Charlie wrote:
I have a problem with my boat. It was running fine for about 1/2 an hour
today, pulling my daughter on the tube and the motor just stopped dead.
No coughing, no nothing. Stopped. I tried to restart it, battery sounded
a bit weak but it turned the motor and tried to start. It weezed once or
twice, sounded like it wanted to start but wouldnt' fully start back up.
=A0 It is an OMC 350 and OMC Cobra outdrive.
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=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
I had similar problems with my OMC Cobra w/305 engine. I changed the
50 amp fuses first, then took the 8 point cluster (on top of the engine)
apart and cleaned all the male contacts with crocus cloth (very fine
sand paper) and rolled it up in a tight roll and cleaned the female
contacts. After I did this and put it back together, everything
worked fine again. I've had to do this about every 2 years. My fuel
gauge was in-operative, too, and the cleaning restored that to
operation, too. Apparently this is a common weakness in the Cobra's,
because I've talked to others that have had problems with the 8 point
cluster. If I were a bit more electrical inclined, I would consider
bypassing the 8 point cluster with individual connectors, but I'm a bit
intimidated by that job.
..
As another poster mentioned, you could have a bad condenser or
coil. Both are cheap replacements and worth a try.


Hope this helps,
Norm