Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Well I took the V out yesterday with some buddys from work, and thier girls, for some drinking and swimming. Well ran down the bay, hung out for a couple of hours, and left. Got a mile up the bay where no wake starts, pulled her down, and she stalled. Then she would not start. and not start. So long story short I finally anchored in the inlet as tide was going out and quickly taking me out to sea. BOAT TOW came and got me, and towed me to the ramp. Well she is on the trailer in the driveway.

It is either not getting fuel or lost its spark. So I will play with her tonight. Anyone got any suggestions? ??? :( :-/

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Sounds like a fuel problem Chris, you got the I/O run it down just like the car, except with the fuel today especially that would be my first suspicion.

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

me too, but they dont use ethanol here in MD yet. So maybe I got a bad tank friday when I put 20 gallons in her to top her off ???

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

I'm not sure? Do you have a water seperator? If so, myabe she's full of water, otherwise, the bad gas would have showed sooner. She was running fine till you pulled off her, right? Maybe timing, maybe the advance in the dist. stuck?

Anyways, its gonna be fuel or ignition. I'd have a peak under that distributor cap first just to make sure everything is free.

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

yeah the water seperator is my first move, then I thought about seeing if she will start on a shot of ether(starting fluid). if she does, that means I got a fuel problem, if she does not start on ether, then I got no spark. what do you think?

ps. just put new plugs and wires on her a month ago.

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Sounds like your on it, just go easy on the ether.

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

I always do.

I also might pull one plug wire, put a spare plug in it, and hold it against the block while someone tries to turn it over. If I get an arc, I have juice right???

Do I have to put the muffs on her if I just bump the starter ??? ??? or can the water pump handle just a bump???

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

I've done compression tests without muffs before no problem, so I would say your safe to bump her over. It's the higher RPM's that will heat the rubber and melt it.

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

That is what I thought

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Sorry to hear about the Breakdown Chris. Doesnt sound major. Should have back in the slip in no time. ;)
Keep us posted. ;)

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Hope so...... :-/

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

OH, by the way, 3 V20s passed me while i was anchored up and tried to wave them down, and all three ignored me. they obviously are not members of the site. >:( >:( >:( >:(

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

That's lousy, CY. V-20s or not, that violates the whole help-your-fellow-boater philosophy. They'd better remember: what goes around comes around. Hope you're back in business soon.

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

I'd a pulled ya home CY! ;)

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Me too buddy! Good luck on getting her back in shape.

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

If they were, they should be dis-membered.

By the way, it wasn't me, I've been away for a while.

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Heck, if you'd a called I'da come got ya. ;D Where I was fishing I coulda come in either inlet. Actually, I was home by 1. I pushed off at 0430 to fish a few wrecks. Had a reel nice morning. No pics taken, so I don't dare post a report ::)

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

I think ya oughtta get a free T shirt for even mentionin' it w/out pix...around here, that's bravery above and beyond... ;)

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

C YENSEN...... Every time I've had a problem with my I/O not starting it's been an ignition problem. Usually points. I got a similar boat/engine, a manual, and enough knowledge to be dangerous. Check your PM for my cellphone #. I don't know if I can help but call me if you want a second opinion.

Good luck, Rick

Oh, and by the way, in this part of MD we do have ethanol in our fuel.

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Well the first post was at 7:19 am, and it is now over 12 hous later, were do you stand?? :-/

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Hopefully he's looking for his camera.
Hey AIR, stop leaving all that fishing line on my wrecks. ;D

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

well the first thing I did was take the fuel filter off of her last night to see if I had any water in the fuel........and the answer is NO. there was nothing in the filter but gas. and some sediment.

So since I had gas in the bilge. I got rid of it and decided to let the fumes work there way out before I tried any electrical things. So tonight I will start with the electrical.

thanks and I will keep you posted. ;D

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Sounds like a Plan. Good luck. ;)

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Wow, sounds like my Father's Day, except for the tow.

In another sign of too soon oldt, too late schmart I joined BOATUS last week and bought their towing insurance which worked like a charm, enabling me to putt-putt back to the dock a 2 knots in the pouring rain.

I went through the whole fuel, spark, compression thing too. It's no fun and you can't help thinking the worst but don't overlook the simple things.

Hope you figure it out.

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Have you tryed the eaither thing yet?? Make sure its not gas before you start messing with the rest.

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Well Boys,

went home and sprayed the carb with a shot of ether, turned the key and nothing......

took the distributor cap off and realized the last time I did the points, I squashed the condesor wire in the cap. So I pulled it off and pulled off the coil and went to advance auto. got the new parts, and put them on and

SHE FIRED RIGHT UP, YAYYYYY!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

My only question is....advance sold me a new resistor, and for the life of me my buddy and I could not find the original resistor. anyone know where it is??

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

thanks for all your advice and suggestions. she goes back in the water tomorrow night..... ::) ;D ;)

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Glad you got her back up and running. *;) *I've not had an I/O for a while now. *The resisiotor may not be used on all models. *I ca't remember. *I thought it went inline between the dist and the coil?, but that just doesn't sound right to me?


Edit to add...

Check this link.
http://www.outboardrepairs.com/topics/004666.html
*The resistor goes between the condensor and coil + to drop the voltage to around 9v so you don't cook your ditstributors innards. * ;D

Sorry, I'm no help on the resisitor...

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

do you mean resitor or condensor? Mercruiser uses a resistor wire feeding voltage to the coil, if you separate the wiring harness, you'll find a small hard wire about two feet back from the coil( thats the inline resistor). You won't need the resistor that the parts store sold you. Do yourself a favor, install a pertronix electronic conversion, you wont be sorry. I've installed 100's of them, only had one fail due to low resistance in the coil( all the oil in the coil ran out thru the hole rusted in the bottom). If you decide to install one, open up the harness till you find the resiistor and cut it out, when they get old, they start to do weird things and cause strange ignition problems

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

good new chris glad to see ur goin back in the water ;D

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

It's cool here, its like doctors sitting around a giant electronic table in their own homes diagnosing problems and coming up with solutions while they are drinking some Jack and spanking a super model, or whatever you other guys do while your on the computer ;D

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Quick easy fix!! Thats the best kind!! Congrats!!

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

I'll second what Spareparts said. Install a Pertronix and never look back. I put one in my last boat with a 1985 4-cylinder Volvo motor. Got much improved idle and timing is set it and forget it. I think I paid under $70.00 online.

Steve P.

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

thanks for the help boys, dont know what I would do without you guys sometimes...... :-/ ;D

as far as electronic ignition, probably at the end of the season. she is running now, so I am going to leave it alone. ;D

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

Hey Willy, send me a few Super Models to Spank. ;D
Glad your back up and running Chris. ;)

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

well boys she is back at her home in the marina. put her in last night and she ran great. thanks for the help ;)

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

;D ;D ;D ;Dawsome ;D ;D ;D ;D

Re: Not a great Father's Day......HELP PLEASE
 

carry a spare set of points and condensor, if you have a spare distributor thats no good, take the point plate out ind install the points on it before hand, makes it easier to swap while on th water. you still will have to set the gap, everyone used to use a match book as an emergency feeler gauge, its easier to find a feeler gauge than a matchbook now a days. BTW, if you install a pertronix, save that point plate an an external resistor, yoou never know when it may come in handy