PCM351 Not Starting |
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Kmac1587
Newbie Joined: June-22-2012 Location: Hampstead, NH Status: Offline Points: 25 |
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Posted: July-31-2013 at 2:42pm |
Ive got a 92 Sport Nautique with a Ford PCM351 powering it. It is turning over but not firing up. I have tried the following already:
New Plugs New Fuel Filter Tested the manual fuel pump (works) before the season we replaced the alternator, starter and batteries. Distributor doesnt seem cracked or damaged. Any suggestions???? The boat went from running just fine to not firing up. |
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Morfoot
Grand Poobah Joined: February-06-2004 Location: South Lanier Status: Offline Points: 5320 |
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First thing you need to do is determine whether or not you have a spark or not. Seeing as how you were running fine at the beginning of the season after changing just about everything you need to start there first. Sounds like it could be the coil but you have to determine if you have fire at the plugs.
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"Morfoot; He can ski. He can wakeboard.He can cook chicken.He can create his own self-named beverage, & can also apparently fly. A man of many talents."72 Mustang "Kermit",88 SN Miss Scarlett, 99 SN "Sherman"
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Kmac1587
Newbie Joined: June-22-2012 Location: Hampstead, NH Status: Offline Points: 25 |
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Great advice, how would I check for that?
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dwcar
Platinum Member Joined: February-11-2007 Location: Houston Texas Status: Offline Points: 1103 |
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Get you a long screwdriver and insert it in to the spark plug socket. hold the screwdriver by the handle and have a friend turn the boat over while holding the metal shaft of the screwdriver up close to some metal on the engine. You should see spark. If no spark there, move up to the coil and do the same thing.
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83Ski
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phatsat67
Grand Poobah Joined: March-13-2006 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 6157 |
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Or you can just leave the plug in the hole and ground it to a point on the engine that you have verified to be a good ground (exhaust manifold bolts).
Make sure your body isn't grounded to the engine when it is cranked over or you will find out how to start your morning off with a jolt! Do yourself a favor and go down to the parts store an pick up two tools. A decent quality multi-meter and a good bright test light. These will help you out more in the future than you will ever know. Running electrical tests are simple if you know what to look for. That we can help with. If you have no tools its just random fire trying to hang parts on it and see if it starts. |
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phatsat67
Grand Poobah Joined: March-13-2006 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 6157 |
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Just for verification this boat does have an actual distributor and not a pro-tec system correct?
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Kmac1587
Newbie Joined: June-22-2012 Location: Hampstead, NH Status: Offline Points: 25 |
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yes it has a distributor. Ive replaced the plugs already, but your saying I can test the coil by doing this? I have a multimeter and test light.
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phatsat67
Grand Poobah Joined: March-13-2006 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 6157 |
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Perfect, Ground your test light and turn the ignition on. Verify that you are getting power to the positive side of the coil. If that works disconnect the negative side of the coil. Hook your test light to a positive lead and run the ring of the disconnected up the test light. Have someone crank the engine. The test light should pulse on and off if the points(or electronic ignition is working properly). A coil fires by being grounded. All points or an electronic ignition does is ground the coil. If both of these things are functioning then the coil is probably the culprit.
First test the spark at the plugs to verity that the plugs are not getting spark. Another way around all of that is to see if spark jumps from the coil wire when you hold it close to a ground source. If you get spark at the coil wire and none at the plug wires then the problem is between the distributor cap and plugs. We don't know if it is ignition yet but those are some tests you can do. |
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phatsat67
Grand Poobah Joined: March-13-2006 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 6157 |
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Give us all the info possible on what the set up is.
I learned the test light method to test ignition points/modules working on snowmobiles. On dual point sleds you had to have the heads off with a dial indicator on the piston and a test light from a positive to each point. This was used to achieve proper ignition timing (what a pain). Points won't fully turn the test light off usually. Just look for a pulsation of the light maybe not a complete on and off. |
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Kmac1587
Newbie Joined: June-22-2012 Location: Hampstead, NH Status: Offline Points: 25 |
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Novice question here, where is the coil located?
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phatsat67
Grand Poobah Joined: March-13-2006 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 6157 |
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If it has a standard distributor system the coil should be on the left of the intake manifold slightly left of the carburetor. The wire in the middle of the distributor cap goes to the coil..
Some pictures of your engine will help us tell what you have and where you need to look. Got any buddies that are good at these types of things? If you are asking where the coil is I would highly suggest having a mechanical friend help out. |
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Kmac1587
Newbie Joined: June-22-2012 Location: Hampstead, NH Status: Offline Points: 25 |
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Im fairly mechanical this particular problem is one Ive never really tackled thats all. I went back out and looked at the engine and found the coil (like I said, novice question) and have some pictures. Phone takes too good of quality photos to let me upload them though. Do you mind if I email them directly?
Either way, the coil is an MSD Blast Ignition. I will attempt to remove the positive wire, test, then the negative like you recommended. |
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phatsat67
Grand Poobah Joined: March-13-2006 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 6157 |
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Yes email.
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