Timing on a 5.7L I/O 8cyl. Mercruiser...

[kimchee]

I have been having a slightly harder time starting my engine recently...<br /><br />I notice that when I turn the key... The engine sounds like it is trying to start, but nothing happens for the first 2-3 seconds, and all the electronics on the boat die out, from the huge loss of electricity...<br /><br />My neighbor said it was most likely that my timing is too far advanced???<br />But my other neighbor said that is sounded like my battery or starter wasn't sending enough power...<br /><br />Which do you all feel it is more likely to be the cause?

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Timing on a 5.7L I/O 8cyl. Mercruiser...

Check your battery cables/connections for corrosion. Do they get warm when you are trying to stert? That's a sure sign of bad cables...JK

 

[rbezdon]

Re: Timing on a 5.7L I/O 8cyl. Mercruiser...

Sounds like and electrical connection problem to me. I have seen on my small block Chevys that if the timiing is over advanced you can get detonation during cranking that the starter motor has to overcome as if it were overloaded. This is pretty obvious though as you can easily hear the detonation during the crank. Easy enough to fix by setting the timeing to the 8 BTDC recommended and the dwell to spec.