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Ignition ProblemNEED HELP

lifesavers

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"THE PROBLEM - When the boat s

"THE PROBLEM - When the boat starts it runs fine until warm then stumbles and runs rough. If you supply 12 volts to the coil it runs fine. We have replaced the entire system (plugs,wires,cap,rotor,wiring harness to the engine and control unit,resistor, Alt (prestolite original to single wire ARCO)coil and pick up coil. Tested the ECU and it passed. The mechanic working on my boat is a professional marine mechanic and a friend. He has stopped charging me for the work because he has never had an engine stump him this bad for so long. (all year) ANY HELP would be appreciated!!"
 
"Do you have a 12 volt coil, o

"Do you have a 12 volt coil, or a 9 volt ballast resistor coil? And are you still using the ballast resister?

Jeff"
 
"I bought the parts through Ma

"I bought the parts through Marysville Marine. I could not tell you what the voltage of the resistor is. As for the coil I though there were only 12 volt coils for this application. Is there another type out there. Also, whatever is causing this problem may be repeated in the other engine as both engine were acting the sasme way. Note: I have been through the fuel system already as well as the tank. All clean as far as I know. Thanks"
 
"Load test the battery on that

"Load test the battery on that side, you have a bad cell, Ok voltage, power amp flow."
 
Since the problem showed I hav

Since the problem showed I have been using a spare battery with no results. What we have done since the last posting is replaced the ECU which tested ok 5 (five) times at a local auto repair facility. With all connections to the boat back in place there has been no problem. I replaced the other engines ECU as well. Now what I need to know is what the voltage at the coil should be. At idle on both engines I have 7.23 and idle in gear is 6.9 at 750rpm. When I throttle up it goes to 10.45 at 2800rpm. Is this good?
 
"Reasonable. That setup uses

"Reasonable. That setup uses a ballast resistor, and it uses a 9 volt coil. If you have a 12 volt coil it'll make lousy spark in run (but okay at start up since the ballast resistor is bypassed while cranking).

The bottom line is that you need a 9 volt coil!

Jeff"
 
"I am going through the same p

"I am going through the same problem!

1977 Chrysler 440M,single wire ARCO alternator,distributor is Chrysler #3675632 (also shows DH7003A-256 , serial number?),and 4 pin ballast resistor. The distributor has been upgraded to stator/pickup (no points).Appears to be Chrysler upgrade kit.

This engine (port) will run fine for about 10 minutes and then shut down especially near idle. I replaced the coil with one found in cabin from previous owner. It is a Borg Warner E38. I assumed this was the correct coil???? It ran fine for 2 weeks,then started again. I then replaced the ballast resistor that appeared to be brownish and cracked from heat. It ran another 2 weeks and acted up again. Replaced rotor,cap,plugs,wires, and checked for loose connections. I then found that the electronic control module (5 pin connector) had melted plastic running out from behind it. I bought an Wells CR100 at an auto store and it would turn over,but not fire? I put the old unit back on and it fired right up (quits when warm). I ordered an Chrysler original replacement for twice the money ($69)and will try it tommorrow.

P.S. I also "polished" the fuel tanks (cleaned/filtered fuel) and changed primary and secondary fuel filters. (starboard engine and generator runs fine)

Frusterating!

Any ideas?


Captain Ed"
 
"Captain Ed --- I can tell you

"Captain Ed --- I can tell you that I replaced every part in the electrical system on my port engine with the exception of the control module and the problem was still there. After I changed the CM all went well. Before I rewired the Starboard engine I changed the CM and that engine now runs fine. (the only thing not new on the starboard side is the wiring harnesses). I also did the fuel thing and that did not help AT ALL. Another thing that I found while doing this was the fuses behind the instrument panel at both stations were the inline round style and they were warm and brownish looking so I replaced them with the better weatherproof spade type. (thinking heat causes resistance and in turn a voltage drop. You could eliminate the boat from the enigne and that will tell you if the problem is away from the engine. I hooked a spare battery to the engine, DC'ed the harness to the boat(should have done this first) started engine from the solenoid. Keep us posted
Rob"
 
"I replaced the electronic con

"I replaced the electronic control module and it seems to run fine now. It idled for at least 20 minutes and did not stall (usualy dies after 10 minutes).

I am still wondering if I have the right coil (maybe this fried the old module?). I tried to hook up a tach to check the timing and it was crazy. The tach instructions say to hook the ground to the alternator frame and the other wire to the negative post on the coil. The engine RPM was fine,but the guage fluctuated all over the place and finally seteled to the target 550 RPM for tuning. When I tried to speed up the engine, the guage would increase to about 1300 RPM and then start moving in the reverse direction back to zero? It is a 1977 Chrysler 440M with Chrysler distributor updated to electronic ignition with a Chrysler kit. Do you need to put a different kind of coil in when changing to electronic ignition? Currently have a Borg Warner E 38 coil.

I am glad that it is running,but the tach issue has me confused. The tach in the bridge works fine,just the tune up tach is funky (brand new never used).

Any ideas?


Thanks,

Captain Ed"
 
"I went through Marysville Mar

"I went through Marysville Marine and ordered (through a repair shop) the correct cap, rotor, coil, 8mm plug wires, resistor and pick up coil. Hopefully somebody like FASTJEFF will see this and answer your question regarding the coil and the external tach issue. I only know that I use an external resistor coil and beyond that I left it up to Marysville to tell me what is required. I spent too much time and money chasing parts at local dealers that turned out to be wrong with the exception of the CM so I paid the extra for the parts.

Rob"
 
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