Hi all,
I have a 1997 mercruiser 5.7 2 brl carb with an alpha drive and a thunderbolt V ignition system. I bought the boat from a friend a few months ago and had it serviced as well the engine was having a hard time idling.
When I got the boat, the previous owner told me that the mechanic had to time the engine as it has physically moved the distributor and the timing was out. He also told me that the mechanic disconnected the tachometer during that same visit but was unsure of why. He also had a compression check done and all the cylinders were between 170-180 PSI. This is my first boat and it ran good on the water on the test drive ( expect for the idle when cold) so I didnt know if this was a big deal or not. He also used the boat all last season after the service with no problems except the idle being weird the last trip on of the year.
Fast forward to now, I rebuilt the carb, changed fuel fuel filter, and oil change. I then took into a different mechanic than the previous owner used. I asked them replace the impeller, tune the rebuilt carb and check the timing. Upon the service, they were experiencing some shorting out going on and the timing was jumping all over the place. They grounded out the TBV system to get it in timing mode and still had the same issue. Their recommendation was to get a new ignition control module or replace the ignition system with a new delco est. Since the Ignition control Module is no longer made, I opted to just get a the delco kit and install that. As we know boat repair appts are hard to get during the summer, so they walked me through what i would have to do if i did it myself so I could try to get on the water this season.
I just got the delco kit and after getting the new distributor and plug wires in , I see i need to connect the grey wire for the tach on the coil to the new kit. But now i am worried that if they wire was disconnected for a reason before, will this even work with the new system? I would hate to open a can of worms and have multiple problems or the delco kit not work and it is because of this previous issue.
I do most of my own car maintenance and home improvement stuff so i feel pretty confident in doing this install but not confident if i create more problems due to already having one.
Sorry for such a long post, but just wanted to give all the info I have.
Thank you in advance
I have a 1997 mercruiser 5.7 2 brl carb with an alpha drive and a thunderbolt V ignition system. I bought the boat from a friend a few months ago and had it serviced as well the engine was having a hard time idling.
When I got the boat, the previous owner told me that the mechanic had to time the engine as it has physically moved the distributor and the timing was out. He also told me that the mechanic disconnected the tachometer during that same visit but was unsure of why. He also had a compression check done and all the cylinders were between 170-180 PSI. This is my first boat and it ran good on the water on the test drive ( expect for the idle when cold) so I didnt know if this was a big deal or not. He also used the boat all last season after the service with no problems except the idle being weird the last trip on of the year.
Fast forward to now, I rebuilt the carb, changed fuel fuel filter, and oil change. I then took into a different mechanic than the previous owner used. I asked them replace the impeller, tune the rebuilt carb and check the timing. Upon the service, they were experiencing some shorting out going on and the timing was jumping all over the place. They grounded out the TBV system to get it in timing mode and still had the same issue. Their recommendation was to get a new ignition control module or replace the ignition system with a new delco est. Since the Ignition control Module is no longer made, I opted to just get a the delco kit and install that. As we know boat repair appts are hard to get during the summer, so they walked me through what i would have to do if i did it myself so I could try to get on the water this season.
I just got the delco kit and after getting the new distributor and plug wires in , I see i need to connect the grey wire for the tach on the coil to the new kit. But now i am worried that if they wire was disconnected for a reason before, will this even work with the new system? I would hate to open a can of worms and have multiple problems or the delco kit not work and it is because of this previous issue.
I do most of my own car maintenance and home improvement stuff so i feel pretty confident in doing this install but not confident if i create more problems due to already having one.
Sorry for such a long post, but just wanted to give all the info I have.
Thank you in advance
