Mercruiser 140 dropped dropped dead between house and lake

[MTBoat]

Today I put new plugs, set the dwell and adjusted the timing on my 140. It ran so sweet that a touch of the key and it fired right up.

I took it with a friend to the lake an hour away.

Wouldn't fire, nothing. Tried a little starter fluid just in case, but nothing. dead, but cranked over nicely.

All gauges work when key is turned on.

Tried putting a spark plug into the coil wire that goes to the distributor and grounding to engine with the key on, nothing.

I tried a multimeter on the battery side of the coil and(not sure I hooked it to the right wires etc) but didn't see any activity there.

1. Can the ignition fuse cause this, and where is the thing exactly.
2. Is there a kind of 1,2,3 test to find out what's happening?

3. Any best guesses as to why it went from fine to dead in a short drive?

Appreciate all input and/or link/pix etc.

 

[achris]

Re: Mercruiser 140 dropped dropped dead between house and lake

A/ did you put new points in? If you did, did you clean them first (not with sandpaper, but with a cleaning fluid, like meths)?
B/ If the fuse popped you would not be able to crank it and the gauges would be dead.
C/ Try running a piece of newspaper between the points...

Chris......

 

[markheck1]

Re: Mercruiser 140 dropped dropped dead between house and lake

does the boat have a lanyard kill switch that got bumped maybe?

 

[MTBoat]

Re: Mercruiser 140 dropped dropped dead between house and lake

Solved FYI:
After reviweing everyone's input I went to recheck the distributor situation and noticed a small glitch when it was put on by my buddy and not fully seated but appeared to be.
Took it off, cleaned well, replaced and re-checked timing.
Spark strong, and fires at the touch of the key.
Thanks all