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1990 SP No Spark
- Thread starter Cody__t
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JeremyD615
Well-Known Member
What is telling you there is no spark? Are the plugs wet, or have you used a spark tester? Do you have an inductive type tach that you can put on a plug wire to see if voltage is present?
JeremyD615
Well-Known Member
I’m not super familiar with the 587 motors, but the first and easiest thing I would try is to trim the plug wires back a bit. If they are the same as the later motors, you can unscrew the plug terminal and snip the wire back 1/4” and then reinstall the terminal. I can’t imagine both plug wires would be bad at the same time, but that’s a quick, easy, and free place to start. If that doesn’t lead anywhere, you’re going to want to dig into the service manual and start troubleshooting on the coil and all of the related wiring.
I’ve got two of the same skis and my one gets spark without trimming. I just had it running last summer when I put a new starter in it. That’s when I found out that I couldn’t start with the buttons. Now I’ve got that figured out. I had to run a ground wire from a post on the selanoid to the negative on the battery. It’s a selanoid from Home Depot. For a lawn mower. My other ski which is the same has the updated selanoid with the harness on the bottom and the two big posts at the top. I wonder if that me having a Home Depot selanoid in the other would cause no spark. Being it’s for a lawn mower and I had to run a new wire that was never there.
The three things I’m thinking of to fix this are:
1. Take the coil pack off the running ski I have and put in the one without spark to see if it works.
If it doesn’t I’ll switich it back over. Manuel says that a bad rev limiter can cause no spark. I’m going to see if I can by pass the rev limiter and see if I get spark. I’d steal the rev limiter from the running ski to put in the one with no spark but it has the updated selanoid with the harness so it won’t transfer easily at all.
The next thing is I’ll try after trying to bypass rev limiter is updating the selanoid to the same as the one with the running ski. I already have a spare updated selanoid for the running ski so I’ll use that one. Only problem with that is I have to get the harness and wiring. And I don’t know where to find that. There’s a kit online that comes with it all but I’d prefer not to buy another selanoid if I already have one. That’s costs $38.
Back to the coil pack. I’m not sure why my coil pack would be bad because I had it running when I jumped the starter directly when I first put the new starter in. It ran.
I apologize for this long post of unorganized BS I just thought to give the whole picture of what I’m thinking for options and what anyone would think to try or would work best
The three things I’m thinking of to fix this are:
1. Take the coil pack off the running ski I have and put in the one without spark to see if it works.
If it doesn’t I’ll switich it back over. Manuel says that a bad rev limiter can cause no spark. I’m going to see if I can by pass the rev limiter and see if I get spark. I’d steal the rev limiter from the running ski to put in the one with no spark but it has the updated selanoid with the harness so it won’t transfer easily at all.
The next thing is I’ll try after trying to bypass rev limiter is updating the selanoid to the same as the one with the running ski. I already have a spare updated selanoid for the running ski so I’ll use that one. Only problem with that is I have to get the harness and wiring. And I don’t know where to find that. There’s a kit online that comes with it all but I’d prefer not to buy another selanoid if I already have one. That’s costs $38.
Back to the coil pack. I’m not sure why my coil pack would be bad because I had it running when I jumped the starter directly when I first put the new starter in. It ran.
I apologize for this long post of unorganized BS I just thought to give the whole picture of what I’m thinking for options and what anyone would think to try or would work best
JeremyD615
Well-Known Member
So the ski with the Home Depot solenoid is the one that has no spark correct? The post is a little confusing about which ski is which. I am going to assume you need to update that to the correct solenoid and harness. If you have it wired up outside of the factory harness, that’s probably what is causing your lack of spark. Have you tested the safety switch? If the lanyard post is bad, it won’t start with the button, and wiring the non-factory solenoid will cause the starter to turn over, but will not power the ignition coil. I’d swap the safety switch over from the running ski and see if it will fire up then...
JeremyD615
Well-Known Member
That’s the next thing I would try. If that doesn’t do it, check to see if you have voltage at the two wires going into the coil. If not, you need to trace that circuit back.
Make sure you have the wires correct to and from the solenoid. The solenoid is how the electrical system gets power so using a generic solenoid could be preventing the computer from getting power.
I would try swapping the solenoid from the running ski and see if that works.
I would try swapping the solenoid from the running ski and see if that works.
Today I put in the updated solenoid. The solenoid in non running ski now has the same exact solenoid as the running ski. I made sure that all the wires look the same as the other one now. That did not work changing out the solenoid.
When I touch the two big wires at the top together, or do the screwdriver thing I have spark. So that tells me that the coil isn't bad.
Before I switched out the old solenoid for the new solenoid(the one with the two big posts at the top and the harness at the bottom) I could could press the buttons and get it to spin over but no spark. The only way I was able to do this was running a wire from the solenoid to the ground on the battery. That wire was never there to begin with.
Now that I have the new solenoid installed I get nothing when I have the tether switch pressed down and press the start switch. There is no clicking of the solenoid and the motor doesn't turn at all.
When I touch the two big wires at the top together, or do the screwdriver thing I have spark. So that tells me that the coil isn't bad.
Before I switched out the old solenoid for the new solenoid(the one with the two big posts at the top and the harness at the bottom) I could could press the buttons and get it to spin over but no spark. The only way I was able to do this was running a wire from the solenoid to the ground on the battery. That wire was never there to begin with.
Now that I have the new solenoid installed I get nothing when I have the tether switch pressed down and press the start switch. There is no clicking of the solenoid and the motor doesn't turn at all.
Sportster-2001-951C-Stock
Well-Known Member
Don't forget to check out the lanyard switch, it might have dirt, corrosion and rust inside after all these years>
Sportster-2001-951C-Stock
Well-Known Member
On my old 1995 seadoo ski, if the lanyard was removed I could check the fuel level by pressing the start button and this would wake the MPEM and power on the fuel gauge. Does yours do this (assuming the gauge is installed and still working after all these years).
Seems like decades ago when I rode that thing, it was great!
Seems like decades ago when I rode that thing, it was great!
Sportster-2001-951C-Stock
Well-Known Member
I see, sorry I'm not more familiar with those. Surely someone else here is though. But for now I agree, look for something that's disconnected perhaps near the battery? Or maybe a blown fuse? If something caused a fuse to blow then the cause will need to be resolved, don't just install a larger fuse of course, that would result in disaster.
Sportster-2001-951C-Stock
Well-Known Member
Good news, in that case could be something's not getting power for whatever reason, as you said. It's really good you had spark, that means the coil and CDI are working.
Perhaps the issue involves the starter solenoid wiring? I'm wondering if the low power lead used to power the electronics is connected to the output side of the solenoid going to the starter instead of the battery side? If yes, there would be no power for the electronics to actuate the starter solenoid, "no crank" would be the result.
Perhaps the issue involves the starter solenoid wiring? I'm wondering if the low power lead used to power the electronics is connected to the output side of the solenoid going to the starter instead of the battery side? If yes, there would be no power for the electronics to actuate the starter solenoid, "no crank" would be the result.
Sportster-2001-951C-Stock
Well-Known Member
Okay, thanks for photos. Looks like the battery cables are crossed over, I'd probably swap those wires back to avoid that.
The solenoid is just a simple contactor/relay, the small wires are for the coil power to energize the coil and produce enough magnetic field to force a steel plunger upward against a spring to connect both large terminals together. So it doesn't matter which cable on the top is in or out, just having them crossed looks funny and they might touch each other later on.
Wow, that ski has a clean bilge, nice job!
The solenoid is just a simple contactor/relay, the small wires are for the coil power to energize the coil and produce enough magnetic field to force a steel plunger upward against a spring to connect both large terminals together. So it doesn't matter which cable on the top is in or out, just having them crossed looks funny and they might touch each other later on.
Wow, that ski has a clean bilge, nice job!
Sportster-2001-951C-Stock
Well-Known Member
Anyway, one of the top terminals goes to the battery positive cable and the other is the starter motor cable.
The small wire(s) on the top should be combined with the cable coming from the battery and both should have fuses in them b/c the battery can roast them and create a fire if a dead-short develops somewhere.
One of these two seems to exit the box outside the normal trough-hole, I guess you've done that as part of troubleshooting. Is something connected to the other end, maybe a bilge pump?
The small wire(s) on the top should be combined with the cable coming from the battery and both should have fuses in them b/c the battery can roast them and create a fire if a dead-short develops somewhere.
One of these two seems to exit the box outside the normal trough-hole, I guess you've done that as part of troubleshooting. Is something connected to the other end, maybe a bilge pump?
Sportster-2001-951C-Stock
Well-Known Member
Okay so let's get started, The bolt that's mounting through the center of the square rectifier is your main ground terminal inside this box, correct? This should be connected by a black wire or series of connectors containing a black wire eventually going to the battery negative terminal.
The heavy RED cable which comes directly from the battery + terminal and attaches to the top terminal of the solenoid is also connected to the smaller red wires on the same terminal, correct?
If yes, grab your DC voltmeter and set the range selector to 20VDC scale. Place the red probe on the top RED solenoid terminal coming directly from the battery and the black probe on the ground bolt located center of the square rectifier, there should be a voltage reading of at least 12.5 Volts DC
You can use a trailer wiring test light as well, for a rough indication of power at this location.
The heavy RED cable which comes directly from the battery + terminal and attaches to the top terminal of the solenoid is also connected to the smaller red wires on the same terminal, correct?
If yes, grab your DC voltmeter and set the range selector to 20VDC scale. Place the red probe on the top RED solenoid terminal coming directly from the battery and the black probe on the ground bolt located center of the square rectifier, there should be a voltage reading of at least 12.5 Volts DC
You can use a trailer wiring test light as well, for a rough indication of power at this location.
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