BlackMaxBaja
Cadet
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2006
- Messages
- 7
First off. Hello to everyone and thanks in advance for any help you may be able to offer.
I recently took my 1994 21' Baja boat into a shop to get my 502 removed and re-installed after a fresh rebuild. I believe the electronics are likely a Thunderbolt V ignition system. The boat was running fine before it went into the shop and when they re-installed the newly rebuilt engine they could not get it to fire up. After they worked on it for a few days with little success I decided to take a stab at getting it running myself. Here is what I found...
1. The shop had a black wire that they had left hanging loose. It seems to me that when I hooked it up to the neg. side of coil the engine would not fire. This may be from the old carb that had an electric choke?? My new carb has a manual choke. Regardless I'm thinking it should be grounded??
2.The coil with the key in the on position measured around 6 volts. If I take the purple wire off the coil the wire measures 12 volts.
3. I ran a jumper to the + side of the coil from the + battery and the boat fired right up.
4. If I try to remove the purple wire from the coil the engine will not fire.
5. Because there was low voltage at the coil I checked the voltage at the ignition switch. It was 12 volts. I cleaned up the connections and the voltage at the coil improved slightly.
6. As I was checking the ignition switch and wiring I burnt my finger on the 16 guage purple wire (that runs to the coil). It literally gave me a blister. Is it normal for the wire to be this hot? Is it possible that the coil is shorting out??
7. I thought problem solved the purple wire is shorting out. I ran a new larger 14 gauge wire to the coil and from the coil to the alternator. The new wire does not get hot and the boat now runs but...
8. After about an hour or so of running the boat instantly dies. When i pour water over the coil to cool it down it fires right back up.
9. After researching a bit more it turns out that maybe I am not supposed to be running a full 12 volts to the coil after it fires up. This may be causing the overheating problem.
10. It turns out that the purple wire may be a "resister" wire meant to lower the voltage on the coil when running??
11. The strange thing is even though the purple wire is disconnected from the alternator and ignition switch it still needs to be hooked up to the coil for the boat to run. Does this make sense??
12. I have also learned that some coils have a wire to the starter to maintain 12 volts during engine turn over. Mine does not. Is it getting the power from the starter via the orange wire thru the alternator??
13. I was looking to upgrade the coil and purchased an MSD Blaster 2 but i read somewhere that the accel matches the resistance better to the stock coil. Can anyone comment on that? The MSD does come with an external ballast resister.
Sorry for being so long winded just trying to be thorough
I recently took my 1994 21' Baja boat into a shop to get my 502 removed and re-installed after a fresh rebuild. I believe the electronics are likely a Thunderbolt V ignition system. The boat was running fine before it went into the shop and when they re-installed the newly rebuilt engine they could not get it to fire up. After they worked on it for a few days with little success I decided to take a stab at getting it running myself. Here is what I found...
1. The shop had a black wire that they had left hanging loose. It seems to me that when I hooked it up to the neg. side of coil the engine would not fire. This may be from the old carb that had an electric choke?? My new carb has a manual choke. Regardless I'm thinking it should be grounded??
2.The coil with the key in the on position measured around 6 volts. If I take the purple wire off the coil the wire measures 12 volts.
3. I ran a jumper to the + side of the coil from the + battery and the boat fired right up.
4. If I try to remove the purple wire from the coil the engine will not fire.
5. Because there was low voltage at the coil I checked the voltage at the ignition switch. It was 12 volts. I cleaned up the connections and the voltage at the coil improved slightly.
6. As I was checking the ignition switch and wiring I burnt my finger on the 16 guage purple wire (that runs to the coil). It literally gave me a blister. Is it normal for the wire to be this hot? Is it possible that the coil is shorting out??
7. I thought problem solved the purple wire is shorting out. I ran a new larger 14 gauge wire to the coil and from the coil to the alternator. The new wire does not get hot and the boat now runs but...
8. After about an hour or so of running the boat instantly dies. When i pour water over the coil to cool it down it fires right back up.
9. After researching a bit more it turns out that maybe I am not supposed to be running a full 12 volts to the coil after it fires up. This may be causing the overheating problem.
10. It turns out that the purple wire may be a "resister" wire meant to lower the voltage on the coil when running??
11. The strange thing is even though the purple wire is disconnected from the alternator and ignition switch it still needs to be hooked up to the coil for the boat to run. Does this make sense??
12. I have also learned that some coils have a wire to the starter to maintain 12 volts during engine turn over. Mine does not. Is it getting the power from the starter via the orange wire thru the alternator??
13. I was looking to upgrade the coil and purchased an MSD Blaster 2 but i read somewhere that the accel matches the resistance better to the stock coil. Can anyone comment on that? The MSD does come with an external ballast resister.
Sorry for being so long winded just trying to be thorough
