'85 Volvo Penta 125hp 4 cylinder, trying to start after 4-6 years sitting

[NapaBavarian]

I recently picked up a 1985 Invader with the Volvo 4 banger, I'm not sure the exact engine designation, it seems to have spark issue, I tried to start and cranks over nicely, but won't start, I shot some ether in the carb a couple times to rule out fuel issues, there is a relay with 2 yellow w/red stripe wires, 1 black, and 1 all red. One of the yellow wires is cut and connected directly to the starter, another wire is spliced into another unknown wire, WHAT is this relay for?

The wire from the distributer is connected to the negative side of the coil, that's the way it came, hope it's right.

It seems like this should be a simple fix, but I can't make heads or tails of it.

 

[captmello]

Re: '85 Volvo Penta 125hp 4 cylinder, trying to start after 4-6 years sitting

The relay you mention may be a slave solenoid for the ignition. Hard to say for sure. Sounds like someone tried to bypass it.

Wire from Dist. on Neg post of the coil is correct.

Have you checked the points/condenser?

Have you checked for spark???

With the key on, do you have voltage at the Pos. post of the coil?

 

[NapaBavarian]

Re: '85 Volvo Penta 125hp 4 cylinder, trying to start after 4-6 years sitting

Thanks for both replies,

This one was a mess, before I tried sorting it out I wanted to put everything back the way it came from the factory before I started messing with it, PO said he had spark, but I had no helper and forgot where my jumper was so I couldn't test it.

The hack job was to get it running, time to unhack! Then I'll break out the multimeter.