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Help! Electrical Problems


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Looked all over this site until I was blue in the face, maybe someone can give me some insight to a problem I'm having.

Here's a little background: Boat is a 2003 Sunsetter 23 XTI with the 335 monsoon engine.

Used the boat all summer last year with no problems at all.

Problem: Pulled the boat out of storage, turned the key and nothing happened (gauges didn't come on, fuel pump didn't prime, radio didn't come on) yet I still had power to all of my dash switches.

Troubleshooting: Pulled fuse block out from under driver side dash and saw some corrosion so I pulled it out and cleaned it. Pulled ground block out from under dash and cleaned it too just for the extra measure.

Checked all fuses under dash and at motor and everything looks good.

Removed bull plug and checked for any corrosion and it looked fine, tried to wiggle it a little bit with no results.

Checked all ground on motor and cleaned if needed.

Here is what I found:

There is a 12v purple wire from the ignition switch to the safety switch. From the other side of the safety switch there are two purple wires ( I assume one powers the gauges and the other one goes back into the bull plug (my assumption). I cut the connectors from these wires and did some testing.

1. With all the wires disconnected from the safety switch my radio will come on; when I touch the purple 12v to one of the other purple wires my gauges and dash will purge and come on (everything seems to be working)

2. Now that my gauges are working and radio is on I take the remaining purple wire and touch it to the 12v as well and the alarm beeps a couple times, the fuel pump starts to prime for half a second and then everything goes dead. This is where I hit a road block, has anyone else had this problem? If so I would really appreciate your expertise. :Frustrated::ford:

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I'd be baffled too. If you get tired of diagnosing the problem, I know a GREAT boat repair guy that will come to you. PM me if you want his number.

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bnew, I'm happy to help ESPECIALLY since you are flying that fine Ford flag!

Sounds to me like your safety switch - they have a habit of failing. If bridging together all three of the purple wires from the safey switch brings your system to life, there's your problem. Mine was eliminated altogether some years ago. That is, I permanently joined the three wires and replaced the safety switch with a 12V outlet socket.

When they are open circuit they do shutdown the engine and instruments.

Regards, Stephen.

:ford::ford::ford:

Edited by GreenMan
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Sounds to me like your safety switch - they have a habit of failing. If bridging together all three of the purple wires from the safey switch brings your system to life, there's your problem. Mine was eliminated altogether some years ago. That is, I permanently joined the three wires and replaced the safety switch with a 12V outlet socket.

When they are open circuit they do shutdown the engine and instruments.

Regards, Stephen.

I'm thinking about doing the same...nobody ever wears it and it seems to be a somewhat common point of failure.

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Thank you everyone for the replies! Did some more testing today and this is what I've narrowed my problem down to.

1. On the back of the ignition switch you have 4 prongs, 12v constant, acc., ignition, starter solenoid. On the ignition prong I have 2 purple/black wires, one wire sends 12V to the safety switch which is now removed and hard wired; the other wire goes I don't know where (need a wiring diagram if anyone has one)

2. I cut the two purple/black wires off of the common eyelet that connected them to the ignition switch, here's what I found.

With key turned on I can touch the wire that went to the safety switch and my dash comes on and the fuel pump will prime. (getting somewhere)

I have cycled the key many times and the fuel pump and dash keep coming on with no problems, this leads me to believe my problem has to do with where the other purple wire designates. This wire is also responsible for turning the alarm on under the dash.

And a little side note: When dash comes on and fuel pump primes if I try to crank the motor it will not fire. (does the disconnected wire have something to do with ignition system?) :werule:

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Thank you everyone for the replies! Did some more testing today and this is what I've narrowed my problem down to.

1. On the back of the ignition switch you have 4 prongs, 12v constant, acc., ignition, starter solenoid. On the ignition prong I have 2 purple/black wires, one wire sends 12V to the safety switch which is now removed and hard wired; the other wire goes I don't know where (need a wiring diagram if anyone has one)

2. I cut the two purple/black wires off of the common eyelet that connected them to the ignition switch, here's what I found.

With key turned on I can touch the wire that went to the safety switch and my dash comes on and the fuel pump will prime. (getting somewhere)

I have cycled the key many times and the fuel pump and dash keep coming on with no problems, this leads me to believe my problem has to do with where the other purple wire designates. This wire is also responsible for turning the alarm on under the dash.

And a little side note: When dash comes on and fuel pump primes if I try to crank the motor it will not fire. (does the disconnected wire have something to do with ignition system?) :werule:

If you (or anyone else) finds one, please post it...

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Found the problem! The other purple wire that I was talking about powers the alarm system (low oil pressure, high engine temp, etc.) was the issue, I cut the wires and touched the 12V power supply to the safety switch to the back of the ignition switch and everything came on. Boat cranked right up and everything was working properly, stopped and started it several times with no issues. Hope this helps someone one day.

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