87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

[hankll]

Recurring problem: No fire on starboard bank, all or some of spark plugs (2 per cyl)

Yesterday after thinking I'd found problem, went to lake, motor missing again, put it back on trailer - go home. Today start checking inside CDI box. everything looks alright. Checking spark by putting a timing lite onto each spark wire. Sometimes getting spark, but not all the time. Then I discovered I was getting spark at the spark plug wire connector until I hook timing lite spring connector to spark plug, then nothing. Inside CDI box , two primary wires into coil and 2 secondary (spark plug wire) out to the plug. The primary wires are solid black and mixed stripe/black. Noticed the solid black wires on port side were hooked to ground, and mixed stripe/black was hooked to color wire (from CDI unit) according to which cyl was for that coil. Starboard side was hooked in reverse.

Question I have: Does it matter how the wires are hooked up to the CDI unit, or is that the reason the spark plug seems to be grounding out on the spark when connected to the plug but is sparking ok when not hooked to the plug? Have I found my problem? My mechanic may not have been so good after all!

 

[hankll]

Re: 87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

Follow up to this problem. Still looking for anybody with suggestions or may have this problem that knows the probable fix.

1) have changed spark plugs. no change
2) have reversed ignition coils; changed non sparking side to sparking side, the coils sparked on other side. So eliminate ignition coils.

What does that leave the trigger (pulsar) coils under flywheel or the charge coil feeding the CDI ECU? Bad CDI ECU(or half of unit)? I have a Clymer manual, can do a resistance test on the coils, but then I either will know for sure which coil is bad or not. Anybody have a suggestion?

 

[daburb]

Re: 87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

Hi,

I have exactly the same problem as you do, I thought that it was carburators but when that fix didn't work I checked the plugs and found that the right bank didn't fire. I just found this last nite and spend a good part of the evening going over the electrical schematics of the motor.

Since the V6 has only 3 sensor coils and the other 3 cylinders fire I ruled them out, each coil must fire 2 plugs. For all 3 on the same side to fail like that it has to have something to do with the water flow sensor or temperature sensor. Something is telling the ECM to shut down the right bank and the only thing that I can see would be the waterflow sensor, this is wired into the low oil warning module and in my case one of the lights is on in the engine monitor, it goes out when you rev the engine when hooked to the garden hose because it is force fed water under pressure.

I have a spare engine its a DT200AE but most of the parts are common, I'll change parts module by module until I get speark back, I HOPE!

I'll let you know how I do.

Gil

 

[grid]

Re: 87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

Two answers for the same problem: the '87 CDI was troublesome, and that's more than likely the cure for the problem. If you luck out and find a trashed engine, get the stator as well, as that's the only other reason it'll lose 1 bank.

 

[deejaycee_2000]

Re: 87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

the chance of a suzuki CDI being bad is 1 in a million .... hankll, do you get any warnigns on your tach?

 

[hankll]

Re: 87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

No I wasn't getting any warnings of any kind. I hope its not the CDI. I gave up and took it to the mechanic shop and there its sits. He is slammed and hasn't gotten to it. I have to wait my turn to get it looked at. If its the CDI I'm not fixing it. I'll have to part it out for sale. No way am I going to put $1200 into it.

 

[deejaycee_2000]

Re: 87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

like I said the chance of the CDI unit being faulty is one in a million, when a suzuki kills spark on one half, it means it is protecting itself, so it could be something real simple like a faulty waterflow swith or an oil flow switch etc. ... be carefull that the mech don't charge you for a new one and then it is still the same one in there, as I have heard happens alot.....

 

[daburb]

Re: 87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

Hi I'm back with good news. Last night I pulled out my spare parts from the scrap motor that i bought and changed the oil level alarm module which feeds the info to the ECM. That is the small module just below and to the port side of the CDI unit below the ECM.

Guess what, the spark came right back and the motor runs like new again.

Obviously I can't guarantee that this is your problem but it was my first choice since it controls all of the water flow, temperature and oil level alarms.

Good luck

 

[hankll]

Re: 87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

Daburb, you know . now that I think about it - when I first got the motor the plug to the low oil sensor module was disconnected and black tape was wrapped around each connector end. I didn't think anything of it at the time other than to wonder why it had been done. Is it possible that if it is disconnected that it would have spark on all cyl if the module isn't able to tell the CDI that there is a problem? The other problem for me is - if that is the problem, the low oil module isn't available from Suzuki, or at least according to Browns Marine parts breakdown list.

 

[piercesmarine]

Re: 87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

ya'll finally found the problem,,,sorry i couldnt of helped sooner. I just got on this web site. But that is your problem ..just unplug the low warning oil module reset module Brown wires in between the coils at the bottom. Dont need them anyhow. you already have low oil warning alarm. that box just allows you to push it when you get past the low oil warning to reset it untill you get some oil in res. Hope this helps

piercesmarine

 

[hankll]

Re: 87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

Hey thanks Piercesmarine! I'm going to find out if thats actually the problem tomorrow. Then maybe I can dip my line in the water and start grabbing some fish!

 

[hankll]

Re: 87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

Wow! This motor is really beginning to get to me! Just came from mechanix shop where my boat/motor is. Mechanic and I disconnected the low oil warning module wire connector and no spark on either side now and no spark either side when reconnected. He was going to put battery on charger and try to find the problem tomorrow. Its almost like it was when I brought it to him the first time in February. No spark! He worked on it for 2-3 days before he found a bad ground corroded. Its been in a couple of good heavy rain storms since I took it to him this time. Could it be another ground corroded? Yea, I'm asking questions on here, cause I'm down about it. Impatient, too. He'll probably find the problem, but I HAVE YET TO GET TO USE THIS BOAT!

Man I'm really beginning to wish I'd bought a different motor!

Anybody have any ideas what this motor problem is?

 

[deejaycee_2000]

Re: 87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

No doubt that a suzuki can be frustrating at times, I have many and they have driven me up the wall at times, but they are really good motors so don't give up .... it could be alot of little things giving such a huge headache ... like a stuck float level switch or a bad wire, but at the end the mech will figure it out, just keep positive ... ... you'll be fishing in no time .....

 

[hankll]

Re: 87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

Yea, I spent 2 hours at his shop today after I got off work, he hadn't charged the battery yet so I got my extension cord out of my pickup and hooked up my bank charger myself until it was fully charged up. He's a good mechanic but slammed with everybody and their brother needing instant repair. He's a good guy and thats why he's so busy, so while I keep getting shoved aside for those other quick fixes I know he's gonna get it going. He told me today he thinks that somehow the key switch is somehow grounded out. And swore he'd find problem. So I have to sweat it a little and wait till he finds it. I'm just not experienced enough to catch the problem, while he is good at tracing the problem. Its just a 2 man shop with about 50 boats on his yard, and more coming in to the point you have to make an appointment to bring and leave your boat for repairs. Mine has been there for about 3 weeks. I'm just worrying that its something major, while he's thinking a bad wire or something in ignition circuit is grounding out all spark now. Could have been something I did for all I know, but don't know what it could be.

 

[sokrtees]

Re: 87 Suzuki DT150 SS - no fire starboard side?

Am sure there are many good mechanics out there but I can tell you from experience there is a marina in Virginia called Friday's and the owner/mechanic is a suzuki guru. I drove 600 miles after weeks of calling and working with several marine mechanics and I will tell you this guy is good. If he can't help, not too many can