Started and ran perfect all day Saturday put in Sunday and wouldn't start

[haydene]

Mercruiser 3.0 4cyl digital electronic ignition system alpha one outdrive
I took the boat out saturday and it started right up first turn ran fine i cut it on and off all day no problems i put it in the lake the next morning and it will not run it will turn over fine but wont start it acts like it wants to but just wont run Carb is getting fuel there is spark too the choke plate looks like it's doing like it should any ideas on what I need to look for ? I'll get the numbers off the motor when I'm home btw

 

[stonyloam]

Check your ground connections on the coil and distributor. A poor ground or loose wire could do that. Try removing the gray tach wire from the coil -. Pull the center wire from the distributor cap and lay it about 1/4 inch from bare engine metal. Turn it over, should get a nice blue spark. If no spark turn off key, remove all wires from coil -. Make up a (insulated) jumper wire and attach to coil -. Turn on key, briefly ground the jumper wire to bare engine metal and look for a spark when you remove the wire. If no spark might be bad coil, if you get a spark then coil is ok, look to the distributor.

 

[MarkSee]

You checked that the kill switch didn't accidentally get flipped?

Mark

 

[joey nathan]

Kill switch grounds the 12 volts to distributor and will give these exact symptoms...

 

[JASinIL2006]

I've accidentally hit the kill switch and that is precisely what happened. Turns over but won't catch. I hope it's that simple...

 

[nola mike]

Did I miss something? Didn't op say he was getting spark? Does the motor catch when cranking, then stop? If that's the case, you may be getting spark while cranking from the slave solenoid, but your normal power to the coil isn't there (so no spark when key is in the run position) . If it was the kill switch it wouldn't spark at all.

 

[haydene]

Thanks for the replys and info I'll try to locate the kill switch and check that if that's not the case I'm going to check the coil out then move to the distributor it has all new plugs too btw I forgot to mention that in the first post

 

[haydene]

And carb was rebuilt not a couple months ago as well

 

[stonyloam]

The OP said that there is " spark to the choke plate" that I took to mean 12v on the electric choke, indicating the ignition switch is OK, but I have been wrong from time to time LOL!