1982 Chrysler 85 No Spark help needed

ecu1984

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Jul 22, 2011
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Pulled boat out of garage this evening, hooked to water hose, pumped the bulb tight, choked it and it fired right up. I let it run for about 15 minutes at various lower RPMs as it hasn't been used in awhile and wanted to put a little juice back in the battery. Ran like a million bucks.
I was ready to put it back in the garage and I turned it off with the key from a nice smooth idle and just for kicks, I bumped the key to restart it.
It never cranked back up. Will spin over and has plenty of fuel to carbs. No spark at the plugs and no spark on the coil wire going into the distributor. Where should I look next in tracking down the spark? This model has a belt and does not have points inside the distributor. Please guide me in trouble shooting it.

The two wires on the outside of the distributor cap (white/blk and blue) are hot with the switch on according to my test light. There is nothing coming out of the coil when motor is spinning.

The manual states the gray wire on the positive side of the coil should be 200V when the engine is spinning, I measure less than 1 volt with switch on and engine turning.
What does this tell us?

Thanks
Rick
 

mbhoag

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Aug 29, 2011
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Re: 1982 Chrysler 85 No Spark help needed

Im not an expert, but I would start at the simple stuff. If it worked and then immediatly does not work, I would check my kill switch first. If the kill switch is grounding it out, then you would have power at the switch but it would never start.

If not that, then check to make sure you do not have a broken/shorted wire anyplace on the motor. Especially check under the flywheel where a wire could easily be broken and not seen.
 

ecu1984

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Re: 1982 Chrysler 85 No Spark help needed

Thanks.
I don't have a kill switch on the boat. probably because it is an older model.
 

ecu1984

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Jul 22, 2011
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Re: 1982 Chrysler 85 No Spark help needed

i just read that there should be continuity across the terminals of the coil and there is. I am hoping the coil is bad, but I will probably not be that lucky, though why is the voltage so low on the hot side of the coil? Is it because the coil is bad or because it is not getting fed from the CDI?
 

jerryjerry05

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May 7, 2008
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Re: 1982 Chrysler 85 No Spark help needed

Flywheel key sheared.Flywheel magnet came loose.
 

ecu1984

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Re: 1982 Chrysler 85 No Spark help needed

Thanks for the replies guys and I was hoping Jerry would come along. I am going out now to pull the flywheel and see if it's anything obvious. One more note, I also read to take the black/white wire off distributor and touch it to ground and see if it sparks. I did this and you see no spark but there is a very very very faint split second crackle and it is so small and insignificant that you won't hear it unless you put your ear right next to the CDI box. It happens with each touch, but it is much much weaker than a spark to me.
Thanks and I look forward to your help and replies. I just my income cut 50% and have to fix this myself and the speckled trout have just turned on hear in the Carolinas :)
Rick
 

ecu1984

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Re: 1982 Chrysler 85 No Spark help needed

Flywheel key sheared.Flywheel magnet came loose.

Jerry,
I have my Snap-On crow's foot puller setup on the flywheel and I am having a heck of a time getting it to move up. I do see the knotch where a keyway would be in but there appears to be not one in it. Should I be seeing the top of the shear key? Also,
I have the puller sitting with alot of stress on it, hoping it will be loosening it while I eat lunch and I have gently been turning and tapping flywheel with hammer from underneath. Any other advise?
Appreciate it!
Rick
 

jerryjerry05

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May 7, 2008
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17,923
Re: 1982 Chrysler 85 No Spark help needed

Picture 006.jpgPicture 007.jpgIt takes a lot of force to remove the flywheel.It had 95# of tourqe on it.
I use a BIG 3 jaw puller(see pic) and a 3/4# sledgehammer.The hammer in the pics is only a 2# use a bigger if you have one.
Install the puller and leave the nut on a few threads.Then tighten it down till you think it's gonna blow then tighten somemore.
Then use a hammer to hit the head of the bolt.Should pop off,if not tighten some more.

OH YEA,KEEP YOPUR FINGERS OUT OF THE WAY AND WEAR GLOVE AND SAFETY GLASSES.
First time I saw this done,my boss ended up getting 8 stiches in the area between the thumb and forefinger.
 

ecu1984

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Jul 22, 2011
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Re: 1982 Chrysler 85 No Spark help needed

Thanks
Flywheel came off and key was not sheared. Everything looked like new under it. I believe the CDI unit is bad.
Thanks for all the replies.
Rick
 

snwwlkr

Seaman
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Sep 15, 2010
Messages
66
Re: 1982 Chrysler 85 No Spark help needed

Do you have a repair manual like a Seloc? I would seriously advise checking out all of the simple stuff like elec connections, key switch, ect, before buying a CDI. I bet 3 out of 4 people that throw a CDI at their motor end up realizing it was something else... Something much simpler.
 
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