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3O OMC Cobra 1986 4 cylinder wont start

J

Jerod Parr

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Bob I am here starting a new t

Bob I am here starting a new thread like you suggested i took the plugs off checked and it still wouldd make that clicking noise or no noise at all even if i used a different solenoid. Also ran a compression test all checked out between 135 and 145 assume thats good for such a small engine. going to check the points and under the cap to see if it is dirty or sticking .... if you could BOB read my old thread in kevins that and try to answer my questions now that you know the year make and model i would greatly appreciate it


thanks Jerod Parr
 
"Jerod...I'm a little conf

"Jerod...I'm a little confused, how did you do a compression test on a motor that won't turn over???

First of all go back and clean (really clean)the battery cables, the connections at the battery and then at the engine end and make sure all are very tight.

2nd with the spark plugs out see if you can turn the engine over using a big wrench or socket on the crank.

Verify your firing order with this diagram

170053.jpg
"
 
alright have done all of the a

alright have done all of the above but still no luck.. no spark but engine will turnover if i use a large socket wrench .. yesterday i was able to get it to crank for about half the day before it started clicking on me. thats how i was able to do the compression test.. after that i though i had drained the battery.. so i gave it a good charge but clicking kept ocuring this morning... i had a friend listen while i turn the key over and he said it was coming frome the starter area... not sure what it is but its the little cylinder on top of the larger cylinder which i am assuming the larger is the starter...

thanks for your help...
 
"OK..I'm assuming that you

"OK..I'm assuming that you have a good fully charged battery and that all connections are clean and tight?

Did you check the big cable connection on the back of the solenoid attached to the starter? This could be loose or dirty and not making a good connection anymore. I'm very hesitant to try and jumper across the solenoid as it will spark and I don't know how fume proof you are
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You may have to remove the starter and try a bench test or even take it in to a auto electric shop to have them test it."
 
yea thats kind of what i am th

yea thats kind of what i am thinking and i think your right im going from badto worse. ha ha i cant even start to determine the problem because i think something is wrong with the starter now..

im not new the motor world but i am new to the omc motor world which i found out is pretty much the same as the chevy iron duke motor. also this could be the problem with the spark i forgot to mention earlier..

i have two wires coming from the bottom of the distributor that i didnt see hooked up anywhere i assume they are important but it looks like they were hooked together maybe this is the big problem


well other than a faulty starter ha
 
"hope these pics help<[img]"ht

"hope these pics help
170063.jpg
distributor wires"">
170064.jpg
wires
 
Have you pulled the cap off th

Have you pulled the cap off the dist...has this thing been upgraded to electronic ignition?
 
i thought it was points but i

i thought it was points but i just found out that it has been upgraded to electric and i fixed the starter motor it had a wire grounded out where i could see... pretty embarrassing... other than that i still am not getting spark but everything in the distributor checks out okay
 
"Does this boat have a safety

"Does this boat have a safety lanyard (kill switch) up by the helm, if so check it to make sure it's not tripped. This will allow the starter to crank but it kills the spark.

i have two wires coming from the bottom of the distributor that i didnt see hooked up anywhere i assume they are important but it looks like they were hooked together maybe this is the big problem


So these 2 wires just connect to each other and don't go anywhere? Do you know if they were always like that? Any chance you can take a picture inside the distributor with the cap off?"
 
inside the cap the two wires j

inside the cap the two wires just run into a little black box.... which i assuming is the ignition advanced or advanced timing . ok just checked the coil im getting power to it i did notice a little black box on the opposite side of mounting plate where the soloniods are mounted and those wires run to the coil is there anyway that this could be burnt up i think its called the ESA but not really sure. i didnt see anykill switch on it but i mean everythign seems to be working great with an exceptiong to the spark... i check up under the cockpit again maybe a wire came loose or could there be any type of fuse up there blown... thanks for all the help so far
 
"You've got to find where

"You've got to find where those 2 wires coming out of the distributor go. I suspect they might go to the coil, white to + and black to - but I'm just guessing? Does it look like they will reach to the coil and are the nuts loose on the coil....I just don't understand how they became unhooked?"
 
me either i did just notice wh

me either i did just notice when i was reconnecting everything back to my orignal coil that purple wire to the coil is kind of rotted and i am going to try to do exactly what your said about the white and black in the morning and see if that doesnt work... other than that im thinking now as choppy as it was out there the other day maybe i somehow tip some type of cut off switch or something im just really lost as to why i can not get the boat to spark now.
 
"You changed the coil? There s

"You changed the coil? There should be 2 purple wires on the post post (purple/black and purple/red) they both supply power to the coil, one during starting and the other during running although I'm not what you have now with the electronic ignition but with those 2 wires loose from the dist you will never get spark!"
 
alright the update... went to

alright the update... went to a local parts house got them to let me see the direction for the ignitor in the distributor found those to wires go to the coil... nest replaced the bad wire i found last night now im getting a strong spark but motor only turns over a couple of times and then stops and the battery connectors start getting red hot.... im thinking even though i clean them up that they might need to be replaced anyways... so going to try that and see what happens
 
"Ok, i'm certainly not a p

"Ok, i'm certainly not a pro or anything. Just a DYI kinda guy. And something that's worked for me under the same situation so just a suggestion, but you may be reading "good" volts on your battery, but it's just not pushing enough amps. I had the exact same situation. I was checking volts. Thinking it was good, even after a good long charge overnight. Still didn't help matters. It would just turn over REAL slow, or just click no matter what. Bought a new battery and presto. The other one was only a couple years old. But I think it may have been discharged during winter storage and froze."
 
"jbell0565...certainly good ad

"jbell0565...certainly good advise but what you don't see here is that Jerod actually started this post by tagging onto another one so you don't see what he did initially and one of those things was to replace his battery, now that he has the starter and spark he needs to replace or really clean and tighten those connections, should not be getting red hot.

ps...Jerod... I really hate this post having to scroll from side to side to see it all, it's because those pics are so big, can you resize or even remove them now that you are almost there, thanks"
 
"huh thats weird its not like

"huh thats weird its not like that on my comp.. i tried to delete the pictures but i cant figure that out i guess im just in a really big tuff spot this week..

ok so i no im getting spark to the plugs i try to start it but it just kinda cranks and shakes really bad so found top dead center and moved plugs over a hole to get wires right and it cranks a lot better now but still wont start all it does is kinda give me some smoke outh the prop exhaust and back firs a little through the carb... i think my timming is off but dont know the steps to get it right got some more advice left in you BOB

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by the way its jerod trying to activate my member but cant get a key to activate it they wont email me one ... bad week"
 
"OK...take the plug out of #1

"OK...take the plug out of #1 cylinder, slowly crank the engine until you get #1 to TDC on the compression stroke, then the rotor in the dist should be pointing at #1 spark plug wire. (Is this what you have done?) Then verify the plugging based on the firing order above. When thats done if you have a timing light you hang that on #1 wire and crank the engine to get an idea where the timing is....I just don't understand how all this got out of whack...do you have little gremlins running around your boat?
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"
 
"alright got eveything working

"alright got eveything working but still need to adjust the timing but instead of doing that i decided to take the head off and take it to a local maching shop to see if there is something wrong with it due to the fact that i changed the oil when i got the motor but when everything crashed on me i also noticed it had milky oil....


compression was good in all
took head off and gasket looked good or as told be a machine shop

they are cleaning it and going to check for cracks and everything else... but if there is not a crack

in the head , what are the other possible place i could be getting water into the oil


also i did notice that the head gaskets screws were lacking some sealent on them or it has worn off over time ... and the sterndrive does have a small leak into the boat that i noticed but doesnt look like its getting close to the engine looks like a seal is bad on the transom somewhere... thanks for all your help Bob but got anymore thoughts



STARTING TO THINK I GOT A MOTOR THAT WAS WORSE SHAPE THAN I THOUGHT OR IN OTHER WORDS GOT A GREAT BOAT BUT CRAPPY MOTOR... O WELL ITS A LEARNIGN EXPERIENCE AND IM AT LEAST LEARNING A LOT ABOUT BOATS RIGHT NOW HA HA
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"
 
"Holy geez...this is like &#34

"Holy geez...this is like "The Never Ending Story"!!! or at best a really bad soap opera!!

Could have a bad intake manifold or riser or cracked block or , or , or?

You need to check around that transom cutout, if that thing has been leaking for a while you might have wood rot going on in there. You may have to remove the drive, slide the engine forward (or remove it) remove the transom mount that has the rear motor mounts on it and then inspect, repair around the cutout....big job!"
 
87 cobra 3.0 good oil pressure

87 cobra 3.0 good oil pressure good temp. good bat runs great loud nock?
 
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