I've got a 1979 34' Silverton with Chrysler M360B engines (with electronic
ignition). This past season I've had the stbd engine suddenly die a few
times while at cruising speed. (Boy, is it unnerving when the boat suddenly
veers to stbd!) Oil pressure is always good; so is water temp. I thought it
might be some water in the gas - each engine has its own draw tube
(seperated widely) from the gas tank. I treated the tank with gas drier,
but still had a recurrence. The problem is very infrequent (makes it
difficult to diagnose). When it does happen, I can usually get the engine
re-started in 5 to 30 minutes - in fact sometimes it's so brief that the
engine sputters a little then comes back to normal speed. Somebody
suggested to me that Chrysler Marine electronic ignitions have a large
resistor on the primary side of the ignition coil, and sometimes this
component develops an intermittent open circuit at high temperatures.
Anyone had this experience? Any other suggestions? Thanks!

-- Dave F.

On Thu, 1 Jan 2004 17:21:51 -0500, "Dave" wrote:

I've got a 1979 34' Silverton with Chrysler M360B engines (with electronic
ignition). This past season I've had the stbd engine suddenly die a few
times while at cruising speed. (Boy, is it unnerving when the boat suddenly
veers to stbd!) Oil pressure is always good; so is water temp. I thought it
might be some water in the gas - each engine has its own draw tube
(seperated widely) from the gas tank. I treated the tank with gas drier,
but still had a recurrence. The problem is very infrequent (makes it
difficult to diagnose). When it does happen, I can usually get the engine
re-started in 5 to 30 minutes - in fact sometimes it's so brief that the
engine sputters a little then comes back to normal speed. Somebody
suggested to me that Chrysler Marine electronic ignitions have a large
resistor on the primary side of the ignition coil, and sometimes this
component develops an intermittent open circuit at high temperatures.
Anyone had this experience? Any other suggestions? Thanks!

The resistor is a possibility, but I would suspect the ignition module
if it hasn't been changed.

You might also want to look at ignition coils, engine block grounds,
coil wires (if equipped) that kind of thing - the way you describe it,
the most obvious is probably the culprit.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
----------
"I object to fishing tournaments less for
what they do to fish than what they do to
fishermen." Ted Williams - 1964

On Thu, 01 Jan 2004 18:34:42 -0500, Gene Kearns
wrote:

On Thu, 01 Jan 2004 22:59:09 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Thu, 1 Jan 2004 17:21:51 -0500, "Dave" wrote:

I've got a 1979 34' Silverton with Chrysler M360B engines (with electronic
ignition). This past season I've had the stbd engine suddenly die a few
times while at cruising speed. (Boy, is it unnerving when the boat suddenly
veers to stbd!) Oil pressure is always good; so is water temp. I thought it
might be some water in the gas - each engine has its own draw tube
(seperated widely) from the gas tank. I treated the tank with gas drier,
but still had a recurrence. The problem is very infrequent (makes it
difficult to diagnose). When it does happen, I can usually get the engine
re-started in 5 to 30 minutes - in fact sometimes it's so brief that the
engine sputters a little then comes back to normal speed. Somebody
suggested to me that Chrysler Marine electronic ignitions have a large
resistor on the primary side of the ignition coil, and sometimes this
component develops an intermittent open circuit at high temperatures.
Anyone had this experience? Any other suggestions? Thanks!

The resistor is a possibility, but I would suspect the ignition module
if it hasn't been changed.

You might also want to look at ignition coils, engine block grounds,
coil wires (if equipped) that kind of thing - the way you describe it,
the most obvious is probably the culprit.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
----------
"I object to fishing tournaments less for
what they do to fish than what they do to
fishermen." Ted Williams - 1964

The best opportunity to troubleshoot this problem is when it *doesn't*
run. Are you getting spark? Are you getting fuel. It is not unusual
for the ballast resistor to go tango uniform, but it usually is a
fatality not subject to resurrection.... I'm guessing a coil
problem..... but there are a *lot* of possibilities.....

I helped a guy one time with a Mercruiser 4.0 with the Thunderbolt
ignition - drove me nuts until I figured out that the ignition was
causing the problem - a little circuit cooler figured that one out.
:)

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
----------
"I object to fishing tournaments less for
what they do to fish than what they do to
fishermen." Ted Williams - 1964

"Dave" wrote in message
...
I've got a 1979 34' Silverton with Chrysler M360B engines (with electronic
ignition).

Dave.....
When I bought the Queen, one of the two Chrysler 318s was equipped with that
late 70s version of Chrysler electronic ignition. The other had the
standard straight pts-condenser setup. I was advised by a knowledgeable
person to just cut the whole system out, even though at the time it wasn't
giving any trouble. The logic was that even though it was an "upgrade" from
the standard of 1974, it was still, in 1998, irrefutably obsolete
technology, and could be replaced on both engines with modern day systems,
fairly cheaply.

I pulled the system, and installed a new electronic module on each engine --
the small kind that fits right inside the distributor. I also replaced one
of the distributors and both coils at the same time. The biggest pain of
the job had nothing to do with the electronic ignition. The Chrysler EE
setup of that era is housed under a shoebox sized plastic housing, which was
used primarily as a convenient junction housing for a host of engine related
wiring. All that had to be dealt with.

Regards,

John Gaquin
Brefnie Queen
1974 Luhrs 32