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Need Help Please!! 1988 2.3L

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Stat

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I have a 1988 Bayliner with a 2.3 OMC IO and it tries to start but as soon as I release the key it stops. When I put it away last fall and winterized it she ran fine. I installed new points ,rotor and condenser, new plugs but still same problem. I think the same thing happened a long time ago and it was a bad ignition solenoid, could this be the problem? Any way to test it? Thanks for any help.
 
Re: Need Help Please!!

never happenned to me on a boat , but did on my land yacht. It was the ingnition switch that was bad. But check the fuses FIRST, starter and ign. circiuts could be on sepparate fuses.
 
Re: Need Help Please!!

Thanks Mikey for the reply. Ive been checking fuses and the main wire harness but cant see anything wrong. I was reading some other posts and tried this, I connected a wire from the positive side of the battery to the positive side of the coil and it started and ran. Does anyone know what this means? Just a bad connection somewhere that I have to run down?
 
Re: Need Help Please!!

if no one else answers you , i think you can do a search on previous posts...i know i read that same issue a while back but dont remember the solution. im pretty sure its gonna be an easy fix for you though. good luck
 
Re: Need Help Please!!

if you have a voltmeter or test light check power at posts of the ignition switch. "batt"- should be hot always, "ign- should be hot with key in run position, "acc"- hot in run and accessory position if your switch has acc position, "s" or "start" hot in start position only.If all those check out , than probably a conection problem.
 
Tested the leads at the ignition switch and all are hot. Thanks but still same problem. Been going over all the connections I can see but no luck yet.
 
Well Im at a loss now. I try to start it again after cleaning alot of the wires and it starts but with a loud humming sound. I quickly realize its the starter still running so I turn off the key but it keeps running so I have to get the negative cable off fast to stop it. I dont know what happened because now I cant connect the negative cable without getting a nice spark so I dont want to connect it until I find out what causing it. If I disconnect the hot from the starter at the solenoid eliminating it I no longer get the spark when I connect the negative cable. Did my starter go bad now? :mad:
 
If the starter is running after you let go of the key and there is no power at the small terminal on the solenoid, it's time to replace the starter.

Does this engine have Ignition points and condenser? If yes, sounds like the ballast resistor is bad. If no, check your controls for the lanyard kill switch, it may be bad.
 
I forgot to mention I installed a new solenoid when this happened so I put the old one back in and now Im back to where I was in the beginning. It tries to run until I release the key and then it dies. I have points ,rotor , condenser but I dont think I have a ballast resistor. Do you know where it would be located? If its by the coil then I dont have one. I"ll have to check the lanyard kill switch thanks for the tip.
 
Well its the kill switch the damn clip wasnt on all the way. Note to self ( check Kill Switch clip first) Oh well at least all my wires are clean now. LOL! Thanks for all the help guys.
 
The wire from to the positive of the coil may be a resistor wire. Get a voltage meter, turn the key to the on position and check the voltage at the small terminal on the coil (not the one that has the wire from the distributor). You should have 6-9 volts there. If not then the ballast is bad.

Test: Jumper the positive of the coil directly to the positive of the battery and see if the engine stays running.
 
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