Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

[projo198]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

Ok, took the boat out tonight.. Kind of.

She started right up, took a few minutes to warm up but sounded great. Shifted into gear beautifully and took throttle no problems. We did a couple laps up an down the lake, not at full throttle but at a good speed.

After that I put the anchor out and we swam for awhile. Once we were ready to leave she started up fine again, but was a little rough shifting into gear, and died every time I gave her any throttle. I got out the handheld tach and she was idling in neutral at about 650, but sounded rough.

Best we could do was put it in gear and maneuver back to the launch without any throttle.

At one point while trying to fix things the motor wouldn't fire up. On a whim I tapped on the ignition coil and it started the next try. Not sure if it was related or not.

So my next steps are new spark plugs and a new condenser. I'll check the dwell and timing again as well.

Any other suggestions? Cheap things I can try until i have some more money to spend? At least we didn't have to get towed in this time lol, and the first half was awesome!

 

[projo198]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

Ok I did some reading up on people having similar problems and these are some new ideas.

Replace the purple/black 20 gauge wire from teh (-) post on the ignition coil to the assist solenoid. Apparantly this is a common problem.

Replace the black wire from the gnition coil to the distributor.

Add another ground wire from the distributor to the engine block. I read that this helps relieve wear on the condensor and points.

I will also test the ignition coil tonight and replace if necessary, luckily they are available at NAPA.

Any other suggestions?

 

[projo198]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

Ok haven't gotten any responses here lately, but I'm gonna keep posting in case I can save anyone some frustration on the future.

I ohm tested the ignition coil last night. From the negative post to the post that goes to the distributor I was only getting 900 ohms. I think I should be getting way more than that, though I admit I don't know a lot about ohm testing.

My timing jumps and then return to normal when reving. There are no vacuum lines at all on the motor or the distributor, so this is what is called "mechanical advance only", right?

I also found 2 misplaced wires. There is a resistance wire (purple/black) from the positive post of the coil that goes to the starter solenoid, and another wire (yellow) that goes from the main wiring harness to the other side of the starter solenoid. These 2 were switched, not sure if that matters but I corrected them.

I opened up all the wiring between the harness and the motor. MAN WHAT A MESS! Tonight I will be eliminating splices and cleaning connections. Thank God the shop book I have has good wiring diagrams, and are easy to understand.

On the advise of somewhere on the forum I am also going to add a second ground wire to the distributor and replace the coil, points and condensor. Parts were requested yesterday and should be in-store today. NAPA is a good source for marine parts when you don't want to wait on the mail.

Thanks!

 

[Levinz11]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

Ok I did some reading up on people having similar problems and these are some new ideas.

Replace the purple/black 20 gauge wire from teh (-) post on the ignition coil to the assist solenoid. Apparantly this is a common problem.

Replace the black wire from the gnition coil to the distributor.

Add another ground wire from the distributor to the engine block. I read that this helps relieve wear on the condensor and points.

I will also test the ignition coil tonight and replace if necessary, luckily they are available at NAPA.

Any other suggestions?

As Bruce stated the three wires on the - side of coil are: ESA, Distributor and Tach. Now, the + side of the coil should have 2 wires (at least mine does) one from the solenoid to provide a full 12V while cranking and one from the Alternator that should provide something like 7-9V while running. It resists the voltage from the alternator to keep from burning up the coil.

I'm not sure about your other ideas. But if you have the negative side of the coil grounded to the engine block it would never fire...I THINK.

 

[Levinz11]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

Ok haven't gotten any responses here lately, but I'm gonna keep posting in case I can save anyone some frustration on the future.

I ohm tested the ignition coil last night. From the negative post to the post that goes to the distributor I was only getting 900 ohms. I think I should be getting way more than that, though I admit I don't know a lot about ohm testing.

My timing jumps and then return to normal when reving. There are no vacuum lines at all on the motor or the distributor, so this is what is called "mechanical advance only", right?

I also found 2 misplaced wires. There is a resistance wire (purple/black) from the positive post of the coil that goes to the starter solenoid, and another wire (yellow) that goes from the main wiring harness to the other side of the starter solenoid. These 2 were switched, not sure if that matters but I corrected them.

I opened up all the wiring between the harness and the motor. MAN WHAT A MESS! Tonight I will be eliminating splices and cleaning connections. Thank God the shop book I have has good wiring diagrams, and are easy to understand.

On the advise of somewhere on the forum I am also going to add a second ground wire to the distributor and replace the coil, points and condensor. Parts were requested yesterday and should be in-store today. NAPA is a good source for marine parts when you don't want to wait on the mail.

Thanks!

When you rev the motor the timing SHOULD advance. Yes, mechanical advance assembly is under points plate in dist.

Yellow wire from solenoid gives 12V during cranking.
Purple/black wire provides ressisted 7-9V while running. Both should be on the + side of coil.

 

[projo198]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

Thanks. Sorry, to clarify the yellpw wire I referred to is actually yellow and red and goes from the starter solenoid into the main harness, not the coil.

The two coils on the positive side of my ignition coil go to the starter solenoid (purple/black) and another to the alternator (yellow) like you stated.

The extra ground I was considering was for the distributor itself, not the coil.

 

[Levinz11]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

Thanks. Sorry, to clarify the yellpw wire I referred to is actually yellow and red and goes from the starter solenoid into the main harness, not the coil.

The two coils on the positive side of my ignition coil go to the starter solenoid (purple/black) and another to the alternator (yellow) like you stated.

The extra ground I was considering was for the distributor itself, not the coil.

Gotcha. Your wires are different colors than mine. Just make sure you have less than 10V at the + side of the coil WHILE running and it shouldn't burn up your coil.

 

[projo198]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

Gotcha. Your wires are different colors than mine. Just make sure you have less than 10V at the + side of the coil WHILE running and it shouldn't burn up your coil.

Alright cool, once I get my wiring cleaned up I'll tonight I'll throw the muffs on and check it out. Thanks!

 

[projo198]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

Well, I think the nightmare is over!

Had a great day! She started right up and more importantly started up again after we stopped for awhile!

We took on a good amount of water though, and I don't think my bilge pump was working. I think most of it came from 3 kids coming and and out of the boat, but I'm gonna go ahead and replace thenpump before we go back out tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone here for your patient help, it is really rewarding to see your hard work come to fruition because I have been working this boat for weeks now!

 

[Levinz11]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

Feels good, right?

 

[projo198]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

Feels good, right?

Well, it did... For a day.

Just pulled the boat out about 30 mins ago. It did great for about 2 hours today, then it went to crap.

Same problems. Horrible idle. Bogs and dies under throttle. All we could do was leave it in gear at idle and coast back to the launch, having to restart it every few minutes. Then the starter solenoid stuck twice.

We were going so slow the wind and waves drifted us onto ground and we had to "walk" the boat back out to deeper water again. Luckily it was just a sand bar.

I'm at my wits end right now. I'm sure when I get home the damn thing will fire right up and idle great. Seriously considering making this damn boat an artificial reef right now...

 

[projo198]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

Ok I might be retarded. While waiting for the wife in Walmart I was sitting in the boat quietly sobbing to myself when I noticed the positive terminal on the ignition coil had no nut. Both wired were on it but not secured.

I had been cleaning and replacing wire ends and I guess I forgot the nut which is odd because I'm usually pretty meticulous about that.

So could those being on but loose be enough to cause my issues?

 

[Levinz11]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

Short answer...Yes.

 

[Levinz11]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

With the engine running that connection would be vibrating....making contact with the terminal intermittently. Can't quit now man. You and that old girl have been through too much together.

 

[projo198]

Re: Help please! Ford 2.3 and OMC Cobra outdrive stalls when shifted into gear.

Ok cool. I tightened it down last night and were gonna take it back out Wednesday. We really want to take it camping this weekend. Thank God I live near a lake!

I think hearing the wife complain was the worst; when it's running she loves it and when it's not it's a huge waste of money and I shouldn't have bought it!