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Mercruiser - 1980 Hammond - NO SPARK

T

tbah

New member
I have a 1980 Hammond, St Tropez, with a MCM 260 (350 CID) Serial Number 5570571(from the engine tag)
I cannot get any spark when I turn over the engine. Below are the tests that I ran (could not upload the spreadsheet)
Anybody have any suggestions? Is there a kill switch or something I should do with the throttle


Volts with ignition on
Volts at starting
Wires to (+) side of coil not attached

COIL
OHMS
Purple wire
12.00
9.60
Primary Resistance
2.00
Purple w yellow stripe
0.00
9.40
Secondary Resistance @ 20k
11.60
Red wire from Distributor
0.02
-0.07
Coil worked well on 67 Chevy

All 3 wires attached to (+) side of coil
12.00
9.20
Good ground at Distributor Plate

Wires to (-) side of coil - not attached

Two gray wires(tach) to (-) side of coil
0.02
0.06
New conversion kit installed in Distributor - (Tested - OK)
Black wire from Distributor
0.10
0.07
gap .040 (1mm)- 9.37 ohms

All 3 wires attached to (-) side of coil
12.00
9.10
Disconnected Gray wires, turned over engine - no spark
 
assuming its still in the stock configuration, what do the points look like? what dwell angle do they run at?
 
I replaced the points as I stated in my letter "New conversion kit installed in Distributor - (Tested - OK)" but when I had them in there they were fine in fact I put new ones in and still no spark so I thought I would try a conversion kit
 
sorry....letter never got delivered here.....

I'd suggest executing the troubleshooting procedures in the conversion kit installation instructions....
 
The boat sat for 10 years. I wanted to see if the engine would run. It turned over but no spark. Checked the points, cleaned them, gapped them – nor spark. Replaced points and condenser – no spark. Replaced points with conversion kit – no spark. Tested the conversion kit according to mfg spec – within specs.
As far as the wiring, wouldn’t a problem show up with the tests I have run? Also is there kill switch? I don’t remember one. Should the shifter be in a certain position? Right now it is in the upright position not engaged.
 
OK, get back to basics. Remove all the wires at the coil leaving only the electronic ign wires. run a jumper from the battery to the + side and see if you have spark. Also remove the tach wire from the neg side of the coil
 
Ok, did as you instructed:
Removed all wires from coil except red from conversion kit to + side of coil and black from conversion kit to – side of coil.
Jumper from + post on battery to + side of coil. 12volts to +post of coil
Turned engine over – NO SPARK
Replaced coil and coil wire with coil that was running a 67 Chevy V8 – NO SPARK
Neg side of coil with key on, not starting – 12v, starting 10v
 
Then it sounds like the electronic module is bad. Try the this. with 12v at the + side of the coil, take a jumper from the neg side of the coil and "scratch" the wire to ground, coil should produce a spark. If it does, try reinstalling the points system .
 
All wires taken off of coil, jumper from + post of battery to + side of coil. Jumper from – side of coil scratched to ground. Both coils emitted very very weak spark nothing like the arc that is produced when coil is fully wired up on the 67 chevy.
 
thats because there is no condensor in the circuit but seeing spark verifys the coils are good and its the electronic unit thats not working
 
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