1996 GTX good compression, spark, won't cra

[KerrLakeSkier]

The water filter checked out OK. I added some dry gas just for good measure. The ignition box should be good and dry so I'll try again tonight.

The thing that makes it sound fuel related is as described above; it cranked after being fogged with WD40 and ether. So the spark was more less consistent throughout the test. The fuel changed...

[cameron da river rat]

what bill is saying makes sense. if your electrical box is wet, then it's gonna arc on and off and give you a scenario like you are describing. and eather will fire whith just the smallest amount of spark but would not recomend using it.

if the dryed out electrical box don't work then i would guess fuel problem. but make sure you don't have an electrical problem, no gas, fuel knob is not off or somthing simple like a cracked or broken fuel line before you start diagnosing things.

here are some things you can try........

pour out all the gas from the fuel filter/water seporator bowl, replace it and turn the engine over with the fuel knob on to see if it's suckin gas, empty it out and do it agian on reserve to see if it is sucking gas. if you find water or really dirty gas when you check the bowl or no gas at all then it could be a clogged line. [img]graemlins/oogle.gif[/img]

if its empty or dirty then try the following.
start with the tank, drain it, dry it out, start pullin fuel lines one by one blowing through them with an air compressor, the fuel selector switch, fuel/water seporator (just remove the bowl and filter before you do it and have the line disconnected from the gas tank so you don't blow anything back into the tank) check your gas tank vents too. once you know all is good then hook it all back up and put fresh gas in it and try it agiain. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

or you might wanna try this, you can put a small hose on the fuel inlet side of the carb, submerge the end of the hose in some gas and turn the engine over with throttle wide open (spark plug caps removed and grounded) and see if your fuel pump is even workin (it will suck the fuel up).

if it don't suck it up then take the carbs off and start takin apart to see whats clogged up or broken and if all checks out well in the carbs, and all your fuel lines are clean then somthin might be wrong with the engine. [img]graemlins/crying.gif[/img]

[KerrLakeSkier]

[img]graemlins/evild.gif[/img]

The battery finally died while I was trying to solve this mystery. Went to Walmart , picked up a $40 battery, installed it and the ski cranked the first time I hit the ignition. Put it on the lake yesterday and the ski is running great. The battery must have had enough power for the starter but supplied power to the ignition sporadically enough to cause the starting problems.

[Bill O'Neal]

The built-in ignition protector was not allowing the ignition to get damaged while you were cranking the motor with a low battery. SD just saved you about $600 because you did not have a fully charged battery....... All 951 ignitions have this ignition shut off feature when the battery is low. Low means less than about 12V in the battery.

[Bryan Glynn]

How long did you charge your new battery before using it?

[polaridoo]

How does that ignition protection system save the igntion?

[Bill O'Neal]

By not allowing the ignition to turn on if the power level from the battery is too low. It will continue to crank the starter motor until you completely kill the battery, but once the voltage drops below about 11.2 volts, the ignition cuts out. It protects the ignition from damage from low voltage.

[Bill O'Neal]

It won't hurt every ignition system, just electronic ignitions like the ones used on newer Sea Doo watercraft......

[polaridoo]

Very interesting. I learn something new all the time. I never knew low voltage would hurt an ignition system.