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I have a 2001 E225 in a B*** Boat. It cranks but has no spark. The battery load tested good. I do know if its low it won’t allow spark. I’ve tried a known good (new) battery out of my friend’s boat still no spark. The fuel is there and the pumps working. I pulled all the plugs re-gapped and indexed them etc...They read ok. I tried to down load the book and a troubleshooting flow chart but the PDF won’t cooperate. I have 30 years’ experience with engines & generators of all sizes, so I have a good grasp of modern computer controlled ECMs etc...First boat no outboard experience though. Just need some pointers on where to start troubleshooting. Tournament on Saturday!!! Any direction would be greatly appreciated.
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Is the tether connected? Thats usually the first thing I would look at. If it's connected do a spark check. How is the spark, all cylinders firing? Only one bank? You need some special test equipment to diagnos the ignition system and if you don't want to make an investement it might be time to take it in. Otherwise you need an ohms meter, peak reading volt meter and the specs. Coil driver is nice, but I've never seen all the coils bad at once. One bank out is usually a powerpack, but it could be the stator too. The parts are expensive and you don't want to "shotgun" parts at it.
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J, Thanks for the reply. When you say the stator I would ***ume thats the charging system and its under the flywheel? I should be able to at least verify an open or a short to ground in the stator. I will be diving in deeper tonight to look for obvious things.Comment
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I would have to look at a parts manual to be sure, but most stators also contain the charge coil, which develops the voltage stored in the cd box; one part covers all (expensive). I don't remember if that particular model has the OSI ignition, but if it does, it's an optical sensor to fire the pack, kind of like the charge coil, but it's optical. If not, the charge coil can be part of it or not, but yes, under the flywheel.
If you have a spark tester for all cylinders, you can take out all the plugs, connect the tester to all the plug wires, ground them to prevent damage. Then disconnect the red connector(main harness) to eliminate the key from the system. You will have to manually jump the solinoid to crank the engine. Do this at your own risk, not dangerous or anything, but dont use a screwdriver ! Use a jumper made for the task. I have years of experience working on OBM's and this is how we did it at the stealership.
There is also a switch in the sytem to prevent the unit from starting in gear, that will need to checked too.
JComment
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Hi J,
I do see a single wire going into the head just above the bottom plug I’ll ***ume it’s the optical sensor for the OSI. Yesterday we played around with the engine here’s what we found so far. I checked the tether. It won’t allow cranking when the switch is open yet will when it’s closed so I'll ***ume it works. We checked all fuses even the inline fuse on the top right side of the engine (standing at the prop). I pulled all the plugs none were fouled, all looked good and tan. I don’t have a diagram/schematic to know which pins to probe on the stator connector. I tried various pin cavities in various order but couldn’t get the Fluke to read resistance or continuity.
Interestingly I put my inline spark tester on each plug. No fire on all 6. But I pulled the top plug on the right bank and grounded the electrode a head bolt. It sparked and the engine wanted to turn over… it would partially fire but didn’t catch because something isn’t getting a proper signal. It seemed to fire only on that bank. Yet the spark tester showed no spark. I reinstalled that plug and went over to the other side and pulled the top plug and tried that same test. No spark and the engine didn’t try to fire at all. I tried this with all 6 plugs. The only one that would induce a start attempt was the top right??? I’ve seen this tester not work when a plug was washed & fouled. Why would it attempt to fire with the plug out and grounded but not when it’s installed into the cylinder? Do these plugs need a real good ground at the seal washer to head interface? Looks like someone previously put some type of grease between the washer and head on all 6. Doesn’t look like anti-seize but maybe die-electric?
This engine ran well when we had it out last week. Then out of nowhere it did this crank but no start thing. We pulled the cover and fiddled with it on the water (didn’t see anything) and it started and ran well the rest if that day. Then we put it in the water Monday and it did this again. We took it home and charged the batteries and it cranked and fired in the driveway. Then we took it to the water and nothing dead again.
FYI the trim motor asm was replaced 2 weeks ago. It ran several times after that. This system isn’t tied into anything but the power supply off the starter solenoid at the top left on the engine from what I see.Comment
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The trim motor shouldn't effect anything. What gap do you have your spark tester at? These ignition systems should jump 1/2".
Usually all the warning wires are tan, and a wire going into the head will usually be for an overheat warning.
What is your battery voltage, Low cranking speed?
There is nothing special about how the plugs ground, but the only place I put dialectric grease on is the tip of the plug that fits in the plug wire, if at all.
Look for loose grounds, when the trim motor was changed they might not have tightened them all, or the loosed one. The CD boxes need a clean tight ground.
Good luck.
JComment
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