Bilge lights not working

MDR Couple

New Member
Aug 17, 2018
1
Boat Info
1988 39 ' Searay Express
Engines
454 Mercruiser
I own a 1988 Sea Ray I own a 1988 Sea Ray Express. I just recently changed the light bulbs for the bilge. I checked the bulbs with another socket before installing these new ones and I can't get the bilge lights to work. Also my forward bilge pump does not work but the rear bilge pump works. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also near the batteries there are two fuse boxes period with the red button exposed with different voltages I presume? How can I check the fuses or are these just reset switches?
 
Lots of times on older boats the problem is a connection gone bad over time.
Check the simple stuff first:
Is there power at the lights? You can check with a cheap 12 volt test light. Those little 12 volt test lights are great additions to any boat tool box.
If no power at the light fixture in the bilge: Check the switch at the helm to make sure you get power on both sides when in the on position. The connections on the switches tend to get cruddy over time and you may have to clean or replace the connectors. The switches can go bad too, but cruddy connections are more common.
No power at the switch or fixture? There should be a fuse block with glass fuses somewhere under the dash. Make sure there is power on both sides of each fuse. Fuses don’t usually pop unless there’s a problem, but the little clips that hold the fuses are riveted in to the fuse block and they get loose or cruddy over the years.
Those fuse blocks are cheap and easy to replace so if you have a loose clip you should probably just change the block.
Follow the same basic routine for the bilge pump. There should be two ways to turn that on. Manually via the switch at the helm, or by the float switch activating it.
The bilge pump should be wired directly to the common terminal on the back of the battery switch and likely have an in-line fuse.
But if the pump turns on with either the helm switch or float switch then there is power to the pump so the problem would be at whichever of the two does not turn the pump on.
The float switches don’t get along well with bilge crud so that could be a problem if you have that condition. If so, make sure to clean it up and keep it clean to extend the life of a float switch.
The connections at the pump and float switch get crappy with age too and can cause a no power problem. Check those, and if needed, make new connections, seal them with a heat shrink tube, and use zip ties or something to keep them secure someplace above the height of the bilge pump.
 
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