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1988 454 Crusader / Hatteras MY

R

round4

Member
Owned this boat for 8 years. Well maintained and believer in pro active maintenance. I am stuck with this problem. Last month went to the Keys. Half way back, Palm Beach, port engine stumbled, would restart but anything over 1500 RPMS would stumble again. In a few minutes motor quit and would not restart. Made it to a marina and did the following troubleshooting procedures. After each procedure I checked to see if situation improved before moving on. Both motors running off same tank. Have keel tank as back up. Attacked fuel issue first. Did get the motor started again but still had same problem.
1. Switched to keel tank for port motor. No help
2. Checked anti syphon valves. No help
3. Checked ALL filters. No help
4 Ran gas line straight to carb with electric fuel pump by passing mechanical fuel pump. No help
5. Switched carburetors. No help. Carb worked fine on starboard motor.

Electrical ( Petronix system
1. Changed all spark plugs. No help
2. Changed all plug wires. No help
3. Changed rotor and distributor cap. No help
4. Changed coil. Ran great for about 2 hours then did the exact same thing.
5. Have brand new Mallory Electronic distributor and coil that will install Monday (tomorrow 12/8/14) by service department at the marina that I am stuck at. They have been very helpful and have not charged me for advice but I am giving up and letting them have at it. Boat has been there for a week, 70 miles from where I live. I have taken this week to go back and forth working on it.

Palm Beach Yacht Center in Lantana, Fl.. VERY nice folks. They have been gracious enough to cut me a deal on the dockage rate t 1.50 ft. per night. As you can see I need to get this repaired to get home and stop this meter from running.

Any suggestions?

RR
 
Disconnect tach and see what happens. I used to live 1/8 mile North of PBYC. Great place to boat!

ps: is there an main electrical connector at the engine? like a 9 pole trailer type deal? May need cleaning, mine did.
 
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I will be back down there tomorrow afternoon. I suggested the same thing on the tach to the mechanic but will tell him again tomorrow. I did not try this myself but certainly will. I believe there is a main connector as you have described. I will make sure and do the clean up. I am a fair mechanic as most of us with old boats are just from necessity. I have gotten so frustrated with this that I just needed to let some one else go at it and help end the pain. I also forgot to list that I wired a toggle switch around the ignition switch just to eliminate an ignition switch problem ( no help). I wonder if the tach wire comes off the ignition in some way?

Thanks,
RR
 
I meant to say tach wire comes off the ignition switch in some way. Of course it comes off the ignition. Do I need to go directly to the tach to disconnect this wire?

Thanks,

RR
 
Gray wire from ignitor to the tach; there is a failure mode of the tach that can take out your ignition.
Did you test for spark when the engine won't start?
 
The fact that the engine ran well for two hours after replacing the coil is a clue that should be followed. The first suspicion would be that the new coil has also failed. I would compare it to the coil on the other engine with the known good coil. Disconnect and measure the resistance between the side terminals (very low number) and between the center output and a side terminal (very high). If the measurements are more than 10% different from that of the good coil then your new one could be failed. Take it to a shop and have it checked out. If you think it is failed, then the question is why? Usually they say bad plugs or loose plug wires could cause failure but that seems unlikely as you have just changed them. I don't know what kind of electrical problems could cause coil failure (perhaps a resister short in the starting circuit leading to constant starting voltage operation??) but others here can give advice if you find the replacement coil has failed.
 
Thanks for the good advice. I replaced the old coils years ago with the ones that do not need a resistor ( I am assuming that you are referring to the white ceramic item with the spring inside). The replacement coils have lasted 5 years so I am going to take that as a sign that all was ok. I have a call in to the shop to tell him to check the grounds on that motor, check the coil and replace the coil again after cleaning the grounds. I will also tell him to disconnect the tach wire. I cannot go back down there until tomorrow so I have to rely on the marina mechanic to try these solutions. After the suggestion from Diver Dave about the grounds I am leaning towards that as a reason. I am going to request that they do this BEFORE installing the new distributor. That way I will know for sure if that was the problem.

RR
 
Just to keep all in the loop. Mechanic told me he found a bad "trigger" (igniter) in the Petronix system that was overloading the coil and causing coil failure. He replaced this and another new coil. Told me the boat is running good. Going down there this morning to try and bring boat home AGAIN(3rd try). I do not have that much confidence in his assessment and repair but I will try again. Am going to be prepared this time and bring with me a 2 x 4 and strap that I can lock down the shaft if/when it stops. At least that way I can get closer to home, 70 miles. Sea Tow told me that if I can get to the county next to my county they would arrange a "relay" tow to my marina.

RR
 
I'd be interested in the explanation for how the "overloading the coil" was happening....like DD suggested, if it happens again, determining if the spark occurs or not is a key step in resolving the issue...hopefully, you'll be back in your slip by the time you read this and the day will have been a good one..,
 
OK, here's the end result. Brought the boat home without a problem. Mechanic told ne there was no spark and he replaced the parts mentioned above. He said the coil temperature was at 200 degrees which burned up the 1st replacement coil. He changed the igniter and put another coil on and temp dropped to 170 an acceptable level according to him Never heard anything like his before. I assume I am going to have to believe this was the problem. What I am going to do next is replace both distributors with new Mallory Electronics that I bought months ago and never got around to installing. I had one on the boat but mechanic said he would rather not use it and possibly start some new problems. Whatever. They were very reasonable and cooperative. I would highly recommend this marina and staff. Boy, I am glad this trip is OVER!

PALM BEACH YACHT CENTER

Thanks for everyone's responses and advice.

RR
 
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