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Nothing when turning key

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raeovine

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Hello everyone. Trying to get my boat running after a year out of the water due to repairs. its a 1986 Four Winns with an OMC 4.3 Cobra. It was cranking but not turning over. I replaced the plugs and cleaned the distributor/points with sandpaper. As I was replacing the condenser in the distributor I accidentally grounded my screwdriver and it sparked (and possibly made a pop). Now when I turn the key I get nothing. I checked the fuses I know of at the dash and they were intact. I plan to replace the ignition switch, but is there anything else I should be looking at - other fuses I'm not aware of? I did a simple multimeter test on the ignition switch and I did get continuity when turning the key so I'm not very optimistic that the switch is the problem. Lot of knowledge here so hoping someone has ideas. Thank you!
 
Did you check your fuel? If you can pull a sample you can get a tester kit that will tell you the moisture level with a cotton swab. Did you hit it with the laughing gas (A.K.A. Ether) to see if it fires off? Just pull the flame restrictor and have a buddy crank it while you send a little juice down the pipe. If it pops off like it wants to start replace the fuel and clean the carb. Sounds like the starter is alright if its cranking but not tarting. I know this is a stupid question, but did you double check that you hooked the ignition wires up to the correct terminals. Just a simple thing to check and would keep spark from being delivered at the right time.
 
theydrewa31 said:
Did you check your fuel? If you can pull a sample you can get a tester kit that will tell you the moisture level with a cotton swab. Did you hit it with the laughing gas (A.K.A. Ether) to see if it fires off? Just pull the flame restrictor and have a buddy crank it while you send a little juice down the pipe. If it pops off like it wants to start replace the fuel and clean the carb. Sounds like the starter is alright if its cranking but not tarting. I know this is a stupid question, but did you double check that you hooked the ignition wires up to the correct terminals. Just a simple thing to check and would keep spark from being delivered at the right time.
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You can also check fuel delivery after that, just to make sure you are actually getting fuel to the carb.
 
theydrewa31 said:
Did you check your fuel? If you can pull a sample you can get a tester kit that will tell you the moisture level with a cotton swab. Did you hit it with the laughing gas (A.K.A. Ether) to see if it fires off? Just pull the flame restrictor and have a buddy crank it while you send a little juice down the pipe. If it pops off like it wants to start replace the fuel and clean the carb. Sounds like the starter is alright if its cranking but not tarting. I know this is a stupid question, but did you double check that you hooked the ignition wires up to the correct terminals. Just a simple thing to check and would keep spark from being delivered at the right time.
Click to expand...
Also, remember not to full send the throttle when starting this thing up when its not on water. Without backpressure on the system the engine can potentially diesel and grenade itself, so off water you should only run at idle to avoid any issues.
 
My main issue is I get nothing when I turn the key now after accidentally grounding my screwdriver when working on the distributor. Before it was turning over. Are there fuses that could have blown or could I have shorted the ignition switch? I checked the fuses I can access from the dash and they looked fine. Wondering if there are others in line that I’m missing
 
raeovine said:
My main issue is I get nothing when I turn the key now after accidentally grounding my screwdriver when working on the distributor. Before it was turning over. Are there fuses that could have blown or could I have shorted the ignition switch? I checked the fuses I can access from the dash and they looked fine. Wondering if there are others in line that I’m missing
Click to expand...
Without being familiar with your specific boat model, just OMC I have no idea where any extra fuses would be located. You may have to start following wires until you find something. Double check that you don't have anything attached close to the battery side. Some boat owners do funky thinks adding extra stuff that's supposed to pop like a fuse breaker, sometimes close to the battery terminals. Look for red boxes. Did you check your battery? Should have between 12.9 and 13.1V if I am not mistaken.
 
Also, are any of the electrical systems on the boat working? Gauges, lights, radio etc? If everything is down then you direct your attention further up the system as in closer to the battery. If just the engine then is not cranking you can look at the wiring between ignition engine to find any fuses.
 
Good points. Tool was touching the distributor when sparked. Gauges are not working but I did not check if lights/blower worked via their switches. That’s a great point. I’ll give that a try when I’m back later this week. If those work then it’s more isolated to the ignition.
 
One of the previous owners of my boat added something battery terminals. It was a little red plastic box and had a sacrificial fuse inside. It was intended to be able to add additional jack points for an aftermarket audio system while adding overload protection. The sacrificial fuse meant that when it blew the unit was toast and required replacement. I removed it as I found it not to be necessary.
 
make sure you have battery voltage at the key switch...and then make sure the key switch functions...I'd use a test light on both the RUN and the START terminals...using a digital meter doesn't always tell the whole story...
 
Thanks everyone for the help on this. Was able to get it running last night. Found a pair of 50Amp fuses and one was blown. $2.00 at Autozone got it going again. Great community!
 
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