by Les W.
(Hartwell, GA)
I bought this engine used for a project for our church. It needed a valve job which my brother and I did. After the valve job we ran the engine on a test stand, and it ran normally. Because of Covid the engine sat for the past 2 years. I have since installed the engine on the pontoon, but it will not start.
About the pontoon. The boat was stripped to bare frame and rebuild. All wiring was replaced. New wiring harness was run to the engine and merged with the Honda wiring harness. I used the Honda wire colors and list of functions to build the new harness, so I am confident that the wiring is correct.
I am a 71 year old ex aircraft technician, so I have a fairly good understanding of how things work.
The engine will crank over but I have no spark. I have 12 volts to the black/yellow wire going to the ignition control box, but no spark at the plugs.
My questions are: 1. The Honda drawing seem to show the emergency stop switch (black/red wire) to be normally closed. Should this wire be grounded (black wire) for the engine to start?
2. Will the oil pressure and high water temperature warning keep the engine from starting?
3. What other systems on the engine will prevent it from starting--what have I missed?