"Well, I tempted fate and lost
"Well, I tempted fate and lost....boat went dead in the water while on-plane...had to be towed in.
1996 4.3LX, Alpha one; 18 ft ski boat, 2 bbl carb.
For some reason, the purple wire back in the engine compartment goes dead....it's the one connected to the electric choke and the positive side of the ignition coil. I *thought* that the problem was the kill switch...following the purple wire back, I saw that it went through the kill switch (at the throttle) on the way, so on the water, I spliced/bypassed the kill switch to take it out of the loop. Still no dice, but I'm also not convinced that my splice job out on the lake was secure.
So I guess my question is...what other things might cause the purple wire to go dead? It seems intermittent...for example, last night I messed around with the wires near the throttle (in addition to re-securing the splice that I had made above), and suddenly the purple wire was live.
I still have trouble starting it after it dies from this though...is it possible that the engine gets flooded if the ignition coil cuts out in the middle of operation?
Other relevant info:
* ran the boat aground a few days ago; was only going 5mph, and only the skeg and prop hit. But I'll have to admit, I didn't have a blatant electrical problem like this until after that. Could be coincidence.
* have been having cold starting problems as described in this thread: http://www.marineengine.com/discus/messages/12486/191402.shtml
Again, thanks guys for any input you might have; hopefully soon I'll learn enough to be able to contribute more to the forum rather than being the one always asking questions *embarrassed*."
"Well, I tempted fate and lost....boat went dead in the water while on-plane...had to be towed in.
1996 4.3LX, Alpha one; 18 ft ski boat, 2 bbl carb.
For some reason, the purple wire back in the engine compartment goes dead....it's the one connected to the electric choke and the positive side of the ignition coil. I *thought* that the problem was the kill switch...following the purple wire back, I saw that it went through the kill switch (at the throttle) on the way, so on the water, I spliced/bypassed the kill switch to take it out of the loop. Still no dice, but I'm also not convinced that my splice job out on the lake was secure.
So I guess my question is...what other things might cause the purple wire to go dead? It seems intermittent...for example, last night I messed around with the wires near the throttle (in addition to re-securing the splice that I had made above), and suddenly the purple wire was live.
I still have trouble starting it after it dies from this though...is it possible that the engine gets flooded if the ignition coil cuts out in the middle of operation?
Other relevant info:
* ran the boat aground a few days ago; was only going 5mph, and only the skeg and prop hit. But I'll have to admit, I didn't have a blatant electrical problem like this until after that. Could be coincidence.
* have been having cold starting problems as described in this thread: http://www.marineengine.com/discus/messages/12486/191402.shtml
Again, thanks guys for any input you might have; hopefully soon I'll learn enough to be able to contribute more to the forum rather than being the one always asking questions *embarrassed*."