Carver Owners Forum

Hello and Happy New Year,
I have a small engine start problem that i'd like to get fixed or fix before the spring.
SO for my last ride the engine wouldn't go higher than 3000 rpm and it didn't really want to do that much. By the time i made it to the marina for storage about 45 minutes it cut off and wouldn't start.. I checked the entire fuel system the engine is getting fuel.. just no spark... so I changed
Wires and plugs
cap and rotor
pointes and ( that little cylinder thing lol)
still nothing so i converted it to electronic still nothing.... if I leave the cap off and try to start it i can see spark on the bottom of the cap . I'm getting spark from the coil just not to the plugs....sooooo my big question is could my Distributer be bad? during the electronic ignition conversion i noticed a lot of rust inside of the Distributer. Before I make any changes I want to loosen the distributer and twist to see if its a timing issue.
Any Suggestions would be helpful

ataylor233 wrote:Source of the post noticed a lot of rust inside of the Distributer

This is certainly a no-go for a distributor. It must be rust free and the contact points should be clean and corrosion free.

uchu wrote:Source of the post

ataylor233 wrote:Source of the post noticed a lot of rust inside of the Distributer

This is certainly a no-go for a distributor. It must be rust free and the contact points should be clean and corrosion free.

Yes the insides under the plate that holds the contacts was pretty rusty.. Im going to look for a replacement now. Thank you

You could likely take the distributor apart and clean it up. After it's cleaned, spray all the mechanisms down with T-9 Boesheild. It's very common for those internals to rust up, which also causes the mechanical advance mechanism to get sticky or stop working altogether, which will cause all kinds of weird issues. A stuck or unworking mechanical advance could have definitely caused the problem limiting the engine to around 3000 RPM, and a sticky one could cause hard start problems. You need the timing to be reasonable correct for the engine to start and run correctly. DEFINITELY check where the timing is before you go any further.

You can test the mechanical advance pretty easy. Take the cap off and try an twist the rotor. One way it won't twist at all and the other way it will twist a little bit and spring back to the original position. If it won't twist at all, or doesn't snap back then there is an issue that needs to be addressed.

If you have spark on the coil output but not getting it to the plugs, the ONLY two things that causes that is a bad cap or bad rotor. Just a microscopic crack can cause voltage to leak to ground, especially if it's contaminated with anything conductive. And even a new cap or rotor can be defective, so it's always good to put a new cap or rotor on a RUNNING engine rather than to replace things to troubleshoot. I would periodically buy replacements and put them on right away, then use the old ones as the "known good spares", rather than keep new untested ones as spares.

It's a VERY BAD practice to have the coil fire without an appropriate ground available (like, via a spark plug). If there's no place to ground, the voltage can build up high enough that it eventually breaks down the insulation in the coil. This will make a coil produce intermittent or erratic results.

ataylor233 wrote:Source of the post SO for my last ride the engine wouldn't go higher than 3000 rpm and it didn't really want to do that much. By the time i made it to the marina for storage about 45 minutes it cut off and wouldn't start.. I checked the entire fuel system the engine is getting fuel.. just no spark... so I changed

You have only mentioned one engine here.....how is the other side doing.....if it is weak it could keep both engines back in RPM.

Whatever you do be careful not to create open sparks in a gas engine compartment......make double sure the blowers have been on and cleared the air in the compartment, also the area needs to pass the sniff test before any work is done.

bud37 wrote:Source of the post

ataylor233 wrote:Source of the post SO for my last ride the engine wouldn't go higher than 3000 rpm and it didn't really want to do that much. By the time i made it to the marina for storage about 45 minutes it cut off and wouldn't start.. I checked the entire fuel system the engine is getting fuel.. just no spark... so I changed

You have only mentioned one engine here.....how is the other side doing.....if it is weak it could keep both engines back in RPM.

Whatever you do be careful not to create open sparks in a gas engine compartment......make double sure the blowers have been on and cleared the air in the compartment, also the area needs to pass the sniff test before any work is done.

Thank you the other engine is running great. I'm always carefull when it comes to safety thanks for the tip

How are you checking for spark at the plugs, are you using a tool or just a visual determination? You can be getting a spark but not a good one. A poor spark can be due to a number of things. Are you sure the engine has good battery voltage? Good battery cable connections both positive and grounds, clean and tight?

I assume we're talking Crusaders here? What model and year?

Viper wrote:Source of the post How are you checking for spark at the plugs, are you using a tool or just a visual determination? You can be getting a spark but not a good one. A poor spark can be due to a number of things. Are you sure the engine has good battery voltage? Good battery cable connections both positive and grounds, clean and tight?

I assume we're talking Crusaders here? What model and year?

1986 carver 3207 crusader 270's starboard engine i have a plug light i use to trouble shoot

Check all the items mentioned above and also do a voltage drop test while you crank the engine. If it drops too much, you may not be generating a good spark while cranking. A dull, dim, yellow spark won't do it. It needs to be a clean, bright white single arc. Depending on the tester you use, you may not be able to see a poor spark.

Electronic distributor conversion? Did you bypass the ballast resistor? Most of the conversion kits want full 12 volts to work properly.