Crane Fireball Hi-6 Ignition help?
 

I have a Crane Fireball HI-6M ignition. It worked great when I removed it for engine replacement. I then went on a long layoff from boating. I am now getting everything back together and back in the boat, however I have no ignotion. I have re-traced the basic connections with nothing wrong (that I noticed). I have not found much help as far as diagnostics are concerned, and no one answers the "tech help line".
At this point, I'm about to throw it away and go back to the factory MercRacing HP500 ignition.
Anyone familiar with the Crane ignition that could help out?
Thanks!

Mike "Gordo" Gordon
(913) 485-3151

Is the red light on the box when you turn on the ignition?

The red light should come on when you turn on the ignition. It should blink when the motor is turning over.

What distributor are you using?

Will the motor cough/sputter at all??

I have them on modified 500 HPs so PM me and we can discuss if you like.

Tom

Yes, the light does come on with ign. on, and no does not blink when cranking.
Using the original Thunderbolt dist.

No blinky means that there is no signal from the distributor rotor pickup. Hall effect for the Merc dist., magnetic for the MSD, etc.

Use the red/white, green/white wires to connect to a merc distributor. Use the purple, green wires for a magnetic pickup.

Did you rephase/drill the rotor per the Crane specs???

We need to know what distributor you are using.
If it is the same as the one you had in before, it has crapped itself during the swap, if it's another TB dist, (Hall Effect) you need to drill it to re-phase the rotor.
I've attached a pic, but you can get the full instructions from the Crane website: Ignitions link It's the third one down.

If it's an MSD dist, just lock out the advance and use a built in, but you need to wire the voilet and green (mag + and -) wires to the dist, not the 2 pin weather pack (white/green & white/red).

Let us know if any of this helps and I'll see what else I can come up with. I have a mate here who still works for Crane (australia) Tech Support who's helped me no end!

Good Luck.

let me know what distributor and i can sort it.
Standard Merc distributor with 2 wires White/green stripe,white/red stripe.
Guessing you have the above,
From the box,thick red to battery positive,Thick black to battery neg,small red from large plug to ignition(purple wire from merc harness)red to distributor,green to distributor from box.
let me know if you have done this correctly.If you still have no blinking from the red led when cranking let me know.
Send me a PM.

Yes. In fact, still using the same drilled/phased rotor that ran previously
This is the Merc Racing HP 500 (carb) distributor. It ran (quite well) when the engine had a BDS 8-71 and the Crane Fireball 6M ignition.
I'm not running the blower but wanted to saty with the Crane ign.
At this point, I'm ready to go back to the factory ignition and consider it a FactoryMercury Racing 500 Bulldog

So you've got it wired correctly,only 2 wires to the coil?

The hall effect pickup in the distributor can go bad. For some reason I have had two go out while sitting for long periods of time. Do you have another distributor to try or maybe borrow one? Or, order a merc hall effect pickup and try that.

Gordo,
Did you figure it out?

Not exactly. I figured I'd go back to the Mercury ignition till I had time to mess with it.
Of course, I then forgot about it till the Shootout last weekend and remembered why I wanted to get away from the stock ignition...

Did you see the other thread regarding the fuse connector that's shrink wrapped in yellow?

Mine did teh same thing a couple weeks ago and I just went back to the stock t iv for the time, but will have the time to look at it later today. I'm not sure, but it looked like I was getting a dim read light for a while and then nothing. I did get in touch with S&S (bought the ignition related rights, etc... from merc) and they indicated that as a courtesy they were trying to honor valid warranties (I just bought some months back). Please post if you make progress or figure something out that isn't obvious. I'll do the same. I have a feeling that mine is toast, but will double check evreything and then jumper the power to be sure... Good luck with it.