gone_postal
Regular Contributor
"Well, had 5 days off from wor
"Well, had 5 days off from work - Thurs to Mon - so I headed down to the Keys and stayed w/ my parents which were already there. Friday we take the boat out and do a little fishing - moved a few times, etc and the motor ran great. Then around lunch time we decide to head back to camp and the motor won't start. It turns over and is getting fuel, but no spark. Luckily a couple drove by and was kind enough to tow us in.
It's a 98 Johnson J90ELECM. It was fully rebuilt a few months ago - almost everything mechanical is new. I've since replaced the entire VRO system/pump & regulator/rectifier. So basically the stator, optical sensor, coils & power pack is all that is left. I forgot my factory manual at home (only thing I forgot unfortunately), so I didn't know where to start for troubleshooting. I tried again & again at camp, but it wasn't even trying to fire - clearly evident no spark b/c it didn't cough, etc. Out of frustration I decided to head home that night (8hr drive). It didn't start Sat afternoon when I tried....at first. Then about 5 min later I tried again and it actually tried to start. "Holy $h*t!!!" I thought. Anyway, after a few cranks it eventually fired up. Didn't mess w/ it after that or yesterday, but just went back out to try again and it fired up again.
Honestly though, I'm relieved, but also worried to take it back out again. What would have caused this? Why now and not then?? I'm ruling out coils b/c I think it's unlikely they'd both go and it was an evident "no spark" across all 4. It runs great, so I don't think it's timing or the optical. Which leaves me to think power pack - would it cause this - total cut of ALL spark??
EDIT: - Almost forgot - I had tach issues when I first bought it and had initially replaced the tach to no avail. Well, after new regulator/rectifier, the tach worked as it should. Two weeks ago though, the tach started acting up again - gets to 1500rpm and then stops. I'm thinking this all could be related - is it possible that my 2 month old regulator/rectifier is bad??"
"Well, had 5 days off from work - Thurs to Mon - so I headed down to the Keys and stayed w/ my parents which were already there. Friday we take the boat out and do a little fishing - moved a few times, etc and the motor ran great. Then around lunch time we decide to head back to camp and the motor won't start. It turns over and is getting fuel, but no spark. Luckily a couple drove by and was kind enough to tow us in.
It's a 98 Johnson J90ELECM. It was fully rebuilt a few months ago - almost everything mechanical is new. I've since replaced the entire VRO system/pump & regulator/rectifier. So basically the stator, optical sensor, coils & power pack is all that is left. I forgot my factory manual at home (only thing I forgot unfortunately), so I didn't know where to start for troubleshooting. I tried again & again at camp, but it wasn't even trying to fire - clearly evident no spark b/c it didn't cough, etc. Out of frustration I decided to head home that night (8hr drive). It didn't start Sat afternoon when I tried....at first. Then about 5 min later I tried again and it actually tried to start. "Holy $h*t!!!" I thought. Anyway, after a few cranks it eventually fired up. Didn't mess w/ it after that or yesterday, but just went back out to try again and it fired up again.
Honestly though, I'm relieved, but also worried to take it back out again. What would have caused this? Why now and not then?? I'm ruling out coils b/c I think it's unlikely they'd both go and it was an evident "no spark" across all 4. It runs great, so I don't think it's timing or the optical. Which leaves me to think power pack - would it cause this - total cut of ALL spark??
EDIT: - Almost forgot - I had tach issues when I first bought it and had initially replaced the tach to no avail. Well, after new regulator/rectifier, the tach worked as it should. Two weeks ago though, the tach started acting up again - gets to 1500rpm and then stops. I'm thinking this all could be related - is it possible that my 2 month old regulator/rectifier is bad??"