Newbee bere, merc 3.0 frustrations, electrical I think......

[Moosepuck]

Hello all, recently I purchased a 1987 Glastron, merc 3.0 w/ Alpha 1 drive. It has new coil, cap, plugs, wires, fuel filter/water sep., ... Sometimes it runs pretty good, then suddenly it will start to miss really bad, then die, on some occassions I've been able to start it and rev it fine in neutral, but the moment you put it in gear, it dies again. Can anyone tell me the purpose of the resitance wire from the coil? Also, should the coil have 12V at it when the key is on?(mine has a little over 6)...we ran additional wires from and - on the coil to the battery and -, the ignition coil got VERY hot....... I'm pretty much at a loss for now, it has done this with the electronic ignition kit and with the points style ignition.... Any thoughts??? Thanks for ANY advice, this is my first boat!!!:%

 

[Don S]

Re: Newbee bere, merc 3.0 frustrations, electrical I think......

The resistor wire is there to lower the voltage going into the coil so you don't burn up points real quick. If you went to the pertronix electronic ignition, it needs the resistor wire as well or you will burn up the module.
I would start by doing a wiggle test on all the connections when the engine is running. Including the ignition switch, lanyard kill switch, main plug, the main engine circuit breaker etc.

 

[Moosepuck]

Re: Newbee bere, merc 3.0 frustrations, electrical I think......

Speaking of the pertronix ignition...say for example one was trying to remove the magnetic ring....then say that magnetic ring broke in the process....is there somewhere one might be able to just get a new magnetic ring??