boat died, stranded on the river, what happened?

[sweebs]

after buying boat last june with 'bad starter' that really was a seized motor and having spent most of the season last summer wrenching on the engine and outdrive to get it going again,, I have been thoroughly enjoying the boat since reviving her.. anywhoo, today me and the kids were out on the Mississippi having a blast, the engine was purring away as always, then suddenly and without warning she lost power and rpm and stalled. This is never a good thing but really not good on a powerful river with fast flood current.. Quickly went through the fuel system thinking possibly a clogged vent line, clogged fuel line maybe clogged mesh filter at the carb,, nothing obvious.. perhaps not getting spark but haven't been able to verify. Thing is, I went through and rebuilt, reconditioned or straight up replaced with new nearly everything last summer.. For instance, the spark thing, it has new plugs, plug wires, distributor cap, ignition module, coil,,, all but the thingy that mounts to the port side exhaust riser (looks like a plug) - boat is a 20 foot I/O Thompson Calais 2000 - 1991 (or 92? can't remember) 4.3 Mercruiser .. currently the engine turns over but doesn't even act like it wants to fire.. It was a long wait and long tow back to the marina!

 

[thumpar]

Check the lanyard switch if you have one. I would verify spark and fuel at the carb.

 

[alldodge]

If it cut quickly straight off then look for an electrical break in connection. If it died away a bit slower then maybe fuel


In any case you have to start with the basics, are you getting spark, is fuel in the carb

 

[H20Rat]

+1 on the lanyard, and don't forget the switch behind it. Those can and do fail.

 

[sweebs]

boat

 

[sweebs]

thank you for the suggestions,, there is no lanyard on this boat, I believe I found the problem, but have yet to verify as by the time I got to it the boat shop was closed so I don't have replacement part yet.

Apparently it's still impossible for me to upload a photo with the data limit this site imposes, so my pictures to illustrate aren't going to be available,, I'll try to explain..

I removed the distributor cap, the C-clip that normally is clipped into a recessed ring on the distributor shaft was instead off the shaft and lying on the bottom of the inside of the distributor housing.

I noticed that the rotor could rotate on the shaft which obviously it shouldn't. I popped the rotor off and the little plastic key that locates the rotor on the shaft was broken off, and advice on this site told me not to glue rotor on but simply rely on friction fit so since the plastic piece was broken and the rotor could spin independent of the shaft, the timing would have been off by who knows how much.

Without the C-clip in place, the distributor shaft was sitting slightly lower than it should as I had to lift the distributor up a little to reinstall the clip.

What I believe happened as evidenced by some damage I saw, was for whatever reason, that clip came off the shaft, the distributor fell down slightly causing the thin metal 'wings' of the rotor to come into contact with the ignition sensor where they normally pass through in close proximity but not in actual contact.

I think this is the case based on the fact that one of the wings was bent and the ignition sensor has a slight gash in it but hopefully will still work (?") This in turn I assume, is what caused the plastic key on the rotor to break, the timing to immediately go out and thus the engine stopping.

Going tomorrow morning to the boat shop for a replacement rotor and hoping this gets engine going again. Any idea why that C-clip would have came off? And how to prevent it from coming off again?

 

[funk6294]

I would probably take a close look at the bushings and make sure they are not worn or loose.

 

[redneck joe]

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/forum-rules-and-guidelines/9938375-photo-upload-tutorial




option three is best, imo

 

[Scott Danforth]

thank you for the suggestions,, there is no lanyard on this boat, I believe I found the problem, but have yet to verify as by the time I got to it the boat shop was closed so I don't have replacement part yet.

Apparently it's still impossible for me to upload a photo with the data limit this site imposes, so my pictures to illustrate aren't going to be available,, I'll try to explain..

I removed the distributor cap, the C-clip that normally is clipped into a recessed ring on the distributor shaft was instead off the shaft and lying on the bottom of the inside of the distributor housing.

I noticed that the rotor could rotate on the shaft which obviously it shouldn't. I popped the rotor off and the little plastic key that locates the rotor on the shaft was broken off, and advice on this site told me not to glue rotor on but simply rely on friction fit so since the plastic piece was broken and the rotor could spin independent of the shaft, the timing would have been off by who knows how much.

Without the C-clip in place, the distributor shaft was sitting slightly lower than it should as I had to lift the distributor up a little to reinstall the clip.

What I believe happened as evidenced by some damage I saw, was for whatever reason, that clip came off the shaft, the distributor fell down slightly causing the thin metal 'wings' of the rotor to come into contact with the ignition sensor where they normally pass through in close proximity but not in actual contact.

I think this is the case based on the fact that one of the wings was bent and the ignition sensor has a slight gash in it but hopefully will still work (?") This in turn I assume, is what caused the plastic key on the rotor to break, the timing to immediately go out and thus the engine stopping.

Going tomorrow morning to the boat shop for a replacement rotor and hoping this gets engine going again. Any idea why that C-clip would have came off? And how to prevent it from coming off again?

I would get a new dizzy myself if your current one came apart like you describbed

if you broke the tab on the rotor, the trigger ring (wings as you called it) contacted the ignition trigger and broke the rotor. most likely the ignition trigger also is damaged. replace the rotor and the ignition trigger (comes with a newdizzy)

 

[sweebs]

Replaced rotor, boat ran fine all summer