Ok, I found this forum a week or so ago, and have been able to answer all my questions using the search function, save let say, 3. <br />I recently acquired an 89 maxum with a 3.0 mercruiser for a song and a dance. It needed a little work, and still does. To make a long story short, there was a crack in the outer side or the water jacket, blown head gasket, thrashed raw water impeller, and a general need for maintenance. After reassembling the motor and degreasing, I have had a short in my ignition. I have found some puzzling problems. First off there are 4 wires to the coil. I have determined this so far:<br />purple = 12v+<br />gray = tach<br />black = points<br />red/yellow = goes to the starter solenoid!?!<br /><br />I had run the motor, prior to dissassembly with the coil wired:<br />purple|red/yellow = neg term of coil<br />gray|black = pos term of coil<br /><br />It ran like this. Now, I have a dead short accross the coil terminals, and an open line between any teminal and the secondary post. Does this sound correct??? It is an external resistor coil, but I havent found wire one that leads to any resistor. <br /><br />thanks for taking the time to read my post.<br />MCarson
