I finally got the boat out of the water, fortunately the day before the remnants of Hurricane Debbie made her way up the north and created a big tidal surge in the Chesapeake Bay, and our docks were under water.
I checked the fuel pressure first and I am getting 25 psi on the high pressure port, no problem with that reading. The low pressure port was also within the guidelines.
I conducted another spark test, in doing this the engine sputtered a few times and sounded like she might start, it didn't though, and that sputtering stopped. My spark tester is the kind that connects between the spark plug and the spark plug wire, it has a clear tube in the middle. I get spark, but it's not a bright white spark, more orange. I sprayed a little starter fluid in all the cylinders, I got nothing when I cranked the engine. I removed a spark plug but kept it in the boot and grounded the end of the plug on the block, we cranked the engine and we get nothing, I tried another plug and still no spark. So as it appears I have spark with the tester, but I don't believe I am getting enough spark.
I attempted to test the voltage coming to the coil packs, the instruction said leave the primary coil wire connected, insert a test connecter (sewing pin for me) into the boot of the primary coil wire at the coil, with the meter, red to the test connecter, and black to engine block ground. When I crank the engine, I should get a minimum of 180 volts, my meter reading says -8.5 volts. I tried it on several primary coil connecters and I get the same result. I am either conducting this test wrong, or it's pointing to the problem. I think it's also important to note that it is/was an intermittent problem. Any thoughts?
