1985 150 XP intermittently firing

[1983 ercoa 21']

Model # e150stlcos
compression is good on all cylinders
carbs rebuilt
fuel pumps working good.
I have intermediate firing on one side then it had none. Was at the lake on vacation was able to get a power Pack the next day after installing it it acted up for just a moment then all was fine the rest of the week. Took it out last night it was firing intermittently again so I figured the other Pak was going bad . Pulled plugs today all the ones on the side with new power pack is all wet . So what do I look for now ? Timer base ?
the new power Pac is a cdi unit.
tach works good and smooth nothing erratic.
this motor had sit for several years before I revived it.
previous owner said he had a new stator installed took it out once and never used it again. He did provide proof of having new stator installed.
thanks in advance for all the help.

 

[Faztbullet]

Put the old pack back on and install the CDI pack on the side that's firing...Could be feed back fron bias circuit affecting other pack,,

 

[1983 ercoa 21']

Alright changed them out and same thing but when I went to turn it off the key switch would not kill the motor only after turn it back on and off a few times would it kill it. Bad switch causing this problem?

 

[emdsapmgr]

The pack that keep firing after the key is turned to off is bad. I've had that before on my V6 with dual packs. Replaced the pack and that fixed the shut down issue. You've got an engine that should be easy to perform tests on. One with dual packs. When the engine is not firing correctly, determine which side of the engine has the misfire problem. Swap the power packs. If the problem moves to the other head, it's a bad pack. If not, you need to test both the stator and the timer base. Both can be tested for cranking output voltage without actually running the engine. Check out this website for some excellent ignition troubleshooting info: cdielectronics.com. You need to see at least 150 volts from the stator and something like 0.6 volts from the timer base.

 

[1983 ercoa 21']

Ordered a dva adaptor today from snap on was really shocked at the price of only 35.00 . So it will be in next week so in till then think I'll go ahead and order another pack to see if that's the problem.

 

[emdsapmgr]

You'll want to do your ignition voltage testing after the engine is well warmed up. Some ignition problems don't rear their head till the engine is well warmed up

 

[1983 ercoa 21']

This problem is mainly when it's cool . Which got me thinking and dug out the timing light and believe I found a couple bad plug wires. Now to find some of them. I'm looking for a set

 

[emdsapmgr]

Bombardier sells individual plugwires as a kit. 582365

 

[1983 ercoa 21']

Got to work dug out the meter tested wires they tested good. Back to the drawing board.

 

[1983 ercoa 21']

Ok after reading over this I should clear something up. When I changed pp on the opposite side like fastbullet recommended I used the old one thinking maybe it was good and it wasn't this is y it wouldn't shut off. So last night I made a pig tail to hook up coils with and used a known good pp and still #3&5 will light the timing lite then won't.# 1 works good. So now my question is where could this problem lay pp,stator,timer base. Haven't gotten my dva adaptor yet.

 

[emdsapmgr]

So, the power pack is "good" yet you have no spark on 3/5. Unlikely it's the coils, so the problem may lie upstream of the pack, either the stator or the timer base. If one side of the stator goes bad, usually you won't get any fire on one side of the engine. Yet you have fire on #1. I'd probably check the timer base first.

 

[1983 ercoa 21']

That's kinda what I was thinking.
this motor set for several years.
I'm not real familiar with the timer base is there anything that could be cleaned? And would have that made the 1st pp go bad?

 

[1983 ercoa 21']

I have a 79 175 that's a good motor omc shows different numbers for the timer base but cdi shows the timer base to be the same from 79 to 88 anyone confirm this?

 

[emdsapmgr]

Probably correct. In 1989 OMC went to the single power pack. That brought on a new feature: Quickstart. Likely that necessitated a redesign of the timer bases in 89, as the factory timer bases changed part numbers.

 

[1983 ercoa 21']

I came home tonight put plug wires back on fired the motor and moved the timing light pickup from one end to the other and picked up strong on both ends of all six. Shut it off for a bit the re fired it and it would only pickup on the end closest to the coil. So I'm wondering since the plug wires are a stainless steel braded if some of the strains are breaking down kind like electric wire when it will carry the voltage but not the amperage. Is my thinking off?

 

[emdsapmgr]

Weak ignition components tend to work when the engine is cold, then crap out once the engine reaches normal operating temps. You may be seeing that. The timing light is sensitive to any voltage and will indicate. It does not indicate that there is enough voltage to actually fire a plug under compression. Try the cyl-drop test or use a spark test tool. It would be unusual for the plugwires to break down in that short period of time.

 

[1983 ercoa 21']

I really think that I had more than one problem the pp was one and I'm thinking plug wires are the other. I have done the drop test before and after the timing light. I also ohm tested plug wires cold and warm and they show no resistance cold and they do when warm. These are just part of the battle of reviving and motor that has set for several years this isn't the first one IV done nor the last one like most of us on here I got to have something to tinker with lol. This is the first time IV had multiple ignition problems.

 

[1983 ercoa 21']

Ok after changing the power pack on the side that was hitting fine with a known good one thanks fastbullet ? Got back to firing on all 6 . As to timing light picking up at one end of the plug wire and not the other even though they ohm tested good I replaced them went to the lake and all was well. Thanks for the help gentlemen