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1989 vip victory 2.3l ford.

S

static

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first i would like to say it is great to finally get the time to sign up for this, i have been reading post on here for a while and decided since now i have a problem with a boat i might as well sign up...

ok i have a ford 2.3l motor in a vip victory boat, i took it on the lake and was able to run it for 4 hours.... then i stopped at the marina and waited for a friend, so i let him drive the boat we made it out to the middle of the lake and the boat just died boom splat!!!! it would not start again.... and still has not started

i turn the key and it will turn and turn and turn..... went and got a coil pack thinking it was the problem, still nothing. now the other thing is my blower,bilge,nav lights, i still have dash lights and radio.

now when we put the new coil pack in and still nothing, i still had no lights , bilge, and blower.... i left it over night and woke up in the morning and my blower, lights were on.....

we took a meter to the coil pack and from the - terminal on the coil pack has power, now in all my life i have never seen a - terminal have power


please help spring is coming :)
 
As it's an 89 you most likely still have a set of ignition points in the distributor unless someone converted to electronic ?(need to verify) With the ignition on and the points open you should see power on the negative terminal. 12v will go in through the positive side, go right through the coil. Only when the points close will that terminal drop to zero or close as it grounds out that side. If you have points take an emery board, small nail file or even some sandpaper and clean the points. Note! make sure the key is off when cleaning them or you may get a surprise !
 
A couple of ways....do you know what points look like? You take the distributor cap off, usually you can remove it without taking any high tension wires off and look inside, normally there is a set of contact points and a small cylinder (condenser) look at the pic below B is pointing the points gap and F is the condenser. There will usually be a single black wire coming out that goes to the neg side of the coil. This should be a relatively easy to fix problem but if your not comfortable around engines maybe you should take it to a shop or get a friend that can help.

ignition-system-points.gif
 
ok cleaned it and still no fire..... no getting spark from the coil blaster.... does anyone have a wiring diagram for this motor?!?!?!
 
ok...this link is a diagram for the 89 Fords, have a look at the negative side of the coil, should be 3 wires 1 black and 2 gray. Remove the 2 gray wires and try it, one is for the ESA and the other feeds the tach. Just incase either one of those is pulling your coil down to ground. You also need to make sure that those points are opening and closing (touching) otherwise no spark.

http://www.selocmarine.com/content/manuals/3404/pdf/340410w154.pdf
 
ok we hooked it all back up, took the spark wire off the coil blaster that goes to the dist. hooked it up to test a spark, no spark.... it is getting power but not delivering a spark.....
 
OK...need you to get your meter out again and verify you have 12v on the positive side of the coil while you are trying to start it because the power for the coil comes from a different source during starting than when you are running. Look at the wiring diagram and see the purple/black wire on the pos side of the coil, it comes directly off the start solenoid.
 
Hey name is Rick friend of adam(static)..ok here is were we are on the coil....got three (blue) wires coming off the neg. side of coil... One coming from distributor..and the other two being grouped together as one assuming from tach. the two grouped have a ground, the single blue off of distributor no ground. Now for the positive side two wires (1) purple from solenoid with a constant 12v. other (1) orange Resistor wire assuming from ignition only has 12v when ignition is engaged to start..So assuming all is good check for spark straight from coil and we have no spark. So bought a new coil, same situation... Also tried hooking up negative side with just distributor wire..Incase tach wires were shorting..Still no spark... Not sure what to do next. Any ideas
 
Rick...the wire coming from the dist has to be at ground when the points close, this is what fires the coil. It's very important for you to verify the points close and open as the dist turns around. When the points close they have to make a good electrical connection. Inside the dist one side of the points is always grounded and then the floating side grounds out when the points close. The purple wire from solenoid should not be constant 12v only when the starter is energized. I still think your problem is ground related, either you coil is grounded out or the points are not providing a ground, either way you will never get a spark. It could even be the condenser next to the points has shorted out causing the coil to be constant ground. One quick test you can try (carefully) turn the dist so the points are open, turn the key to ON so there is power going to the coil, take a small insulated screwdriver and short the points out while carefully watching for a spark at the points, if you see a spark then you just energized the coil.
 
ok Everything checked out good i tested stationary point has ground when i close the point it grounds the pivot point ...i also tested the screwdriver test with the ignition on and the points open it sparks...but i didnt have the tach wire hooked to coil in fear that it may be shorted...so everything checks good not sure what to do next....maybe track the two -(tach) wires that are grouped together on the coil(also they are gounded not sure if that is a problem)...?
 
Well you've got me scratchin my head now, sounds like you've got power to the coil, points are grounded, you saw the spark with the screwdriver test. Again, you must make sure those points are opening and closing as the dist turns and making good contact. Could be another bad coil? The 2 wires you have off the coil are the tach and ESA, for testing purposes you can leave them off for now. I would replace the points and condenser, their cheap enough.

Went back and re-read your first post, the part where you lost power to lights, bilge and blower, these are totally separate circuits from the engine, except for the battery connections, clean and tighten them as well just incase although common sense tells me they must be okay if your starter works fine.
 
Got a question when i took the cap off i turned the motor over and the rotor on the distributor didnt spin...Not the most educated but isnt it supposed to turn as the motor turns the cam
 
hey bob..... this is adam again, thank you for all your help, i think we may have found the problem, the pin that holds the gears on the shaft that spins the rotor has broken it is still inside the shaft we are getting it out now and going to get a pin.... i wanna thank you very much again for everything.... i will let u know what happens.... the gears were just sliding around :D yay i hope this works
 
wow...sorry guys, just assumed that the dist was turning when I asked if the points were opening and closing....good catch though!
 
yeah we should have caught it a long time ago, we do appreciate everything u have done..... and hope we can help someone out one day.....
 
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