I'm stumpted, any help??

[birdy3897]

I have a 1978 2.5L 4cyl which I put a new head gasket on. After i ran the boat it ran fine, but the next day was the problem. I ran the battery down by leaving on the key overnight and had to take it out to charge it. When I put it back in I put the cables on the wrong terminals for a few seconds and the starter began to turn the motor over by itself. After I put the battery in correctly, the boat will not fire up and seems to have a weak spark. By weak spark I mean a light orange pop that looks weak. The boat started up on a turn of a key before. What could I have burned up or messed up to cause this to happen? I have replaced the coil, rotor, cap, wires, and plugs with the same results of a weak looking spark. I had to mess something up when those battery cabals were attached the wrong way. What could it have been? any help would be appreciated. THANK YOU

 

[bigbrownbuku]

Re: I'm stumpted, any help??

leaving the key on has likely burnt your points set. something you didnt mention replacing. replace the points and reset your dwell.

 

[birdy3897]

Re: I'm stumpted, any help??

If my points set is burnt, would I still be getting a weak spark to the plugs? Also, I hooked up my coil wire to a plug and rolled the motor over and the spark still looked weak coming from the coil. I guess I am trying to figure out if it is something other than the most common failures. I have a new coil and the spark is weak.

 

[bigbrownbuku]

Re: I'm stumpted, any help??

the coil is basically controlled by the points opening and closing. voltage has some say too.<br />look at your points. are the contact surfaces clean and smooth? make sure the key is off.

 

[birdy3897]

Re: I'm stumpted, any help??

The points are very clean and smooth. They were replaced this year and I have only run the boat about 5 times. The voltage going to the coil with the key on was over 12volts. By the way,thanks for the quick replies!

 

[rbezdon]

Re: I'm stumpted, any help??

leaving the ignition on can also damage the coil and ballast resistor. Maybe replace these too. Neither are terribly expensive. If you have the resistor wire, then I would not replace it

 

[birdy3897]

Re: I'm stumpted, any help??

Where exactly is the ballast resistor located at? When you say if I have the resistor wire, do you mean a coil with an external resistor? Don'<br />t totally understand.

 

[tommays]

Re: I'm stumpted, any help??

some times the resistor is part of the wire its done a lot of different ways which is were the correct service manual comes in handy<br /><br />tommays

 

[birdy3897]

Re: I'm stumpted, any help??

Thanks for help, I'm going to install another set of points and see if my manual shows how to test the resistor. Hopefully I can be on the water this weekend and not in my yard working on the boat again!