Posted by will (4.178.108.235) on June 15, 2004 at 09:53:03:
In Reply to: distributor posted by steve talley on 01:31:48 06/15/04:
Welcome to the club Steve. I have a 30' Pearson Coaster. We love it. The galley is midship on the starboard side so engine access is fairly easy, as far as boats go. I have found the biggest problems with these engines is bad or contaminated fuel. The other is the distributor.
The coils also go bad. They will usually shut down after a couple engine hours after they get the coil hot. Often the engine and coil cools they will start again. The solution I like is to take the coil off the back of the engine and mount it on a bulkhead. I also like the electronic ignition but points are OK if you stay on top of it. If engine access is that bad I find it is easier to pull the distributor to put in new points. Be careful to follow the correct procedure as you can mess up a lot of things. The engine must be retimed but that is easy. Check the water pump for leaks, right behind the distributor, they leak and the salt water causes a lot of damage. Also check the wires that attach to the coil for corrosion. They also fail after heated up and will sometimes work after the engine cools. When people sell their boats they have lost interest and things get negelected. Good luck. Sounds like you need a skinny mechanic. Where are you located.?