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GT-40 Cough, cough, maybe pull a skier

Printed From: CorrectCraftFan.com
Category: Repairs and Maintenance
Forum Name: Engine Repair
Forum Discription: Engine problems and solutions
URL: http://www.CorrectCraftFan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=43262
Printed Date: May-15-2024 at 10:28pm


Topic: GT-40 Cough, cough, maybe pull a skier
Posted By: wetskier2000
Subject: GT-40 Cough, cough, maybe pull a skier
Date Posted: July-27-2018 at 1:48pm
1997 SN GT-40, 1400 hours. we've had a situation for several years where we'd ski, ski, ski, shut off the boat, start it up over and over successfully, then at some point in the day it would start, but cough, sputter and blow some black smoke. A restart would generally "fix" it so it was mostly an annoyance.

Recently the issues got worse with an intermittent miss while towing a skier to a continual miss then barely a start . I tried to read codes but got none. No warning light was illuminated on the dash. I tested the fuel pressure and it stayed within spec at idle and towing a skier while the miss continued. I turned towards ignition with new plugs, cap, rotor and wires. Miss remained. THEN, armed with a new Hall effect sensor I looked closely at the inside of the distributor. Gee, those look like metal shavings.. Where the hell would metal shavings come from inside the disty?? Look at that I can wiggle the old Hall effect sensor. I pull off the rotor and metal piece that has the cut outs for the Hall Effect sensor to find the inside of the tabs eaten by rubbing against the loose sensor... "Hmmmm.. this is probably not good".... I decide to replace the entire disty from the local parts store for 93 bucks... MISSING SOLVED!!!!!!!!!

Time will tell if the occasional sputter is solved also,

I also had to replace a bad ECM, but I think that was an entirely separate issue. Old ECM would no longer command the fuel pumps on for key on. Replacement ECM turned them on just fine.


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Current: 1997 Nautique

Previous: 1987 Nautique

          1964 American Skier



Replies:
Posted By: tryathlete
Date Posted: July-27-2018 at 1:58pm
Nicely done! Make sure to post on the “poor man’s GT-40 troubleshooting” thread if you can, or maybe mods can move this there.

The Hall effect pickup is a known issue with corrosion as its main driver. I hate to change my distributor cap and rotor because it forces me to look at the dust and dirt in there which I inevitably clean out.


Posted By: gt40KS
Date Posted: July-27-2018 at 3:30pm
I replaced my dizzy last week as well. PIP was loose so I'm sure that was contributing to an uneven idle issue I've had since I bought the boat. This is a fairly well known issue with the same era Mustangs & Lightnings that use the exact same distributor.   Along with new sensors and the correct wiring she purrs nicely now.... Ok, well she more growls than purrs

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JCCI
1995 Ski Nautique GT40


Posted By: wetskier2000
Date Posted: July-30-2018 at 11:39am
The Spectra part number was FD12. First I ordered a disty for a 1995 Ford Mustang GT 5.0l since I found a number of parts matched. But on this one the 5.0l disty would not sit down into the motor cuz the oil pump drive was a smaller diameter. The 1995 Mustang 5.8l distributor fit fine.

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Current: 1997 Nautique

Previous: 1987 Nautique

          1964 American Skier


Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: July-30-2018 at 11:56am
Originally posted by wetskier2000 wetskier2000 wrote:

The Spectra part number was FD12..


You might want to double check that Spectra number since an FD 12 fits a v-6 Ford

I'd add 2 and come up with an FD 14 myself

The FD 14 has been used by others here on CCF too.



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