No spark 2002 ssv

[roosm]

Hi!

I was out wakeboarding today when the boat suddenly died.
Since I have had problems with the high pressure fuel pump and not getting injectors to fire, that was the first thing I checked.

It is a TBI btw.
Removing the flame arrestor I could see fuel spraying from both injectors. It is cranking fine.
So I checked spark, well I was still on the water at this time so didn't have all the tools, but holding the spark cable from the ignition coil close to the block gives no visibel spark.
I pulled one of the leds from my interior lights to use as a volt-tester and found at least some Amount of power at the ignition coil.

Guessing I have a bad ignition coil?
Would an ignition coil suddenly fail with no warning?

Other ideas?

Thanks!
Mike

[2500HD]

Yes, coils can fail immediately. Cheap enough to replace. I also think some auto parts places can check them for you.

[roosm]

Hi again,

I got a Indmar MEFI troubleshooting guide for the Distributor ignition system.
It started of with unhooking the tach and trying to start, then unhooking the 4 wire ignition control module and checking for spark (this would put it in base timing but stops the injectors from firing in my TBI, no spark).
No spark from Coil-tower.
Coil tower measures all ohm's perfectly according to the measurements that should be taken to test an EST Ignition Coil.

The steps went further to test for voltage to ignition control module, and sure enough, I have 12 V in pink wire from coil to ICM.
Then check the brown wire to ICM, and I have 12 volts here as well.

The distributor is rotating.
The pickup-coil in the distributor is providing an AC-voltage when cranking the engine. Should be good.
I also checked it with different Ohm specs and measures good.

Next step was to unhook pickup coil, ignition on, measure tach terminal of ignition coil for voltage. I got 12V.
Then hook up a 1.5V battery to P-terminal of ICM (where pickup-coil should be). Connect negative of the battery to ground and watch for tach voltage to drop.
It did not drop, and then the guide just jumps to "replace faulty ignition control module".

I also checked for spark when disconnecting the 1.5 battery ground terminal, which should spark.
I also hooked up a LED-lamp to 12V and the brown wire to the ICM, which provided a steady light.
I checked for this light to change when performing the same 1.5 battery test (as it should apparently blink at this point from what i understand).
No blink.

I cranked the engine with LED-light connected to ICM- Ignition Control terminal like above. But of course in this case with the pickup coil connected and known to be providing AC-voltage within voltage range.
No flickering of the LED.

From what I understand all points toward a malfunctioning ICM.
Maybe from heat, or maybe corrosion.
I am guessing it was the original unit, 15 years old.

I have ordered a new ICM and will get it during the week, hopefully this solves the issue.

Mike

[roosm]

Hi,

Okey, so an update.

I received the Ignition Control Module yesterday and went and installed it.
The engine fired right up.

An interesting note that might be relevant to others getting this problem is that before the switch of the ICM, the last couple of years, I have been noticing that the engine been kind of hard to start. That is, the starter needs to crank for 2 or 3 seconds before it catches. Once I installed the new ICM the boat fires up in less than a second. Barely hear the engine cranking before it catches.

So, even though this is hardly enough empirical evidence, if you get a no start symptom, your coil measures good (About 0.4 ohm between coil terminals for Purple (ignition) and grey (tach) terminals, as well as infinite from ignition terminal to ground and about 7500-9000 Ohm between ignition terminal and the ignition coil main spark cable post, notice, these measurements should be taken directly on the coil and you will need something very flat to get into the terminals of the cables and measure there, disconnect both black and grey contacts before measurements). If you also have been noticing harder and harder starts over the years. Might indicate even more that the ICM is at fault.

Mike