coil leaking?

[nrob84]

i have an 87 mercruiser 470. i wiped everything down a few days back and lubricated all linkages but was careful not to make a mess. after i had noticed on the two wires that come off my coil there was a yellow oil almost dripping off, didnt think much of it, looked around for an oil leak, couldnt find one and checked engine oil, hadnt lost any wiped it down best i could. went out fishing and when i got home i started checking everything just to make sure all was ok, oil ok, coolant ok, but noticed the yellow oil on the wire coming off the coil. still cant find an oil leak, no oil anywhere else... no drips... could this oil be coming out of the coil? coil is mounted on its side and the oil is on the wire connected to the terminal to the left of the coil output. thanks for any help!!!

 

[Don S]

Re: coil leaking?

It's possible a coil can leak the oil out, if it looks like the oil is coming from the coil,replace it and see if it cures the problem.

 

[nrob84]

Re: coil leaking?

thanks don , just wasnt sure if the coil had a yellow oil in it, looks alot like engine oil but i cant seem to see where it is coming from, ill look into a coil in the morning, thanks again

 

[EddiePetty]

Re: coil leaking?

...sounds like a coil on the verge of failure. By chance have you either replaced/by-passed the resistor wire and/or accidently left the ignition ON for an extended period of time WITHOUT the engine running?
If you do not replace the coil NOW, better have a spare onboard at the next underway !!!

FWIW....Ed in 'ol Virginny

 

[nrob84]

Re: coil leaking?

hmmm glad i found it... i just baught the boat less then a month ago so it is possible that the ignition was left on. i checked the resistor wire, looks ok... but there is a wiring diagram in the service manual that the previous owner gave me and i noticed he has the resistor wire circled in highlighter. how can i check to make sure the wire is ok? what should be on that wire? 12v? ground? a specific resistance? any help would be appreciated


EDIT: i went out and looked at the wiring, and compaired to diagram. looks like he replaced the purple wire that comes out of the wire harness boot to the choke, he just cut the wire and added his own purple wire that seems to go the the front of the boat. should that wire have 12 volts? the resistance wire then comes out of the choke and goes driectly to the coil. then a ground wire is connected to a mounting bolt of the choke. is this correct? thank you again! you guys are te best!!

 

[ErieRon]

Re: coil leaking?

Service manual #8, Section 4B-6, bottom right is the procedure, Spec (Sec. 4B-1) says; 1.8-2 Ohms

Link; http://www.4shared.com/dir/18271733/8f0c50ea/serv_man__8_-_4_cyl.html

 

[nrob84]

Re: coil leaking?

hmmm so i downloaded the 7 zip thing, and downloaded the manual, how do i open it i tried right clicking and extracting files and it says it cant? what am i doing wrong?

 

[airdvr1227]

Re: coil leaking?

You need a program to unzip files.

Try here.

 

[ErieRon]

Re: coil leaking?

You have to check off the little box on the left and then click the green "download arrow" at the far right. If I remember, you need all of those listed.

Or, Try this link; http://www.4shared.com/account/home.jsp

Just click on the pdf and it will direct you from there.

Let me know if you have any problems.

 

[ErieRon]

Re: coil leaking?

And what airdvr said...if you don't have a Zip utility

 

[nrob84]

Re: coil leaking?

ok so i downloaded winzip and installed it, clicked the box on the left then the green arrow on the right, selected save, after download i cant seem to do anything with it, i know im probobly annoying you all with my problems with this. just getting frustrated trying to open this!!

 

[nrob84]

Re: coil leaking?

well anyway i did some looking on these forums while it was downloading and found a guy that posted a problem about 6 years back, turns out you were right it should be about 1.8-2 ohms, so i can just check the resistance from the end at the choke to the end at the coil right?? gonna run out and check it soon as he rain lets up thanks again!!

 

[ErieRon]

Re: coil leaking?

I'm going from memory here...if you installed WinZip and downloaded the file it should open in the WinZip window. From there, you have to extract it and name a file where it will extract it to. Once that's done, you have to go to that file and open it.

Did you try this other link? I think this one is a pdf file. Might be easier to manage; http://www.4shared.com/account/home.jsp

In the meantime, I have it, so if you need some info let me know. I'll keep an eye on this thread.

 

[nrob84]

Re: coil leaking?

thanks eireron, still having trouble opening it from eithor link. but in the meantime this is what ive got. the purple wire that comes out of the wire harness boot that should go to the choke (according to my wiring diagram) is cut. there is a new purple wire added that appears to come from ign+ and goes directly to the choke. there is only one terminal on the choke. there is a second purple wire that comes out of that same terminal on the choke to the ign coil +. that wire has a resistance of 1.2 ohms. there is also a cut purple wire in the harness right next to the carb. i measured the bare end of the wire to the coil + and it has 1.8 ohms... ill post a few pics so you know what im looking at in a min. the guy that owned this was a HACK. but it does run

 

[ErieRon]

Re: coil leaking?

If you click on my name "ErieRon" it will go to my profile. From there, look for "contact info" and send your email address in a private message. I'll send you what I can from there.

In the meantime I'll review your last post and see if I can give some direction.

 

[Jeepster04]

Re: coil leaking?

Yup, we had oil coming out of one of our coils too. Seemed like it was coming out of the plug where the coil wire goes out to the distributor. Wasnt having any issues but the coil looked original and given they are cheap we went ahead and replaced them on both engines.

Oil was clear in ours but Im sure its different for different brands.

 

[nrob84]

Re: coil leaking?

here are the pics, all highlights in my diagram are from previous owner. which wire should i be checking for resistance?

 

[Don S]

Re: coil leaking?

I just edited the Adults only sticky to show another download for manual #8. It's a lot easier to use. Had you looked at the Bilgamesh link instead of scrolling past it, you would have found it a long time ago.

http://www.4shared.com/account/file/121929231/58a54283/MercruiserManual8.html

 

[nrob84]

Re: coil leaking?

thanks don, i tried both the links erieron posted earlier and tried to find the pdf file he spoke of and couldnt find it!! got it now thank again!