AQ271C no spark, parts unavailable. need help please

[gary502]

hey guys, i have this volvo AQ271C setup in my 87 cobalt. just replaced plugs, wires, cap and rotor prior to the start of this season. had the boat out for 2 days. on the first day she ran great, no problems at all. second day out. after about 6 hours of cruising around i shut the boat off and docked. went to re start the boat about 10 minutes later and nothing. no sign of even trying to start. turns over at normal speed. getting fuel down in the carb, still nothing. pulled the wire out of the top of the coil and while cranking i have a very, very weak spark. replaced the coil and still nothing. thinking i may have a bad coil pickup sensor in the distributor but it seems no one carries it, and my local volvo dealer said id have to buy an entire new distributor to solve this issue (at $600). anyone have any idea what else this could possibly be? or where i can find this module at? thanks.

 

[gary502]

also i replaced the ignition coil with a very old, but new in box unit. im not 100% positive i trust its integrity. i looked up the parts and it shows the original part (#855706) is no longer available and has been replaced with (#857504) but it lists it as ignition coil on some websites and "spacer" in others. is this the right part to order?

 

[bruceb58]

I would just replace the distributor with a Delco Voyager EST and be done with that old distributor.
http://www.michiganmotorz.com/delco-voyager-marine-electronic-distributor-p-119.html

 

[gnathv]

Could your rev limiter be causing this or if you can't find the module have you considered the pertronix kit? Mine went out a couple years ago and I found one after a lot of online searching. Just some suggestions.

 

[gary502]

im not really sure is the rev limiter would cause this issue or not. is there any type of control module for this ignition system besides the rev limiter and the coil pickup sensor?

 

[gary502]

hello everyone, im back and having the same issue as last year. I threw the boat on the back burner last summer an now its time to get this old girl running again. my question right now is how/ where to I jump power into this ignition system to verify this isnt a boat wiring problem? im about to pull the trigger on a voyager kit from Michigan motors which basically shotgun replaces the entire ignition system on the engine. my only concern is, with my limited experience with these old systems, that maybe my problem is on the boat side. how to i verify this? also, besides the rev limiter on the transom, and the pickup coil inside the distributor, are there any other modules that control this system?