been a crazy week 

[Bozeman Bob]

You say you have power to the coil,,,buy a inline spark tester for 7-10 $ at Harbor Freight or your local auto store. Put it between your coil and distributor, you should see it flashing if your /petronix/factory electronic system is working. If not you have at least isolated the problem to a bad coil or ignition box . If its the coil, they usually recommend the replacement one have a certain ohms/voltage factor. A car one will work for a while then probably self grenade as mine did. Replaced my coil last year that has the petronix system after it stopped out in the middle of the lake. The PO had a spare one in his parts box and both units were the car version, did some research and got the correct ones, swapped out the other engine's coil at the same time.

[Jakob5pennies]

ok thanks

 

[Ray]

I had an '89 5.0L mercruiser that would cut off on me at various times.  Somedays no problem and other days would just quit.  I narrowed it down to the ignition coil, however, during the testing of, it passed.

 

Didn't matter if coil was hot or not....it would just quit at random moments.  Never understood why, but just ended up replacing the coil, and all was well!  Never had another problem!

Edited May 3, 2017 by Ray

[Jakob5pennies]

ok the key and emergency switch check ok , how about the tac would i just unplug it or not

 

[Bozeman Bob]

No on the tach, see if your getting spark from the coil before you go any further. If you didn't get the inline spark checker put the wire that goes to the distributor about 3/4 of a inch from a grounding point and see if it sparks. Just don't put it close to the carb unless you have a fire ext.close by. If your getting spark put the muffs on and see if it fires. As Ray mentioned it could be a intermittent problem, as was the case with mine until it just finally stopped working.

Edited May 3, 2017 by Bozeman Bob

[Jakob5pennies]

thanks Bob but i have bought 3 coils 2 electronic modules none work , have power to the emergency stop switch and key in all 3 positions no spark have a spark plug in the coil wire hard fastened to the block so could it be the tac.  if so do i just unhook  the wires or have to jumper it and how ? guess time for a marine shop 

[jolop]

try this

 

Troubleshooting: Thunderbolt Ignition Systems

Tests for TB ignition: W/ignition key on AND BILGE WELL VENTILATED OF GAS FUMES!!!

1. Connect your voltmeter neg. lead to the engine ground and pos. lead to the white/red wire terminal at the dist. It should read 12 volts.

2. If 12 volts is present, remove the coil spark wire from the distributor and connect it to a spark gap tester to ground. Remove the white/green lead from the dist. terminal. Turn the ign. key to on and strike the white/green lead to ground. If there is spark, replace the ignition sensor in the dist.

3. If there is no spark, substitute a new coil and repeat test #2. Now if you get spark, install a new coil. NO SPARK, replace ign. amp.

4. In #2, if there is No voltage present, disconnect the white/red wire and check it again for 12 volts. If 12 volts is present, replace the ignition sensor inside the dist. cap. If no 12 volts present w/it disconnected--ignition amplifier is shot and must be replaced.

Maybe this will help someone else that can't get a spark to the plugs.

[Bozeman Bob]

In your first post you stated you were getting power to the tach. If so you are limited to what can be wrong, take the tach wire off the coil and see what happens.

[Bozeman Bob]

One other thing I would try, make 2  jumper wires and hook them up to the positive and negative sides on the battery. Then put the other sides on the coil. That will take verify the coil and distributor components are working along with firing up the engine, or not. This way your 100% sure its from the coil back .

[Xxx]

How about this, you said it made a loud pop sound through the carb, that's a tell a tail sign of timing, if you remove the distributer cap and turn the motor over does the rotor turn while turning the motor over, not that the chain tore!! You could make a jumper wire with alligator clips on put direct power to the coil if she fires up then all those little safety features come into play, again you can bypass the shift interrupter, my uncle had that happen his went south, also if cables are stretched it could be out of adjustment, it must be sitting in the saddle if out of adjustment it won't start because it's in the motor interruption mode which stalls the motor for a split second so you can pull the lever either way, foreward or reverse. There's a measurement that that brass timbal should be, I have a manual I'll look at that, get back to you PAP.

[L&M]

Do not hook a direct connection from the +  &  -  terminals of the battery to the +  &  -  on the coil !  It will burn the coil out if it isn't already !  PM me a picture of the distributor so I know which system it is and I can walk you thu the relatively easy test procedures for it. 

[Jakob5pennies]

THANKS to all thee information from you great people , I removed the ground wire from the tac placed a spark plug in the coil lead she spark for 2 reveulations  then quit so i figure i burn something out again with the wife screaming bloody murder about a wast of cash . Guess time for a real marine mechanic ..  PS I think i am loseing it with age years ago this would not be a problem just not used to this modern eletronics .

[Jakob5pennies]

bit the bullet took it to a marina this am can only hope for a quick fix as they have 200 boats to get done befor the holiday

 

[Jakob5pennies]

boat is at the marina mich let you know how i make out