[Bryan Howell]

This is also posted in Troubleshooting, but since I am [pretty sure my problem is ignition, not fuel, related I thought I would put it over here as well.



For long time forum folks, thanks for the years of advice and help. Happily, I finally got my A4 running great, two days ago. The surging issue resolved itself, magically, and the engine was running perfectly. Two days ago. Today, after repairing the genoa I went down to the boat, put the sail back up and went to start the engine. A little cranky but it started and was idling at the slip just fine. Started casting off lines to head out and poof, the engine just went dead, just like I had turned it off. Trying to restart met with zero success, even with ether, nothing, so I am definitely thinking ignition, not fuel. Checked spark at plugs and it seemed weak, checked spark from coil wire and altho a bit stronger still seemed weak. Tried cleaning and resetting the coil wire, nothing. The engine makes zero effort to start. The coil is virtually brand new after replacing late last year (thanks for the advice on that). Electronic ignition. New carb, fuel line, and tank (the root cause of many problems, a totally rusted tank). This is just infuriating, the engine was running better than it ever had just 2 days ago. The abrupt shutdown seems that whatever is wrong is central to the entire engine, not just one plug, so there are not that many things it could be. Could it be the distributor cap? A component in the electronic ignition (I don't know much about this part)? Plug/coil wire(s)? This is a pretty simple engine, why does it seem to confound so many of us so often???? Appreciate your thoughts.