Ignition Switch Dead - I need this like I need a hole in the head.

[Rick K]

Fired up the boat today and as she was idling, she just died. Not a stall, but just like someone turned off the key. When she sits for a week or more, she'll crank for about 10-15 seconds before firing right up. As I was cranking her over, I did notice a "break" in the cranking for what seemed like less than a half second.

I'm not very electrically orientated so, here's what I found, and maybe someone here can chime in and point me in the right direction...

Everything electrical on the boat works, except for the ignition key circuit. Blower, bilge pumps, wipers, lights, etc., all work fine. If you turn the key to on or run, it's dead, no gauge response either.

Both batteries fully charged.

I seem to have 12v to both sides of the 50A beaker that sits on the engine.

Don't have 12V to the coil, and don't seem to have 12V to the ignition fuse that's up on the helm either. Changed that fuse too.

I dropped the ignition switch outta the helm, it looks ok, but I don't know how to test it. It's a 3 wire switch, and the wires are soldered to the terminals.

Checked every fuse on the boat, and if looked ratty, I changed it.

I'm not sure how to eliminate the ignition switch as the source of the problem.

Can anybody point me in the right direction? Also, does the fact that there's no power to the ignition fuse mean that the issue is before the key, or after it?

THANKS!

 

[Mike Blake]

Do you own a 12V test light?

 

[Rick K]

Thanks for the reply Mike...
I used a multi-meter to check for voltage; that's how I was able to determine that I had voltage to the 2 poles on that breaker, and none at the ignition fuse switch. Didn't test the ignition switch, as I figured if there's no voltage to that fuse, then there probably wouldn't be any to the switch either. Been doing some research as I sit here, and I'm wondering now if the neutral safety switch has anything to do with this, and how the heck do you bypass that to tell?

 

[Mike Blake]

If I remember right red orange and yellow on the switch. Red should have 12v all the time. I think the orange goes to the starter and yellow to the Ign coil. Just follow the 12v's with your meter. Wiggle the shifter first.

 

[Rick K]

Was able to find a wiring diargarm for the boat. Armed with that and somebody that knows what they're doing, I should be good to go later today. Figure it's gotta be something real simple - let's hope!

 

[Lazy Daze]

I don't know if it's different with the older boats, but from at least the mid-90's... to hot wire the ignition switch... at the key switch jump Red to red/purple and then a temporary jumper from yellow to act as the "starting function". If that doesn't work, the problem is downstream, if it works, the ignition switch is the problem.

 

[Rixram]

Something I had as an ignition issue on an older boat once was this:

I'd start it, and the engine would fire, but as soon as I released the key to the "run" position, it'd die. At first, I thought it the switch. However, when i inspected the wiring runs themselves, I found that the wire supporting the "run" position had been spliced in 5 different areas over the years (This was in early 2000s, and the boat was a 1978).

I swapped out the spliced sections with one continuous wire that was new. The problem went away with that. I believed the issue to be too great of resistance from the multiple connections, or even that the connections were no longer good.

I never had the problem again for the duration I owned that boat. Sold it 3 years or so later.

 

[Rick K]

I don't know if it's different with the older boats, but from at least the mid-90's... to hot wire the ignition switch... at the key switch jump Red to red/purple and then a temporary jumper from yellow to act as the "starting function". If that doesn't work, the problem is downstream, if it works, the ignition switch is the problem.

This is getting worse as time goes on! I bypassed the neutral safety switch, no go. Figured it was to solenoid, so I replaced with one I had on the shelf. No go.

So then I focused on the wiring harness. Have power, thru the connector, to the purple (ignition) wire, but nothing else, with the key on or off. Hmmmm. So, I put 12v to that purple wire, and she would power the gauges, but not the ignition.

So then I put 12v to the ignition switch, turned the key, fired her up, all is fine. THEN, I took the 12v off the switch and put it to the ignition fuse that's dead, all is fine. I had originally thought that maybe the wire from the fuse to the switch was crap, but after putting voltage to the fuse wire, it fired. So down the drain goes that theory.

So it seems that I either have an issue in a wire that's coming from the back up front, or something's nasty under the fuse panel somewhere.

My Merc guy hasn't had a chance to get down and look at it, but he said the harness connectors are probably shot, but can't know till he looks at it.

At least I can get it to run and move now...

 

[1956olds]

Did you try a jumper from the battery to the 12v side of the fuse ,sounds like the connector at the battery may be bad.

 

[Rick K]

Did you try a jumper from the battery to the 12v side of the fuse ,sounds like the connector at the battery may be bad.

Definitely... That's how we got it to work. First by putting 12v to the switch, and then by putting it to the + side of the fuse. (all connections at battery are perfect)

While my merc guy is focused on the main harness connector, my focus is on the MESS that's under that switch/fuse panel. After looking at this again last night, I can see that someone was definitely in there sometime in the past. There were 3 factory zip ties around the harness that were unscrewed and cut at one point, and they just left them hanging.

The wire that comes up to the ignition fuse is red, and is spliced into an orange wire with a cheapie butt connector. The other wire that comes off the fuse holder (can't remember the color now) travels down towards the ignition switch and goes into some cluster (expletive deleted) of taped up crap.

I see where the main harnesses come up from the back of the boat, under the helm. They're folded up and zip tied/screwed into place. I think if I unhook those, and unfold everything, I should be able to get enough slack to pull the entire panel up enough to work on it. It's not all that hard to follow, IF you can get the wiring up and out of the helm.

The way things look down there, I wouldn't be surprised if someone twisted two wires together, and taped them up with masking tape. Wouldn't be the first time I saw something like that!

Anyway, for now I can get the boat to the launch by just powering that fuse circut w/12 volts. It'll have to stay that way till I can get in there and rework everything. I'd more or less leave it that way if I had to, BUT, that's not the right way, AND, if there's some other bad connection down there, like my bilge pump, I'd hate to be without it.

 

[Rick K]

Ahhhhh, all fixed! Figured it would be something stupid. Bad connection on a splice that one of the two previous owners must've done. Looks like it just corroded to the point that it came apart. That, and a ratty fuse holder. Now that it's all taken care of, on to the next project!

Thanks for all your input and suggestions!

 

[Rixram]

Ahhhhh, all fixed! Figured it would be something stupid. Bad connection on a splice that one of the two previous owners must've done. Looks like it just corroded to the point that it came apart. That, and a ratty fuse holder. Now that it's all taken care of, on to the next project!

Thanks for all your input and suggestions!

You're welcome! Glad to be of help.