1992 ski centurion 351w

[Jamz33]

So this year my boat started off not wanting to start. I thought I had narrowed it down to the coil. Its numbers were a little out of specs with a multimeter but not bad so I changed it. Once on the water it started cutting out like bad fuel. Got some heet, and fuel treatment hoping that would clear it up. No luck. So I changed the fuel/water separator and the inline filter. They were a little dirty but for the most part looked ok and the fuel didn’t look bad either as far as water. I thought it ran better when it was cold so I switched out the just replaced coil with the old coil, it fired up and ran great, for a short period. It’s still possible I just got a bad tank of fuel but I was wondering if the electronic ignition would break down when it’s warm. Here is a picture inside my distributor. Any ideas?

 

[dubs283]

Looks like an older prestolite electronic ignition

When was the last full tune up? Plugs, wires, cap/rotor, timing set, carb adjust, etc...

Looks like a replacement holley in the pics. Has it been tuned to the motor?

 

[Jamz33]

I haven’t replaced cap,rotor and wires. I just went thru the timing this last weekend. Plugs are new. I have checked the other stuff and they look good. The carb has been on it since I’ve owned it. Which is a few years. Never had a problem like this before. And just so I’m not missing something. I set the timing mark on 10 degrees before tdc. And set the rotor pointing toward #1 plug. And rearranged plug wire’s accordingly. Before I moved the distributor it was almost pointing at #8 plug. So I don’t think it was out of time I just realigned the rotor to point toward #1.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I haven’t replaced cap,rotor and wires. I just went thru the timing this last weekend. Plugs are new. I have checked the other stuff and they look good. The carb has been on it since I’ve owned it. Which is a few years. Never had a problem like this before. And just so I’m not missing something. I set the timing mark on 10 degrees before tdc. And set the rotor pointing toward #1 plug. And rearranged plug wire’s accordingly. Before I moved the distributor it was almost pointing at #8 plug. So I don’t think it was out of time I just realigned the rotor to point toward #1.

That is not how you set timing

 

[Jamz33]

What is the correct procedure?

 

[Jamz33]

I set timing on a 305 just like that a few weeks ago and all was good.

 

[Scott Danforth]

What is the correct procedure?

put motor at TDC at cylinder @1. verify tower #1 and rotor are lined up. make sure the wiring is correct per the firing order.

fire up the motor, and with your timing light, adjust the base timing to 8 degrees BTDC (spec is 6 degrees BTDC)

 

[Jamz33]

put motor at TDC at cylinder @1. verify tower #1 and rotor are lined up. make sure the wiring is correct per the firing order.

fire up the motor, and with your timing light, adjust the base timing to 8 degrees BTDC (spec is 6 degrees BTDC)

Ok but at 10 degrees before tdc it shouldn’t be off that much to run poorly correct?

 

[Scott06]

Ok but at 10 degrees before tdc it shouldn’t be off that much to run poorly correct?

If you are not using a timing light you only get it in the ballpark so that is the first thing I would do if it was running poorly.

Check the condition of cap and rotor, you can ohm out the plug wires or just replace them given their age. You can use a cheap spark gap tester off the coil and then at the plugs to see if you are loosing spark in the distributor

 

[Jamz33]

If you are not using a timing light you only get it in the ballpark so that is the first thing I would do if it was running poorly.

Check the condition of cap and rotor, you can ohm out the plug wires or just replace them given their age. You can use a cheap spark gap tester off the coil and then at the plugs to see if you are loosing spark in the distributor

OK, thank you for the help.