Help!! No spark

[GoCanada72]

Hey, I have an 85 Ski Supreme with 351 PCM. Not getting any spark. Limited tools on hand...should coil wire spark when held close to ground/metal while cranking?? I don’t get anything even when very close/touching metal.

Is this normal? Boat is all original, points and distributor, not electronic ignition.

Any help is appreciated.

[Skidave]

I bet your coil died or you have a wiring problem going to your coil. Should be able to get a suitable coil at an auto parts store. If you still have the ballast resistor, make sure it is not open (infinite resistance) or physically broken. This is all assuming you checked fuses for ignition and so on.

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[GoCanada72]

I hair my hands on a multimeter and test light and I have voltage on + and - side, and the resistance of the coil is 9000 ohms I think. I picked up new coil at auto parts store that is to be used with ballast (I have ballast) . How do you check balance resistor? Coil I purchased is IC70 standard ignition coil.

[gun-driver]

if your getting 9 volts at the coil your ballast resistor is good.
The last coil I got for my ‘85 was a Standard 1.5 ohm UF-2 and it should say on the box “external resistor required”

[GoCanada72]

Just measured 9-10 volts at +_- coil terminals with ignition on.

[GoCanada72]

Here is a pic showing voltage

[GoCanada72]

Here’s a pic showing resistance.

[GoCanada72]

Here is resistance of coil I bought. What I don’t get is, doesn’t the existing coil measure OK? Is it possible for the old coil to measure ok but still not work? I can try the new coil but i don’t want to mess anything up.

[Scooter G]

Your points fire the spark from the coil. Could be wrong, but the old coil looks good. Maybe something under the cap, a bad condenser, usually under the cap, will shut you down. Points look good?
Check to see that your rotor is actually turning when you crank with the cap off.

[gun-driver]

To test the primary resistance you need to disconnect the + and - wires the check across the to studs.

[GoCanada72]

Thanks I’ll disconnect the wires to coil and measure resistance across. Inside distributor looks clean. I put test light on coil and it flashes while cranking. I’m stumped . I’ll take pictures of inside of distributor. I tried to measure resistance of condenser and it seems to have resistance initially, then it drops, I saw somewhere that that was ok. With all the above, is there still chance it could be coil?

[GoCanada72]

I disconnected the wires and tested resistance of coil across studs, and it was 2.5 ohm, exact same as new coil.

[GoCanada72]

Inside distributor

[GoCanada72]

More of same

[GoCanada72]

Inside of cap