3.7 488r mercruiser

[spareparts]

those smart chargers suck, get an old school one with the needle on it. Will the engine turn over fast when the starter is engaged?

[roffey]

OK so I was able to look at the motor. The distributer cap was loose, really loose. I broke one of the spark plugs when I was checking them so I am going to get new ones, but I think I broke it and it was not broken before I started.

Next question, should I be looking at a new distributor and cap?

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by spareparts

those smart chargers suck, get an old school one with the needle on it. Will the engine turn over fast when the starter is engaged?

X2 !!! Old school is the way to go. I DO NOT trust those "smart" chargers.

Countless good batteries are thrown away every year because the owners "smart" charger said it was bad. (And the battery makers don't say anything since it's good for business). In reality, they were just so discharged that the battery charger couldn't get a reading and so it said it was bad. This is especially so with gel and AGM type batteries.

By the way, you can fool a "smart" charger and (usually) save your battery by using a simple trick.

Hook up your charger to a good battery, and then, using a set of jumper cables, hook up your "bad" battery to your good one. (Positive to positive, negative to negative) Your "smart" charger will think it's just charging the good battery that it can get a reading from, and at the same time it will be charging your "bad" battery. Once you have some juice in your bad battery just charge it like you normally would to top it off.