Re: OMC 351 King Cobra
WOW!! Thanks for all the recent help. I feel like I am actually learning and making progress.
I ordered the distributor cap and rotor this morning should be in tomorrow. In the mean time I stopped by the local autozone and picked up an adjustable ignition spark testor and a plug wire that fit the distributor cap. PIC HERE.
Not a $50.00 spark board but I believe it was good enough for what I needed.
I found a good ground on the engine and first plugged the coil wire into the tester. The tester was adjustable from 10k to 40k. I started on 30k ( the picture shows the tester on 10k, 30k is about 1/2 to 5/8 gap ) because of what Don S. said and because the rating on the back stated that was within the range for Ford engines. The blue spark was clear and had a crisp, rapid snap to it. Even one last pop (to grow on I guess) after the switch was released.
Now on to the spark wire leads. I started again at 30K and position one on the cap. Nothing. Position 2, nothing again same thing for 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. I adjusted the tester to the 20K position 1 got 2 yellow pops and then quit. they were certainly spaced apart differently than the quick pops of the coil wire, but they were also noticeably weaker and then non existent. 2 - 8 was the exact same with the exception of 6 which still got nothing.
I then adjusted down to the 10K, here each lead got spark, yellow and it seemed that after 2 or 3 sparks they just quit sparking all together.
Pic of the set up.
New distributor cap and rotor should be installed tomorrow afternoon.
If any of this leads to new ideas or something other than the distributor please post.
My parts catalog and ignition manual for my boat should be here in a day or so. I hope I won't need them for the rest of the summer.
THANKS AGAIN!!!!!
Get a new cap, the carbon center maybe broke in yours, or malfunctioning, it appears to be the weakest link in the chain, the rotor looks ok, (what can go wrong with a rotor?) and it looks like the center tab is hitting the carbon.
