starting trouble

[skiercoach]

I am hopeful that someone has had and found a solution for a problem i have had with my 1986 Comp tr6 with 351 eng. Every spring it is verrrry dificult to start. After cranking for many tries it starts for no explainable reason. When i decided to find out why this year i discovered it had no spark. I replaced the condenser and points. - no spark. when i replaced the coil I discovered the coil was for a NON balasted boat, but mine has an external ballest. I thought i found the problem, but when I replaced the coil with the proper coil I still have no spark from coil. When key is on i have 12 volts to 1 side of coil, and the other side appears to be grounded. Does any one have advise on some direction I can look / wireing diagram, trouble shooting tip, upgrade etc,etc THANK YOU

[wotan2525]

Ballast failure is a common problem and it sounds like your ballast is one of the last items that has not been replaced.

Go back to the balastless coil (or even better, upgrade to electronic ignition) jump past the ballast and I think your problems will go away.