1972 Glastron V-184 with mercruiser 165 serial# 3437792 no spark

I would appreciate any help i can get. i have a 1972 Glastron V-184 with a newly rebuild Mercruiser 165. The motor has 6 hours on it and it ran great. Now there is no spark and it wont start. I checked the coil resistance and got 3.5 ohms between the positve and negative posts and around 9500ohms between the center pin and either the positive or negative posts. The motor turns over great but just wont start. Is there a wiring schematic I can get. Also is there a switch I should be checking other than the circuit breaker and the shift interrupt switch because they both work. I appologize if I havent given enough information and if you need more to help me please ask away. I really want to solve this problem so I can enjoy the boat. Thanks in advance.

Craig

Re: 1972 Glastron V-184 with mercruiser 165 serial# 3437792 no spark

When you turn the key to the run position, do you have power to the + terminal of the coil? How old are the points? Dead points is the cause for most no spark problems.

You do have the safety kill switch lanyard on don't you?

Re: 1972 Glastron V-184 with mercruiser 165 serial# 3437792 no spark

Don S said:

When you turn the key to the run position, do you have power to the + terminal of the coil? How old are the points? Dead points is the cause for most no spark problems.

You do have the safety kill switch lanyard on don't you?

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There is power to the positive side of the coil when the key is set to run. The points are brand new. the distributor was tested and is ok. This might be dumb but what is the safety lanyard?

Re: 1972 Glastron V-184 with mercruiser 165 serial# 3437792 no spark

habco said:

There is power to the positive side of the coil when the key is set to run. The points are brand new. the distributor was tested and is ok. This might be dumb but what is the safety lanyard?

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Usually not on engine packages that old....

Take the cap off the distributor and crank the engine. Look for a small spark between the points. If you get that, then I would suspect a coil problem.... It could meter ok, but if it has a shorted turn it will not produce a spark...

Re: 1972 Glastron V-184 with mercruiser 165 serial# 3437792 no spark

achris said:

Usually not on engine packages that old....

Take the cap off the distributor and crank the engine. Look for a small spark between the points. If you get that, then I would suspect a coil problem.... It could meter ok, but if it has a shorted turn it will not produce a spark...

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Ok thanks I will try that.

Re: 1972 Glastron V-184 with mercruiser 165 serial# 3437792 no spark

Ok tried suggestions and there was spark between points, but still no spark at coil.

Re: 1972 Glastron V-184 with mercruiser 165 serial# 3437792 no spark

Based on that, I would put another coil in... It's an easy test and they're not expensive.

Re: 1972 Glastron V-184 with mercruiser 165 serial# 3437792 no spark

i changed the coil and it still wont start but i now have spark at all plugs. Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Re: 1972 Glastron V-184 with mercruiser 165 serial# 3437792 no spark

habco said:

i changed the coil and it still wont start but i now have spark at all plugs. Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Do you have spark at the right time? Throw a timing light on and check it.... If it's at the right time, check you have the plug leads on the right plugs.... (firing order)... Then put a little fuel down the carbie throat and see if it fires... BE CAREFUL....

Re: 1972 Glastron V-184 with mercruiser 165 serial# 3437792 no spark

achris said:

Do you have spark at the right time? Throw a timing light on and check it.... If it's at the right time, check you have the plug leads on the right plugs.... (firing order)... Then put a little fuel down the carbie throat and see if it fires... BE CAREFUL....

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I poured a little fuel in carb and it almost fired up so i tried again and it started up but was running rough. I throttled it up a little without being in gear to stabilize it. i then had to set the timing. it was at 4 degrees instead of 6. I do have a fuel related question though. inside the top bowl of the fjuel pump is there not supposed to be a fuel filter. all that is in there is a rubber gasket. the previous owners put an inline filter on the line going to the carb.

Re: 1972 Glastron V-184 with mercruiser 165 serial# 3437792 no spark

Habco,

You got the spark problem sorted, great! Now you're moving on to a fuel problem.... Time to start a new thread... (but yes, there should be a filter in the pump.. Not a big deal if there's a GOOD QUALITY filter before the engine)...

Re: 1972 Glastron V-184 with mercruiser 165 serial# 3437792 no spark

thank-you for all your help. i really appreciate it and im sure my kids will too. I am taking them fishing next weekend.