Boat Down No Spark

[LSV04]

Hey,
First ever breakdown,no complaints,boat is great,other than normal wear/ no issues with my boat other than impeller & battery. But now NO SPARK.550 hours. I do not believe the plugs were ever changed. Marina claims to have done a "full service" in 2010 .

At the end of last summer I started getting hesitation getting up to speed wakeboarding between 15-22mph. Once she got there she ran ok. This was especially happening with extra people in the boat. Last week the boat stalled going very slow 5 mph, but then started back up.
Back at dock,my buddy inspected dist. cap & rotor.They were coroded so he replaced and she started up like new. after getting hot the boat stalled again .
He then replaced the module,performance coil. She fired right up, ran beautiful,thought I was ok until about 20 minutes then down again.No foul smells,no overheating. rowed her back to dock.
My buddy couldnt get to, or wasnt comfortable replacing the Pickup coil(round part in distributor that spins) . He suspects this is the problem.
Now the marina has the boat and there is no spark. Fuel pump ok.Computer ok. Marina said maybe a entire new distributor or maybe ECU or ECM(not sure of the part)? which I know is expensive. I guess its process of elimination. If you all have any suggestions it would be much appreciated. I have a load of company coming next weekend!!!!! Thanks in advance!!!

[motosno963]

start on the lower end of the $$ train and work your way up..we all hope its not the ecm

[moombadaze]

im sure you checked it already, but what about the kill switch/teather

[maxpower220]

Could you explain how you know you are not getting spark? Do you know what your fuel pressure is up to the fuel rail? From your explaination, you always seem to have trouble when the boat is warm/hot, after use. Do you have any issues when the boat is cool.

You said it started doing it more (in the beginning) under load. I would suspect more of a fuel issue. The boats are known for vapor lock, fuel pump, and filter issues. That is why I am leaning to that side.

Also, I had to replace my ignition switch because it developed a dead spot on the keyed "on" position. I thought it was a fuel/ignition issue. It was cheap, you may want to try there also.

[98outback]

I had the same problem and replacing the coil fixed my issues. Would only do it after the boat warmed up and then would not crank after that.

[mmandley]

Noy quite the same but my ole 92 Camero would start great when she was cold and run like a raped Ape untill i shut her off. Then she would crank and no start after that for about 6 hours. Then fire right up again and start the sequence over.

Basically if you look at the distributor you will see the wires going into the side just below the cap, it plugs into a chip of sorts, i cant recall the official name but anyhow, my connections were corroded on this too. It would start great but after the engine got hot, and started to cool down it would condensate this connection. If cleaning it doesn't fix it then replace the part the wires plug into. Take it out and go to a parts store. This might be part of the pick up circuit because it tells the coil to send the spark, on my Camero i had a no spark situation.

Before you spend any money check this out and clean it up, don't just start replacing parts till the problem is fixed.

I would lean to the Distributor being the problem, ECMs, ECU either work or they don't.

Replacing the entire Distributor isn't required unless it wont hold timing or there's is a bearing failure. This is just a IDK WTF is wrong so I'm going to replace a major item and Hope i solve it so i can say i am smart. <technician speaking>

[LSV04]

I suspect these systems are connected,if theres a fuel issue itll effect the spark?
Max-I will sggest ignition, fuel pressure seem good,gas sprayed from the valve,is this a valid fuel pressure check? And yes the engine did seem to run fine cool. after a few runs (20 minutes) died.
98 Outback-thx, did you replace the pickup coil?,this is the last part in there we were leary to mess with.
Kill switch no I have not had that checked.
Marina is super busy right no and the rain has delayed working on the boat. just bothers me when I go to the marina office and they look baffled of what it could be and taking my suggestions of what it could be ,costing me more money. Ill keep ya posted.
Thanks again for the input.

[kaneboats]

I have some advice. Get it out of there and take it somewhere where they know what they are doing.

[98outback]

I'm calling it the cool pack. Has a spark plg wire coming off the top of it. It's mounted desperate from the distributor.