76 1500 maiden voyage goes bad

AllAboard

Seaman
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
68
Well, new to me Ranger Fish & Play w/ a 76 1500 Mercury outboard. Ran good on muffs. Anyone following my posts knows I did some re-wiring on the boat, changed lower unit lube, spark plugs, & wires.

Today was supposed to be a good day, first time on the water with my new, old boat. Get it launched easily, here it goes, turn the key. She fires on the first attempt, fast idle lever up, running a bit rough (cold natured).

I let it run for 15-20 seconds, put it in reverse, throttle a bit and she dies.

It started acting like the timing was off when trying to restart, as it would crank, then hang but it was trying to start...now the bad news.....

pulled cowling off, didn't see any issues, pulled distributor cap off, NO!!!!!!!!!!!
My rotor is shattered !!!!!!!!!! WTF ???

Now, I know these are non-removable and pricy to replace. My question is this...

I've had this running before I hit the water. What could be the reason it shattered??? old age and coincidently let loose?

I did have the cap off to change the plug wires and also had to unbolt the linkange arm ????? to get access but I never touched the rotor.
I thought I was careful putting everything back together and like I said, it even started first attempt in the water and ran for around 15 seconds.

Again, it died when I put it in reverse. Is there any way the linkage somehow was binding to shatter my rotor? I know what I have to do to replace the rotor but I don't want to break another one...provided I can even find another one.................... Any ideas ???????????????????
 

Wingedwheel

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Jun 16, 2009
Messages
1,071
Re: 76 1500 maiden voyage goes bad

Check E-Bay for your rotor. Sometimes you can find a good deal. I never had a rotor crunch on me. Thats an interesting casulty. Do you think you may have bumped it putting things back together?
 

AllAboard

Seaman
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
68
Re: 76 1500 maiden voyage goes bad

Well, being that it's ran great on the muffs, the only thing I can think of is maybe bumping it and it cracked. Then when it started it let loose. I just don't want to duplicate it when I replace it, LOL. I thought I was careful and don't remember bumping it at all but something had to crack/shatter it....and I mean it was shattered...even after starting and running for about 10 seconds....strange.
 

AllAboard

Seaman
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
68
Re: 76 1500 maiden voyage goes bad

OK, just so this might help someone else, it looks like operator error best I can tell. I pulled my distributor cap off completely and had a peek. My rotor is still there, just the metal conductor pointer was broken off. Also, the brush is basically missing in action. So now I'm thinking the brush didn't get seated in the cap and position itself on the rotor properly and caused havoc when the engine fired. I can think of no other reason the rotor would break like it did.
I still think it's a little odd it started so easily and ran for a bit. That brush must've been close enough to run but off enough to let loose when I revved it... ///... now the hunt begins.. not sure if I'll pick up a used distributor or a new rotor $$$$$$$ !!!!!!!
Lesson learned . Treat the carbon brush like glass too :D
 
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