No fuel and no spark on 1997 454 Crusader

Thinking more about your problem, did the check engine light come on just before or after the engine died? Is it normal for your light to come on with the key on, engine off? Seen it both ways. If it is not normal, just for kicks, locate the cam or crank sensor and unplug and plug it back in a few times then see if the engine will start. That would be another common component to both the injectors and spark. The injectors use the cam or crank sensor for pulse width and the ignition uses it for timing. With out a signal, neither will work. Worth a shot anyway........D..........
 
Thanks Charlie, both ends are taped, but the wire is still in the loom.
 
Sorry I haven't posted an update, but I have been working my butt off trouble shooting this problem. It is fixed, and I mean it this time as we are sitting on anchor in Casco Bay Maine, approximately 40 miles from the dock. I don't know if it is OK to post where I got my help, so I will hold off till the mod says it is ok. It was NOT a boat website. Anyways, I posted my question about how to check the distributor pickup coil as that was where the trail was leading. This guy (Jason) answered back and told me what to do. He said to take my multimeter, set it to ohms, and plug both leads into the two wire plug coming from the pickup coil. He said I should get between 700 and 900 ohms. I got 2.4Mohms. Checked the starboard pickup coil and got 800 ohms. On this engine you have to pull the distributor to change out the pickup coil, something else I have never done. Jason told me to put the rotor on and turn the engine over till the rotor pointed to the number one cylinder post on the distributor cap that I had laying adjacent to the distributor. I match marked the distributor base to the engine, loosened the bolt holding the distributor in place and pulled it out slowly. I will rotate as you pull it out because of the helix gear. I purchased a pick up coil from NAPA as no local marinas had one. To remove the old pickup coil you need to match mark the gear at the bottom with the slot for the rotor, then drive out the pin holding the gear on the shaft. Once the shaft was removed, the coil at the top was exposed. It was fried/melted. there was corrosion on top of the distributor shaft (not sure why), but I think that caused the coil to fry. Put the new coil in, lined up mark on gear with shaft, installed pin, put rotor on distributor so I could make sure it was lined up with #1 cylinder post on distributor cap, installed the distributor, plugged in ignition module, installed cap, attached wires and fired it up. I was two degrees off, so I set that, and here we are happily on vacation with the wife and cat. Hope this will help others. I am still looking for a way to test the ignition module. Someone said there is a test that can be done with a 9V battery, does anyone know? Tim
 
Tim- Can't help with the 9V test , but that was a wonderful follow-up post. Very glad to hear you nailed the culprit and all is now well for the engine, boat , you, the wife and the cat.
 
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