Vinny P

In addition to what was mentioned above, I would put a scanner on the motor to read all the sensor values and check for codes. If there is a stored code, it would most likely point to the problem.

H2Xmark

I had a friend that had a mouse or a rat get in his engine compartment, chewed his primary lead going to the ignition coil almost in two, like blown 1500 said earlier, check you wires going to the coil [primary and secondary] also grounds on the motor
sure sounds like an ignition problem to me

BryanTuvell

Plugs look brand new.
ALL wires are clean and snug, all connections snapped firmly in place..
Dist Cap, one screw was hard ro remove, possibly it was binding, fixed.
Neighbors get 20 more minutes of sleep until I fire her off.

What actually gets reset from the red button breaker on the engine?
Bryan

mcollinstn

don't waste time looking at plug wires, cap, etc.
Your tach gets its signal from the ignition trigger. If your tach is erratic, then it is going to be in the ignition trigger, its wiring, wires to the tach, or the tach itself.

You say that the tach is erratic. When the tach is being erratic, can you hear the misfiring in the motor? If not, then you may just be having a tach issue that is unrelated to your engine ills (coincidences do happen).

I did go reread your original post and it sounds like the engine is indeed running like h@ll. Like others have pointed out, wiring connections need examined and don't forget grounds...

BryanTuvell

Just fired her off, same symptoms, tach is still jumpy and she won't rev up, no missing sounds.
Bryan

BryanTuvell

Well, sometimes I am my own worst enemy and forget the saying of "don't fix what is likely not broke!"

Stuck the old coil on and FIXED.
Runs like a champ.

I still have the have to give it a tad of gas issue to start her. I will next see if any codes are in the ECU.

Thanks guys, Bryan

rbtnt

Glad to see you found the problem. Thanks for letting us know what it was.

It's Sunday, your neighbors needed to get up before 9:00 to go to church anyway.

mfb357

Bryan, Glad you found the problem. I have the same engines.....2nd set (just replaced by Merc, Bad exaust.) they are 2000's. I have never had an engine so critical on voltage, If you are at all low 11 or 12 volts they will not start right. I have had to feather the throttle to get it to start also. The other thing is, if it is cold like 45* there is no choke on these motors, they really like the 70* air temp better. good luck, Mark

BryanTuvell

Thanks for the replies. It was odd why I even replaced the coil, it was a cosmetic issue believe it or not and I got it for free basically.

She is running rock solid now, I started her after each thing I did so I would be able to tell what I did that helped. All conections on everything looked great.
Bryan

Big E

Bryan - Glad to see that you have found your tach problem, but I am wondering about your having to feather the throttle to start on an efi. My buddy came over to the house today, he has a 27 Fountain Fever with a 502 Mag Efi in it and he said towards the end of the season last fall he had to feather the throttle to start it, and it was hard to start a couple of times. But every time he did have to feather the throttle. His boat it winterized now, but next weekend he is dewinterizing it. He was talking today that he talked to a mechanic about why he is having to feather the throttle. The mechanic was not sure, but he said it is not normal, and it could be with the sensors. My buddy was thinking about getting it looked at before the season goes into full swing. I was wondering what you found out with yours so I could tell my buddy, it was wierd because I read this thread last night, and then today out of the blue he showed up and told me about his delima and I told him someone just posted a thread about this problem.