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Mercruiser 37 shut off

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mapandjlp

New member
"I'm working with a Mercru

"I'm working with a Mercruiser 3.7 LX in an '87 Carver. I pulled the motor and replaced a piston, rings, and bearings. After installation, I fired it up. It ran great for a half hour or so while I asessed the situation. As I was wrapping up my timing light after checking the timing, it just shut off, like someone turned off the ignition. No sputter, no noise, just shut off. Now it cranks normally but won't fire. Upon initial checks, looks like I lost spark. I ran out of time until next weekend. I've got a couple of ideas but wanted to get input from you guys, the experts! Any suggestions? BTW, it's the stock, points ignition."
 
"My first suspect would be the

"My first suspect would be the coil. For some reason they will work ok until they get warm and then poof ! Not necessarily the answer, just a good starting point."
 
"I agree with Barry, coil firs

"I agree with Barry, coil first, then condensor, then I've also seen a couple times that a bad tach on those will also kill the spark. Or the power lead to the dist, check to see if you have 9V at the coil with the key on (12v when cranking)"
 
"Thanks for the input! That&#

"Thanks for the input! That's pretty much where I was headed next. One other question though, can you guys think of anything that I would have missed connecting upon installing the engine that would have caused one of these items to fail? Or do you suspect it's just a coincidence?"
 
"If your coil is indeed bad an

"If your coil is indeed bad and you haven not done a electronic ignition conversion then consider, no DO! the coversion. Dump those points and condensor in the trash. Get the full kit, conversion, matched coil and do the plug wires while you're at it.

It is one of the absolute best things I have done, thanks to the advice here. You can be done in an hour. Easier starting, better low idle, better cruise performance, etc... No maintenance.
Clean/lube/check advance weights while you are in there."
 
yea these guys are right the c

yea these guys are right the coil will dump in a sec on ya or the condenser but im an old timer on motors and was in love to have something with points in it so it was hard for me to let go of the old school but i must say that one of the best things ive done for my boat was install yhe pertronics ignition kit . oh what a difference it made and i believe that a supervised monkey could do it . i think i got the link from guy or bondo
 
"I have a merc 165 inline 6 wi

"I have a merc 165 inline 6 with pertonix to and love it, installed on a couple other boats to including my father in-laws that I couldn't get the points to fire, installed the pert kit and even started a somewhat flooded engine. i've purchased as cheap as $80 the sierra ones are the same but a lot more $$$"
 
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