mercruiser 888 188hp engine coil wire problem

[SeaVue]

Hello everyone,

I want to thank you in advance for all of your help. This forum is great, so far i have learned a lot about my boat through this website.

Let me start by mentioning that i have bought a new coil, distributor cap, spark plugs and spark plug wires. My problem is with the coil wires, (i believe). The wires that connect to the coil read 11 volts of power when they are taken off from the coil. When i connect them to the coil, they read 4 volts. I checked my spark plugs and they are not getting any power. Does anyone know why i have the drop in power when i connect the wires to the coil?

Thank you.

[Bt Doctur]

The points are closed or grounded out?

[s1120]

You mean volts right??


Ya, sounds like the points are closed. Turn the engine a little till they open, then check.

[SeaVue]

can you guys please explain to me what the points are? This is my first boat and I'm trying to learn all the vocab.

[SeaVue]

Yes, volts.

[sarantis]

if you pull the distributor's cap ,below it you'll see at the top the rotor which comes to touch with the 8 points of the cup to give spark to each cylinder serarately and at the base plate of the distributor you will see the " points" that are two points that come in touch as the distributors shaft turns in order to conect instantly the coils' output to the each cylinders' spark.So first of all disconect the central plug of the distr and put it 1 inch away from the chasis and crank the engine to see if you have spark.An advice :for the simple things start from google ,then go to the service manuals (at the top of the page "for adults only" and then ask your questions here.Welcome aboard!

[Don S]

Here is some info describing the points type ignition in a bit more detail.

http://autorepair.about.com/cs/gener.../aa052502a.htm

[SeaVue]

Thank you guys for your help. It's been raining here for the last couple of days and its hard to get work done. Ill update on the situation as soon as i can.