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boat wont turn over


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Well after a great weekend on the lake with no problems i came home flushed the motor turned it off went to start it again and nothing.the gauges key up everything seems normal but it doesnt do anything when i turn the key.

I pulled the cannon plug and reconnected it and nothing changed.I figured that would fix it as it did this once awhile ago at the mechanics after an oil change, he messed with it tightened the clamp and it fired right up and i havent had a problem since.Iam just glad it happened in the driveway and not at the lake. Clap.gif Can the cannon plug go bad?any other suggestions?

Thanks

Adam

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In gear?

Nope, I checked to make sure it was in neutra,l also wiggled it and put it in and out of gear thinking maybe neutral switch

but no dice.Would it just completely fail without warning? My last i/o would do it and a wiggle on the throttle would fix it, i assume it needed replaced and thought i'd get some warning with this one as well.

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In gear?

Nope, I checked to make sure it was in neutra,l also wiggled it and put it in and out of gear thinking maybe neutral switch

but no dice.Would it just completely fail without warning? My last i/o would do it and a wiggle on the throttle would fix it, i assume it needed replaced and thought i'd get some warning with this one as well.

Check your battery cables for good, clean, tight connections.

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i had the same problem a few weeks ago. the boat would appear "dead" about every 3rd start. replaced the neutral safety switch, and all is good.

you can test it by

1) getting one of those remote starter buttons, attach it to the starter, turn the key on, and see if it starts

2) disconnect the 2 wires on the neutral safety switch, hook them together (i used a small bolt), then try to start

if it starts in either of these 2 cases, then either its a bad connection at the switch, or the switch itself is bad.

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A kill switch will allow the boat to turn over, but it just won't start.

-Chris

Thats what i figured since it doesnt even attempt to start, I'lll check the neutral safety switch and see.Thanks for the ideas.

Adam

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update........

So i went out and looked at the tranny and saw 2 wires going to the right side of it looking at the motor, i noticed the purple one was a little loose.I tightened it up then turned the key and it started to crank over but real sluggish and now alll it does is click.Now that is more than it was doing before so iam charging the battery to see if that does anything.My question is are those two wires and whatever they are plugged into part of the neutral safety switch?Also how do i make sure i got the cannon plug back on right?

Thanks for the help.

Adam

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update........

So i went out and looked at the tranny and saw 2 wires going to the right side of it looking at the motor, i noticed the purple one was a little loose.I tightened it up then turned the key and it started to crank over but real sluggish and now alll it does is click.Now that is more than it was doing before so iam charging the battery to see if that does anything.My question is are those two wires and whatever they are plugged into part of the neutral safety switch?Also how do i make sure i got the cannon plug back on right?

Thanks for the help.

Adam

the canon plug only goes on one way.

most likely those wires are the saftey switch it should look something like this (crap, photobucket isn't letting me post a picture right now, i'll do it in the AM). by the way, the 2 wires on my response are yellow, not purple.

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Thanks i look forward to the pic.

When i finally got it to turn over it was really weak not like normal then it just clicked with the turn of the key. So i charged the battery and tried again and it just clicks once with each key turn, doesnt even try to turn over.This is driving me crazy the thing started with no problem before.I thought once i got it to turnover it would just start like normal. :unsure: Thanks for the help so far. Anymore ideas keep them coming.

Adam

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If the battery is really fully charged, it sounds like you have a connection problem somewhere. Bad connection, either from being loose, corroded, or broken. Enough amps to turn it over aren't making it through. Start at the battery, remove/clean/tighten each connection, both positive and negatives on battery, starter, block, and work your way through the system. Hopefully that will cure it.

Peter

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Well i went out and started checking the wiring and the + lead to the starter was a little loose.I also checked another wire with a little boot over the connection kinda diagonal from the + on the starter i tried to turn it a little and it came off in my hand and now the starter wont click at all just like before.So i guess i'll pull the starter and hope once its fixed it'll work again.

I'll post an update when i have it .

Adam

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You can do some quick trouble-shooting with just a 12v test lamp.

Clamp the ground of the lamp to the neg battery terminal (not the battery cable)

If unable to clamp to post, hold the test lamp lead directly on the post.

Touch the probe of the lamp to the + battery post.

With a good charge in battery, you should get a nice bright light.

Now have someone try to start the boat. Light should dim only slightly or not at all.

If it goes out or gets really dim, your battery is probably bad.

Pull it out and have it load tested.

If battery seems OK, move the ground wire of the test lamp to the negative battery cable.

Repeat start test. A dim lamp here would indicate a poor connection at the negative terminal.

If lamp stays bright here move probe to positive battery cable. Dim lamp here indicates poor connection at + terminal.

Keep moving outward to each connection till you see a noticeable difference in the test lamp.

Disclaimer. No this is not as good as using a volt-meter. But if something is really bad, this is a quick way to isolate the problem.

Also, this test wouldn't have done any good with your original problem (when it wouldn't even try to start)

This works only when starter is trying to work but can't get the job done. Biggrin.gif

Looks like this post was a little late. Seems you've got a handle on it.

Edited by bu ford
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well reading your posts, sounds like it is your starter.

here's a picture of the neutral safety switch:

NeutralSafetySwitch.jpg

Edited by jgouveia3
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Alright the picture looks like what i messed with first.

I fixed the starter connector,hooked up the battery.I then noticed a little 50 amp buss fuse box with a red button so i pushed it reset it and then turned the key and got nothing no power to the dash.I then got the test light and figured that there is power to the starter,grounds are good there is power to the black fuse box however not out of it, resetting mutiple times did nothing. . It was really corroded inside and out so iam hoping this is the cause of my issues. :unsure: i'll update when i replace it.

Thanks again

Adam

Edited by apwrx
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Cool. Hope the replacement takes care of it.

Well i replaced it and it did exactly the same thing tried to crank real sluggish then stopped,then it would just click.So i figured id beat on the starter and see if anything changed.After smacking the starter a few times it wouldnt even click,turn the key and got nothing.

Needless to say i pulled the starter and had it tested ,its bad. Thumbup.gif I have a new one on its way for a fri install,Hopefully be back on the water Sun. Yahoo.gif

So it looks like my starter going out also led me to a few future issues that i could take care of before they failed,loose wires,corroded circuit breaker.Also the fact that it happened in my driveway while flushing it from the weekend is great.

Thanks for all the help this site is the best Clap.gifClap.gif

Adam

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This will sound crazy but I just went through it .... hydrolock because of excess fuel being dumped in the cylinders. The initial hint was that the fuel pump turned on with the key but never stopped. It would turn over initially, but sounded like a weak battery. After a couple of cranks it wouldn’t crank at all. I pulled a plug and got a handful of gas. The ECM was bad … not a cheap fix.

Hope this isn’t your problem but might be worth listening to the fuel pump and perhaps pulling a plug or two.

/Steve

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...hydrolock because of excess fuel being dumped in the cylinders...Hope this isn’t your problem but might be worth listening to the fuel pump...

:unsure: Did you not read the previous post about his dead starter? :Doh:

:lol:

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