so i rewired my boat, 2nd time i went out it started grounding out somewhere and stalled AGAIN before i got out of the no wake zone at lake piru.

re wired all my guages, bilge pump, ignition switch, back to a terminal block

from there i re-wired the oil pressure, water temp, and the single alt. wire back the terminal block. grounded to the block, etc etc

i also installed a freash ballast resistor and when i tried to start the engine it started smoking.  BR's are bi-directional right?

anyway the engine would turn over, the BR started smoking, so i flipped the BR over thinking i had it wired in wrong but didnt do anything.

it goes. 12+ to ign switch from the starter sol. (same connection as the 12+ from the battery) comes back from the ign. switch to the BR, into the +coil with a wire coming from the starter solenoid labeled I (assuming its for cold starts), goes from the  - coil to the dist points AND the tach


thats give or take how the wiring is. theres a fuse under the dash on the 12+ right before the ign. switch and a 30amp circuit breaker at the terminal block tied into the pos. side of things and where the alternator comes in.


another thing i noticed is that im not getting spark which is what im assuming is causing the engine not to fire up. could i have burned out the ignition coil? i took the wire that goes from the ignition coil to the dist. cap and held it right next to the block and had my brother crank the engine and it didnt get any spark.

im confused. tired. and getting fed up with this project. all the connections were soldered and shrink wrapped. when i put a DMM to the br it picks up about 6v, the coil gets the same from the + to the - on the coil. just no spark..

i'll get a better description of the wiring if needed, just want some food for thought. thanks again for all the input and help i really appreciate it. i wouldnt have gotten this far without the help of everyone on these forums..

I am a  little tired from working a bunch of hours, but it sounds correct.

There are however a couple of things to check first though.

Not all ignition coils need a ballast resistor, some are "internally resisted". So be aware of that.

Second, it sounds like either your points are stuck closed or inadequate gap, or you have a bad condenser.

You should have about 8 volts to the output side of the resistor and same at the + terminal on the ign. coil with the key "on" and battery voltage when you crank the engine.

A cheat would be to put a jumper wire (temporary) from the positive battery terminal to the coil + and see if you have spark that way...

Otherwise, I suspect the problem is right under your nose and you just have to stumble across it in the right light....(don't know what that means but heard my late grandad say it once and I think it applies  )

Good luck...

GT

 You also might want to disconnect the tach wire at the coil.  Might have a bad tach sending a constant ground back to the coil, or the tach wire might be grounded somewhere.

You also might want to disconnect the tach wire at the coil.  Might have a bad tach sending a constant ground back to the coil, or the tach wire might be grounded somewhere.

Oh yeah, voice of experience there! 

Also, I didn't see mention of a wire from the starter to the coil directly. When in the start (Cranking) position, the coil sould have direct 12V. When you stop cranking, then everything runs through the resistor....

Ray

and on the other side of things.

ok so on the terminal block i'll go from top to bottom, (thats what it looks like on the picture)

black 10awg ground to guages /// grounded to block Black 10awg
12v hot to ignition switch RED/// looped to next position and goes into 30amp fuse. RED
blank (looped from last position/// looped to above position and single alternator wire.
white 10awg from start pos. on ignition switch///orange to starter soln.
comes from ignition switch "on" position Black/// to ballast resistor  Black
oil pressure guage Yellow /// oil pressure sender Yellow
water temp guage Blue /// water temp sensor Blue
Tach guage White/// ignition coil - terminal


that explains the terminal block  kinda i guess....

ok so from the terminal block the black 12awg wire goes into the Ballast Resistor, comes out orange, goes into the + terminal on the ignition coil WITH a 12 awg orange wire that comes up from the starter soln.

the black wire from the  - terminal on the ignition coil goes to the dist. that goes to the points, and the white wire goes to the terminal block for the tach.

now the starter soln. ok the white 10awg wire that was coming from the start position on the ignition switch goes into the terminal block, goes into a 30amp circuit breaker, then goes down to the starter solnoid. its under the black boot in the picture. the red taped wire on the left goes to the starter. the red wire with 1/4 of a boot left on it comes from the 12+ on the battery. theres a red 10awg wire underneath that bolt. and the last connection is the orange 12awg wire that goes up to the ignition coil + terminal.

first picture is the terminal block,
2nd picture the ballast resistor (still needs to be bolted down)
3rd picture is of the ignition coil and dist.
4th picture is of the circuit breaker
final picture is of the starter solnoid.

let me know what you think. all the ends are crimped, soldered and shrink wrapped. theres a stupid cover i gotta put over the terminal block but its a pain to remove so i work with it off.

 WOW thats a lot of color changes.  But as long as you can keep track of it.....

 If it runs with the key in the start position and not in the run position.  You dont have enough power getting to the coil in the run position.  Double check the voltage going into the BR and coming out of the BR when the key is in the run position.   Also (like GT mentioned) make sure your coil needs a ballast (some dont).

 You should have 12+v going into the BR with the key in the run position.  And around 8v on the output side when cranking (disconect that orange wire from the starter solenoid to test this). 

 Sounds like the ballast is bad, or the coil doesn't need a ballast, or theres no power getting to the ballast. 

 The ballast probably died when you released its "magic smoke".  All electrical components run on "magic smoke", once you release it, there dead. 

planning on changing the ballast. funny thing is today i skipped the ballast and it still did the same thing. only wanted to fire in the start position

yea the magic is definitely out

 OK, so you did the jumper wire trick and sent constant 12v power to the coil and it did the same thing ?  Or did you just bypass the ballast and use ign power from that black wire ? 

 Where narrowing it down now !

The coil doesn't need a BR, the points do.  You can run 12v constant to the points, but they won't live to long.....only a few months in a daily driven deal.  I'd bypass the resistor just to see what happens....wouldn't surprise ms if you got a bad resistor.

 He already bypassed the resistor and it did the same thing, fires in the start position and not in the run position. 

 I still think you should disconnect the tach before you install the new ballast. Something caused that ballast to smoke. 

Your ignition switch is not supplying "run" power to the coil. Coils do not operate on 12 volts. For the sake of argument I'm going to use 12 and 10 volts here. Coils run on 10 volts. when you start your boat Batt voltage drops to 10 volts. With the resister in line COIL voltage can drop to say 6 volts. The wire from the seleniod supplies 10 volts directly to coil ONLY while starting otherwiese it goes back to the power supplied from the  ignition swtich thru the resister, 10 volts.....replace your ignition switch.

Actually, pretty good, But Terry, system voltage should be in the 13.8 volt range when the boat is running and the alternator excites. You run a magneto and that is a different animal to be sure.

But I would agree the ignition switch could well be the problem, or wiring from it to the coil, or, as stated, the ballast itself is fubar. Simple jumper wire or someone holding a screwdriver across the resistor terminals while you start it should be able to tell you that much. 

All said and done, do you need to charge the battery often playing around with all this? I've found a LOT of problems recently with "tested ok" batteries that were actually junk (my Bluetop Optima being one of 'em)........

Ray

The coil doesn't need a BR, the points do.  You can run 12v constant to the points, but they won't live to long.....only a few months in a daily driven deal.  I'd bypass the resistor just to see what happens....wouldn't surprise ms if you got a bad resistor.

Totally agree with you on the points requiring the lower voltage, but the voltage to the points comes from the ignition coil. So an "internally resisted" coil can be used.

This sure sounds like a bad switch, the 6 volts with the key on is odd....almost sounds like two resistors....

GT

My 2 cts on what else I'd try before giving up and handing your wallet over to your mechanic:

1) Replace the coil with a cheap new one, or something that you know works.  There should be some "blue" color in your spark.  Doesn't sound like you have that (e.g. weak spark).

2) Disconnect/replace the condenser (capacitor).  Occasionally these break down and short out to ground.  I never had one work for only a second or two and then short to ground.  But I could envision that happening.  If you disconnect it to check and see if the engine runs, make sure you hook it back up or replace it, or else you'll burn up the points pretty quickly.

Check out the below site for other practical checks/ideas.  It's written from the standpoint of an MG owner, but the basics all apply.

http://www.custompistols.com/cars/articles/ignition.htm

Good luck.

Glad to hear that it was an inexpensive fix.  All of us that are in this stupid hobby need a break like that occasionally.....

Matt