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96 Montecarlo 770 no spark

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  • Savannah Volvo Guy
    PWCToday Regular
    • Jan 2015
    • 70

    96 Montecarlo 770 no spark

    I've finally decided to start a new thread. I've been working on my 96 monte carlo 770 for quite some time and I'm finally in a good place with it except for one major problem. I've got no spark.

    It's been running great for a while. Usually starts instantly but lately the spark has become increasingly more unreliable. Now I've got basically no spark and I can't figure out what to do.

    I've checked resistances on the lead side of the ignition coil. It looked good. I check the spark plug caps they were bad and I've replaced them. I briefly had great spark just after replacing the caps but after a week of no use the spark situation is now worse than ever. I checked the resistances on the magneto stator and all are in spec. I checked the stop part of the stop start switch and it's in spec. I checked engine resistance to the negative terminal on the battery and it's good. I checked battery voltage all good. When engine turns it does so with vigor. I'm not sure what to check next.

    Thanks a lot for the help.
  • cleetus
    Top Dog
    • May 2005
    • 1252

    #2
    Re: 96 Montecarlo 770 no spark

    when its not working- does it turn over but not fire?

    Comment

    • Savannah Volvo Guy
      PWCToday Regular
      • Jan 2015
      • 70

      #3
      Re: 96 Montecarlo 770 no spark

      Yeah it turns over great when it's not working which is why I'm ruling out the start stop switch.

      Comment

      • Savannah Volvo Guy
        PWCToday Regular
        • Jan 2015
        • 70

        #4
        Re: 96 Montecarlo 770 no spark

        Okay so yesterday all I did was press the stop button with tether attached and all of a sudden I've got spark. From then on I went up and pushed the start button about once every hour and it started immediately every time. I still don't understand the mechanism that is causing this to happen. With the tether attached I'm getting an open circuit. With the stop button depressed I get the closed circuit as expected. This is what's been happening. No spark, fiddle with the stop button, spark. Sometimes more reliably than others but it usually works like that. This should be the last bit of work needed on this machine.

        Thanks for the help!

        Comment

        • cleetus
          Top Dog
          • May 2005
          • 1252

          #5
          Re: 96 Montecarlo 770 no spark

          wow.. so often it's the little things.. I went through two starters, and a solenoid before I removed the ground wire by chance and found a small crack in it that when I peeled back it was a break.. could not see it from the inside, and gave enough energy for the ski to turn over sometimes, buzz sometimes, and start and run perfectly sometimes...

          Comment

          • rdjeep
            Resident Guru
            • Jun 2006
            • 944

            #6
            Re: 96 Montecarlo 770 no spark

            Not saying this is particularly true in your case, but I have had switches deteriorate over time and the corrosion involved is electrically conductive, intermittently.

            Comment

            • hemmjo
              Resident Guru
              • Oct 2013
              • 949

              #7
              Re: 96 Montecarlo 770 no spark

              Originally posted by rdjeep View Post
              Not saying this is particularly true in your case, but I have had switches deteriorate over time and the corrosion involved is electrically conductive, intermittently.
              Yep, I would guess you will find this to be the case, corrosion someplace. This is one of the biggest issues with electrical systems of old equipment of any kind.
              2, 1998 TS 770 L, restored and running great as of July 2019 (NO THANKS to the person at SBT, who put the WRONG crankshaft bearing into the rebuilt engine I got from them)

              Comment

              • Ferny12345623
                PWCToday Newbie
                • Jul 2017
                • 19

                #8
                Re: 96 Montecarlo 770 no spark

                Sounds like the switch to me. I had the same issue with the montego. nearly went crazy trying to figure it out. Glad it's fixed though.

                Comment

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