outboard troubles... electrical

jamesbalog

jamesbalog

Junior Member
Have a 1990 johnson 175 which had electrical failure last night.... motor ran great all day, as I was cranking the motor to run in for the day it just stopped.


I have power to the motor but I didn't have time to do much trouble shooting

I can hear the solenoid clicking but the starter wont kick up. My tilt/trim also will not work. It tries but doesn't have enough juice to make the motor move.

All I have checked so far is the voltage on the battery and the voltage through the cables to the motor, all is good there. I ran out of light and couldn't get into it any further. only thing I have ruled out so far is battery and cable issues.



My question is does anyone have a guess as to what may be wrong or where I should look first tonight?

Thanks
 
just a guess, but both systems you mentioned (trim & starter) have high amp draw. i would think a bad cable connection or a bad cable.
check voltage at the motor while trying to start or trim

one of the real motor heads will be along soon
 
Look for a bad ground connection at the motor.... ALSO it is very important to check voltage under a load..... You could have a high resistance connection that passes 12v easily but as soon as you hit the starter switch or trim the voltage might drop to 1 or 2 volts
 
Easy test is run a set of jumper cables from a known good battery to your starter and then to your tilt/trim unit. See if they work. If they work, then you have a bad cable (either pos or neg), bad connection or bad battery.
 
i ran jumpers from the same battery that was on the boat to the motor last night and got the same results... maybe the battery is bad.... ill have it load tested tonight
 
jamesbalog said:
i ran jumpers from the same battery that was on the boat to the motor last night and got the same results... maybe the battery is bad.... ill have it load tested tonight
Click to expand...

Just put your car near the boat and run the jumpers from it to the outboard. Why spend money if you don't have to? :head:


Oh, and make sure you ground to the motor being tested, not to your outboard engine itself. (If your motor ground is corroded and you ground to your engine then you'll get bad results). The idea is to eliminate potential problem areas, and if you have a bad ground and you use it during the test then you'll never find the problem.
 
Last edited:
Destroyer said:
Just put your car near the boat and run the jumpers from it to the outboard. Why spend money if you don't have to? :head:


Oh, and make sure you ground to the motor being tested, not to your outboard engine itself. (If your motor ground is corroded and you ground to your engine then you'll get bad results). The idea is to eliminate potential problem areas, and if you have a bad ground and you use it during the test then you'll never find the problem.
Click to expand...


boat was in a slip making things a bit more difficult.... but the results are in, it was a bad battery

old battery showed 12.5 but under a load it wouldnt put out much of anything.... new battery and problem solved


thanks everyone
 
I am late on this--but if a battery has full voltage does not mean it has any amps to speak of in it.

good easy find.

remember--a alternator is NOT a battery charger!
 
Glad you found the problem. A new battery is lots cheaper, and it has many side advantages... like insuring that your bilge pump works when needed... little stuff like that. Congrats on the solving of your problem. :beer:
 
But this incident certainly illustrates the reason we need TWO batteries and a switch. The LAST thing we want is to be stuck out somewhere with a bad battery, bad cable, whatever. A Wellcraft V20 is too big to row! It is easy and inexpensive to invest in another battery and a switch and new cables. Then ensure both are charged up during your next outing. BTW, you must shut the engine down when you switch batteries unless your switch goes through a "both" position. I just stop the engine, switch batteries, then restart the engine. In an hour or so, even without a meter, you can be confident that the other battery is fully charged.

Larry
 
Larryrsf said:
But this incident certainly illustrates the reason we need TWO batteries and a switch. The LAST thing we want is to be stuck out somewhere with a bad battery, bad cable, whatever. A Wellcraft V20 is too big to row! It is easy and inexpensive to invest in another battery and a switch and new cables. Then ensure both are charged up during your next outing. BTW, you must shut the engine down when you switch batteries unless your switch goes through a "both" position. I just stop the engine, switch batteries, then restart the engine. In an hour or so, even without a meter, you can be confident that the other battery is fully charged.

Larry
Click to expand...


i actually bought two batteries when i got the new one. just waiting on the perko switch from ebay that i dont think is ever going to show up.... one thing ill tell you is a kicker motor is worth its weight in gold
 
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