1987 Nautique 2001 with No Spark (oil light/alarm)

Cool you found it. John has a good point about using test light over a multimeter for stuff like this. Especially when you've only got one set of hands and you're working in a dark space.

alright guys it was bugging me not knowing what it was so I went back out and messed with it some more finally got it running!!!!! The stupid purple wire had fallen off the ignition and that was what was causing the issue…DAMN its hard to see where all those wires are running under the dash lol...THANK YOU ALL for your help though! I would have been running in circles without the help from everyone on here. I will hopefully be back out on the lake tomorrow enjoying the boat! Have a great weekend everyone!

Idiot

So it's a GT40 (2001)in an 80's boat, or a replacement carbed 351 from 2001?   

To be clear. Turn the key on and check for 12 volts at the ignition switch purple wire.
If you have it there, check the coil + for 12 volts. If you have it both places and no spark then you have either a dizzy or coil issue.
I use a test light for this over a meter simply because its fast and assures the connections are good enough for a bulb and not just a sensitive meter. (my light has a big bulb)
The reason I have you rooting behind the dash is because the overlapping symptoms of light and ignition come together there.
Do the gauges come to life?

baitkiller wrote: Good, those protec things are goofy. OK the oil alarm works off closing a ground switch and SHOULD light up with key-on-engine-off. Once started and oil pressure builds the switch opens on the engine and the light goes out, buzzer shuts up. The only thing this has in common with the spark issue is it's powered off the key-on circuit from the ignition switch. I would ask if the gauges zero out or respond with key on engine off. My guess its related to a purple wire behind the dash. Power comes into the key red and leaves purple to feed all the other stuff like alarms and gauges and ignition systems. Start at the key and keep moving till you find it. This should be easy.

Alright thanks a TON! I am not the greatest electrical person haha... Should I check the distributor next since I am having power to the starter and the boat cranks but doesn't have spark or is it possible for it to crank over with no power going to the coil/distributor to provide the spark? I am planning to go out and mess with it tomorrow when the rains done.

baitkiller wrote: Pro tec?

I don't think so? The engine has a distributor on it . I could go out and snap a picture of the engine if that will help.

Posted this in General Maintenance on accident, so I am reposting it in here...

Alright let me start off by saying for a while now the oil light has been flickering on and off on my 1987 Ski Nautique 2001(PCM 351 Engine) whether or not it is running and sometime the alarm will start to sound as well but it only last for a second or two so I have been ignoring it since the boat has oil and good oil pressure. Now onto the problem I am having…

The other day I was out on the lake and the oil light lit up as soon as I turned the key on (boat not running yet) and the alarm started sounding. I figured it was just doing what it has done before so I started the boat and took off… as soon as I got up to speed (about 30mph) the light turned off and the alarm stopped. Whenever I would come to a stop it would start to flicker on and off with the alarm sounding on and off, so I finally got sick of it and figured I would just disconnect a wire from the alarm so it would stop sounding…..

I go to start the boat again and it would turn over but not start, so I pulled a plug and checked for spark and there was none so I figured by unplugging the alarm it must have set off some kind of safety so the boat would not run…. I then proceeded to plug the wire back in figuring I would just deal with it acting up for the rest of the day and look into it after. Well once I plugged it back in the boat still would not start!!! Late last year I had an issue where the coil went so I figured maybe that was my issue again so I towed the boat in and called it a day. Today I went and purchased a new coil and just installed it and STILL NO SPARK!

Any isight into what maybe going on would be great! Has anyone had this issue before? I checked the big reset fuse on the engine and I pushed it in and it didn't seem to do much so I figure that is normal?