Sea Ray 340DA Starboard Engine Won't Crank, No Beep, No Fuel Valve Turn on

MJ340DA

New Member
Jul 17, 2017
5
St. Lawrence River
Boat Info
2001 340 Sundancer 6.2MX Sterndrives
Engines
MX6.2 Sterndrives
I was hoping for some help as I have exhausted all the ideas I could think of for a fix. I am moderately mechanically inclined but am stumped by this.
Symptoms:
Turn on ignition key and ignition switch in cabin panel and then try to start with rocker switch at the helm and get no sign of electrical current... no beep, no Fuel valve switch turn on noise, no crank. Starboard side only as the Port side cranks as normal. Oddly, if I hold down the bridge/crossover rocker between the port and starboard start rockers, the starboard side beeps, fuel switch turns on and it cranks. If you let go of the bridge/crossover rocker switch it is dead again. This is repeatable.

Tests and fixes tried so far:
Fully charged and tested starboard battery bank. Replaced slave solenoid on top of the engine. Checked the red button circuit breaker on top of the engine, it is not tripped. All breakers on the engine room DC breaker panel are untripped. Replaced both the starboard and port battery relays/solenoids inside the DC breaker panel. Replaced the starboard starting rocker switch at the helm. Tested by jumping the slave solenoid to "jump start or jump crank" the starboard engine and no crank, nothing.

I am at stumped! Not sure how to proceed from here. I assume since the starboard engine cranks when using the bridge/crossover switch at the helm that the engine, starter, fuel switch are all fine. I also assume that since I cannot affect a "jump crank" across the slave solenoid that the ignitions switches in the cabin cannot be the problem since they are not needed to jump crank it anyway. :huh:

Any help to find my electrical gremlin would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks so much
 
I wish I could help. The fact that it starts on the "e-start" button is really weird.

Is it possible there is an issue/short in your actual rocker switches at the helm?
 
Yes very weird. I have replaced the starboard rocker start switch and checked behind the helm panel and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Thanks for responding. This is driving me nuts! I am thinking maybe there is a wiring short somewhere. That could be a nightmare to find. I will have to take another look at the wiring schematic. Thanks again.
 
i'll be the first to admit trouble shooting electrical issues is not my strongest skill but i have a couple thoughts to consider.....

it may be a problem with the alternator or the battery for the starboard engine.....when you use the emergency start to crank the starboard engine it is running off of the electrical sysyem of the port engine....when the emergency start rocker is released the port power supply is cut and the starboard engine has to rely on power from either its alternator or its battery to continue to run.....

the engine should continue to run once it is cranked on battery power alone (for a while).....since it is dying immediately when the emergency start rocker is released and you have insured the battery is fully charged that tells me that the ignition system is not being supplied power from either the battery or the alternator....maybe a dead short in the alternator is the problem.....maybe you can disconnect the starbord alternator and use the emergency start to start the starboard engine....if the engine continues to run when the emergency start rocker is released you have a problem in the alternator....

or the starboard engine may crank on its own once the alternator is disconnected if it has a short....

cliff
 
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Does everything else powered by the starboard bank, perhaps electronics, have power? I know you replaced the solenoids but sure sounds like the whole side might be down.
 
Had the same thing with my boat 8yrs ago. Stumped everyone including those on CSR. Finally found the little gremlin with advice from a very unlikely source (boater friend that cant screw in a lightbulb). All he knew to try was "to check the ground" and meant the big black ground wire on the engine block. Removed it, cleaned it (didn't look corroded) and reinstalled. No more issues since.

Hope this helps!
 
Just got back from the Boat and doing some testing with my multimeter. Went back into the DC panel in the cabin and tested the Ignition switches to be good, tested the breakers before the switches to be good but noticed the feed end of the starboard side ignition breaker is not getting 12v. So I started from the battery cable to the starter on the starboard engine which feeds 12v to the whole system and found that the 90 AMP white fuse on top of the starter is blown (reads 12v feed, 0V other side. Also noticed that the main 50 Amp (red button) breaker on top of the starboard engine is stuck in the popped position, fully out. It reads OV at both terminals. So I am replacing both the 90 White starter fuse and the 50 Amp red button breaker. I am just worried what cause this all to blow. I assume the 50 Amp red button breaker was going bad and finally died and blew the 90 Amp fuse before it in the circuit. Wish me luck!! Thanks for all the help
 
I replaced my alternator at the same time... A bad alternator can blow your fuse...
 
Thanks so much rcknecht! Come to think of it I have had issues with charging underway with a bit low voltage readings on voltmeter at the helm on the starboard side for years. I am so happy I found the problem that buying and installing an alternator is not painful at all.
 
Not sure if that explains the ability to start the engine using the bridge/crossover rocker switch... That would have never worked with the fuse and breaker disabled. Curious to see if the replacement of your alternator, fuse, and breaker solves your issue.
 
As far as I can tell the fuse and breaker are not for the engine start at all they are the feed for the wire harness that powers the ignition breaker, ignition switch and all the accessories and such on the starboard side. 90A would never been enough considering far more that that is used to start an engine. When you use the emergency start it activates a solenoid to cross over the port side power and ignition (since it was receiving power, no blow fuse or breaker on that side) and bypasses the starboard ignitions circuit altogether. That is my understanding of it now after carefully reading the very complex electrical schematic diagram for the boat.
 
The 90A link is used for the alt feed to the battery. The Red wire connected to that link goes to the 50A circuit breaker. To make life easier I remove the Red wire and add a terminal to connect it to the main starter post. The main circuit is protected by the 50 A circuit breaker and does not need a 90A in front of it.This way all you lose is the alt feed should it blow and not your main system power to start the engine.
 
I was hoping for some help as I have exhausted all the ideas I could think of for a fix. I am moderately mechanically inclined but am stumped by this.
Symptoms:
Turn on ignition key and ignition switch in cabin panel and then try to start with rocker switch at the helm and get no sign of electrical current... no beep, no Fuel valve switch turn on noise, no crank. Starboard side only as the Port side cranks as normal. Oddly, if I hold down the bridge/crossover rocker between the port and starboard start rockers, the starboard side beeps, fuel switch turns on and it cranks. If you let go of the bridge/crossover rocker switch it is dead again. This is repeatable.

Tests and fixes tried so far:
Fully charged and tested starboard battery bank. Replaced slave solenoid on top of the engine. Checked the red button circuit breaker on top of the engine, it is not tripped. All breakers on the engine room DC breaker panel are untripped. Replaced both the starboard and port battery relays/solenoids inside the DC breaker panel. Replaced the starboard starting rocker switch at the helm. Tested by jumping the slave solenoid to "jump start or jump crank" the starboard engine and no crank, nothing.

I am at stumped! Not sure how to proceed from here. I assume since the starboard engine cranks when using the bridge/crossover switch at the helm that the engine, starter, fuel switch are all fine. I also assume that since I cannot affect a "jump crank" across the slave solenoid that the ignitions switches in the cabin cannot be the problem since they are not needed to jump crank it anyway. :huh:

Any help to find my electrical gremlin would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks so much
I had a similar problem on my 340 and it ended up being a broken wire. You could not tell because the plastic on the spade connector was hold the wire. I just happened to pull on it and it pulled out. Have you tried jumping across the starter solenoid to see if it will start.
 

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