no start at the lake today

[ziggy]

well, i got let down on sat. my first outing. no one to go out with me so went by myself.

so i did the winterization thing last fall. i did the summerization thing on sat. morning. ya know. compression test, points, plugs (gapped by me @ .035"), condenser, cap, rotor. dwell at 32-33*. timing @ 6* btdc. ran great in the driveway. so off to the lake i go. toss it in the drink. starts right up. warmed up, no leaks from having the bellows off to R&R the water hose. things are looking good. i putz around the bay a bit and all is going well. so i venture off into the lake. throttle up and it just dies... like turned off the ign. cranks fine, no start.
so i get out my no start trouble shooting guide by dons. i found a fallacy of that post. it takes two people onboard to do some of the tests. being by myself. i couldn't even turn it over to see if i had a spark. ya can't be at the engine and the helm at the same time.
so anyways, get towed back in. hang out at the dock. wiggled some wires. lateeda. side note. prior to going out, i went through as many wires as i could find and removed and shined them up with emery. grounds especially. only thing i found was i needed to tighten up my cap a little bit more on one of the two screws. the other thing i found was my choke had not pulled off. i thought it was warm enough to pull off but made sure it was open by manually adj. the choke to open.

so. i think ign. problems. when i get back to it. i guess i plan on just going through the trouble shooting guide in s/m #2 for no start, electrical. see if i see anything abnormal... any other insight?

after i got it running at the ramp. finally convinced myself that it was gonna run. so took it back out into the lake. no issues the rest of the day. pretty much ran it 3 hours straight with a few turn it off and turn it on to see if i was hip. it performed flawlessly after my no start issue. wot @ 4300. idles (600rpm) and shift great. no over heat... on that. i sure do feel good about having a water hose w/o a kink in it. she sure was lower on the temp gage than last fall with the kink. i sure was treading on thin ice with that kink. though don't think i overheated it. ran a shade on the warm side though. never got over halfway up on the temp gage. normal is below the hash marks though. so she was running warm..

any thoughts?

 

[starsnstripers]

Re: no start at the lake today

Hey Zig, Glad you got her running to use. Maybe the choke was stuck from sitting and was flooding out at higher rpm. We had freezing temps over the last few nights Geesh. Warmer weather coming this week though. Glad your out of the kink scene. LOL good operating temp now, cool!

 

[ziggy]

Re: no start at the lake today

hi sns.

Maybe the choke was stuck from sitting and was flooding out at higher rpm.

that could be. i wiggled wires + unloaded the choke plate at the same time (i know, bad idea, shoulda done one then the other, oh well), prior to getting it to run. so it could be either or. guess the reason i'm leaning towards the electrical side is since it shut down like i turned the key off. it'd just be nice to know what caused my problem so i can deal with it in the drive instead of being hosed at the lake. i was about ready to deploy the anchor when i got rescued. i was getting ready to blow up on big giant concrete pieces that they use to go around various parts of the lake to control erosion. i was getting worried for sure.. had my paddle out any everything...

We had freezing temps over the last few nights Geesh.

i hear ya. when i went out sat. the forecast was all above freezing. when i got back. the update was for a freeze again today or tomorrow. geesh is right. i got it drained right now. the temps gotta be coming up soon. were right on the edge i think.

Glad your out of the kink scene. LOL good operating temp now, cool!

yep, cool is the word for sure. the kink scene just ain't cool at all (puns intended. )... i'm much happier about that....

 

[starsnstripers]

Re: no start at the lake today

Guess all ya can do is run it and do a process of elimination if it occures again. I think i'm going to run the 19' Imperial with the Volvo 4 cyl this summer while i'm refitting the SS-215 Slickcraft hard top. Found another donor boat cheap with a 4.3 Alpha one setup that would be nice for the SS-215. Working on the transom now closing in the big ole OMC HOLE! stripping out the controls, steering.electrical. Fun Fun! Good luck with the boat there Zig, hoping for warmer weather.

 

[Bondo]

Re: no start at the lake today

so i get out my no start trouble shooting guide by dons. i found a fallacy of that post. it takes two people onboard to do some of the tests. being by myself. i couldn't even turn it over to see if i had a spark. ya can't be at the engine and the helm at the same time.

Ayuh,... Ziggy, Get yourself a Remote Starter Button.....

It's a need Tool that should be available at about Any Auto Parts House.....
It's just a pushbutton switch, 2 wires,+ gator clamps on the ends of the wires,...
Clip it to the Starter,+ your other man is in your hand.....

 

[ziggy]

Re: no start at the lake today

Ayuh,... Ziggy, Get yourself a Remote Starter Button.....

yep, them are hip for sure. already got one too. makes it easy to set dwell and to test compression. which i did sat. morning, prior to going out. so i had it in my hand hours before. but of course. i left the remote starter switch at home while i went to the lake.. guess i'll have to put it onboard for future occasions. i'd considered putting it onboard. but didn't do it. that'll teach me....

I looked in my crystal ball and it said loose wire. Does that help?

ah, the wizard is back... sweet... that's what i need in this case for sure is the wizard with his crystal ball. the alternitive is going and looking and testing myself.... which is what i reckon i'll be doing when it warms up again here soon... thanks for the insight though bubba. every little bit of info helps...

 

[ziggy]

Re: no start at the lake today

think i found the problem...
loose wires is correct for the most part... specifically the rotor to cap connection....

that's what i get for not tightening up the cap all the way i guess. i assume i've found my no start problem. when i tightened the cap in the field, it musta made contact. amazing. in the pics. i straightened the contact prior to the pic.

i think the cap will live..

a little shaved off plastic on the outer ring around the carbon button. the plastic just blew off. i think i'll run this cap and see how it goes..

 

[Don S]

Re: no start at the lake today

In looking at a lot of rotor, I have only seen one like that once. One side of the cap was loose. Doubt you will ever know the why of why it happened. but it did. Best bet, Put on a new cap and rotor and go boating.

 

[ziggy]

Re: no start at the lake today

One side of the cap was loose.

that is the exact scenerio. one side only....

that was a new cap... ...rotor too for that matter. mercruiser/quicksilver even. 30 min. run time maybe... and half of that time was warming it up and setting timing... funds is tight so i'm running that one. will put the old one on board... if i get some extra funds. i'll buy a new one...

only ramifications i can think of for running the chewed up one would be maybe carbon tracking down the inside of the cap at the scraped off plastic area. which of course wouldn't be good. so i'll keep my eye on it... best i can do at this point..

i did replace the rotor... had to do that, no choice...

 

[ziggy]

Re: no start at the lake today

Put on a new cap and rotor and go boating.

yep, dons is proved right again...

as i stated before, i only R&Red the rotor. i shoulda listened.. seemed like the last two or so times i was out my engine was running a shade rougher than usual. so sat. i just thought i'd do a quick dwell and timing check. found my dwell off a few degrees. needless to say, timing was off too. so. off with the cap to adj. dwell. i got that set again. take a quick look inside my cap to find the center carbon button half broke off...

shoulda listened to dons...

good thing i checked, i suppose if the button woulda broke off all together, i'd have been sol out on the water. short of the fact that i had the last years old cap onboard... speaking of which.

sat. i went to my local dealer for a new cap... bummer, he let me down and didn't have one is stock... so i go next door to the napa store... they got one... take it home and look at my old one and man. there's a difference. don't know if napa provided me with a auto cap or what..

there is a noticeable weight difference between the two. check out the surface area where the individual spark plug contacts are. it's much beefier on the oem cap. also, more little circles around the carbon button too. i just couldn't bring myself to put that cap on... so used last years old cap... had a great time on the water sun. ran real good too...

gonna go order me up a new cap at the dealer today.....