96 spx won’t stay running

[ts5413]

Need help! I have a 96 spx. Had it on the water and ran great! The next night I decided to wash the inside of the hull cause it was nasty from the previous owner. After I washed it, now it cranks, fires and idles for a couple seconds then dies. I have eliminated that it’s a fuel issue cause spraying brake clean in carbs doesn’t help. It has spark and the spark seems good. There’s no water inside the sealed box. I took the cover off front of engine and there was some water in it. I’ve dried it out and it still does the same thing. Any ideas??

 

[poppie]

I just went through a similar issue. It turned out to be the voltage regulator. It would start and idle in the water and die as soon as I hit the throttle. It would immediately start back up so I knew it wasn't fuel related. From what I've read the regulator/rectifier converts AC voltage from the coil to DC voltage used to run the electronics and charge the battery. It can fail in a way that it sends AC voltage to the mpem. This immediately shuts it down losing spark to the coil and plugs.

 

[POPPS]

Start by Checking for 13 plus volts at the battery terminals.

 

[ts5413]

Thanks for the replies!! I unplugged the red wire on the regulator, no change. The previous owner had replaced the coil when he tried to get it to run right, I put the old coil back on and it runs great now.

 

[POPPS]

Go figure,,probably poor ground in the box at the coil tower.