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Anyone have a wiring diagram for...


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Wait, lemme guess...

It's loose signal wire at the starter solenoid. It happened to me out on the water last season. See you Friday?

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Wait, lemme guess...

It's loose signal wire at the starter solenoid. It happened to me out on the water last season. See you Friday?

Pistol, that may be it! Here is the scenario: Boat started fine cold, Then in the driveway once warm it wouldnt start (before we took it to the lake for first testing). I started messing with the relay and Thing next to nuetral switch and it fixed it (so it seemed). Took the boat out to anderson on sun to shake the bugs out and it started fine when it was cold at the ramp. We drove around for about 45 mins and then we tried to restart and nothing. Here is what I found/tested:

So I check and there is no voltage going to startet wire. (I had 12ish volts and good charging from alternator so it isnt a weak signal)

No voltage at Momentary Ignition wire (but other ignition terminal is hot for pumps etc. just when you turn key to start the ignition termal to yellow and red wire was not hot). In fact for the ignition terminals there should be: 1 always hot, 1 acc hot, 1 ignition hot, and 1 momentary ignition hot (for starter) correct?

So I cross from the hot ignition terminal to the momentary thinking the boat "should fire right up, thus ignition is problem)... Nope nothing still. (eventually just crossed starter hot with solenoid to fire)

So I did not get any voltage to momentary ignition AND it wouldnt start when I gave it voltage?

So when I got home I checked, and it fired right back up no probs hot or cold. So I started chasing the starter wire (yellow w/ red stripe correct?) Followed it to the neutral switch no biggie, followed it to the relay from neutral no prob. And I followed from ignition to gang plug to relay no prob.

One main question: There are two yellow w/ red striped wires at the relay, one goes to ignition but I could not trace the other. With my ohm meter I could not trace this wires desination: thinking it was going to go to the nuetral switch.

Other question: Shouldnt the ignition terminal always be a momentary on for firing starter? IF so why wouldnt jumping that ignition to a hot wire start the boat?

Is this a possible computer issue, and can the computer intervene with circuit at some point and not allow the boat to fire?

Now back in driveway I CANNOT get the thing to NOT start so I can diagnose whats going on. I know the second I am on the water it will do it again and I would rather be riding!

Anyone see any possible answers, or even just shed some light on how this circuit is organized?

P.S. Thanks for the responses, Much appreciated!

Edited by Liquidmx
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Yikes,

You lost me half way through your diagnosis. The biggest problem, now, is that that condition is intermittent. I would certainly check all of the connections for security for the circuit between the ignition switch pole for the "crank" signal all the way to the starter solenoid. At least check the tightness of the nut that secures the signal wire at the starter solenoid. This is what came loose on me out on the water last year and I had it diagnosed and fixed in 5 mins.

I think I just sent you an email about something that's going on this Friday.

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......Other question: Shouldnt the ignition terminal always be a momentary on for firing starter? IF so why wouldnt jumping that ignition to a hot wire start the boat?

Is this a possible computer issue, and can the computer intervene with circuit at some point and not allow the boat to fire?

Now back in driveway I CANNOT get the thing to NOT start so I can diagnose whats going on. I know the second I am on the water it will do it again and I would rather be riding!

Anyone see any possible answers, or even just shed some light on how this circuit is organized?

P.S. Thanks for the responses, Much appreciated!

I think it is your starter solenoid about to go bad but you may just have a loose negative battery terminal. Surprised.gif

You should be able to engergize the relay coil (Red/Yellow wire) and have 12V go to the starter regardless of the state of MEFI computer.

It is a very simple circuit: +12V battery terminal to one side of Solenoid. relay coil. other side of Solenoid to starter, ground through block and back to Negative Battery cable.

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I guess my overall question is: Can the computer disallow me to turn over the engine for some reason?

I am assuming that since it is intermittent that it is either a poor/corroded connection or a failing piece of equipment (either relay, nuetral switch or ignition?).

So for clarification, the only items that would effect the starting circuit would be: key ignition, relay, and nuetral switch correct? If there are any other places to look for possible problems regarding this please let me know.

I have done a ton of searching on this site as well as others and felt like I had a pretty solid understanding of how everything coincided but now I am wondering what I could have possibly missed?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Okay so today I was finally able to trace to problem to the neutral switch. I verified this by crossing the wires and it fired right up. I initially had been trying the wrong connector it seems.

The symptoms are: starts fine when cold and hot in driveway, fine when cold in lake, but it wont start once its warmed up on the water. I am assuming this is due to a rougher ride than sitting still in my driveway. Has anyone taken the switch out of their tranny to inspect it? The boat is throttle is pretty much dead on regarding forward, neutral, and reverse, plus jiggling the throttle doesnt fix it. I pre-cleaned the switch terminals before I took the boat out, so I know the connections are solid, thus it must be the switch itself. Has anyone taken this apart themselves and cleaned/replaced it? I have never heard of anyone actually replacing a neutral switch in the tranny, just curious if anyone has.

Edited by Liquidmx
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Has anyone taken this apart themselves and cleaned/replaced it? I have never heard of anyone actually replacing a neutral switch in the tranny, just curious if anyone has.
I had intermittent starting problems a couple of years ago...PITA...ended up being a small amount of build-up on the underside of the nuetral safety switch. It is a magnetic switch and the layer of "build-up" kept the magnet from recognizing that the tranny was in nuetral. I just pulled the neutral safety switch from the tranny, cleaned it with some emery cloth, and reinstalled. Fixed the problem immediately and hasn't been an issue since. Good luck with yours. :) Edited by NorCaliBu
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Sweet, thanks Norcal!

I just wanted to make sure that when I pulled it out I wouldnt have springs or other small pieces flying everywhere. I think everyone who has wrenched at one point or another has taken something apart and had it explode and shoot tiny parts everywhere, lol.

Thanks again!

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Sweet, thanks Norcal!
Thumbup.gif
I think everyone who has wrenched at one point or another has taken something apart and had it explode and shoot tiny parts everywhere, lol.
Whistling.gif Not me... Biggrin.gif

:lol: yeah right.... :lol:

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Sweet, thanks Norcal!
Thumbup.gif
I think everyone who has wrenched at one point or another has taken something apart and had it explode and shoot tiny parts everywhere, lol.
Whistling.gif Not me... Biggrin.gif

:lol: yeah right.... :lol:

It's really fun when you turn a part over and a ball bearing falls out.... WTF did that come from.... Crazy.gif

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I personally like the exploding ones, where there are so many pieces your left thinking, "is that in backwards, or maybe upside down, hmmm", lol!

I took it apart, cleaned it up really well, and re-installed it. Another quick question:

Anyone who has tightened that tranny cable: was there about a half inch of play in your cable? I am assuming its due to the tolerances at the throttle lever itself? My next plan is to take her out, see if the problem still exists: if it does i will pull the cable and manually put it in neutral and see what happens.

Thanks for all the help.

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