Westerbeke problem

I had an experience last year that turned out to be a bad sensor. It was shorting out and smoking a capacitor or resistor thing on the one control board. It was also popping fuses. Drove me nuts. I thought it was a bad fuel lift pump then control module. Almost bought two expensive parts. Turns out it was a $30 sensor.
 
dtfeld said:
I have a troubleshooting guide/checklist I put together based on the written procedure I got from Sea Fire. I’ll email it to you if you think it would help. Might be worth the 15 minutes to verify operation if you haven’t done so already.

I thought my shut down module was bad as well, but turned out to be a bad remote display. The boxes are still available just a couple weeks ago and I was quoted about $400.

this is my adventures with that system. > http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php?threads/sea-fire-remote.96747/
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Replaced the shut off board with a new, out of the box OEM part. Still pops the 12 volt; 8 amp fuse on the generator. I am so disturbed by this development.

The ESRS Mark V specifically for this SeaRay was a pain to locate but that's what I replaced it with. When power Is applied I can hear the relays being activated. So you had pretty much the same issue and it turned out ding the helm mounted unit? I've spent the better part of two days, my maintenance guy has also been trouble shooting the boat and we thought the ESRS was the culperate. That and the Sea Fire technicians told me that was a 90% probability the shut off relay box was the culperate. Did you're situation look like a short in the 12 volt gen or a short in the shut won system?

Appreciate any assistance you can offer.
 
stephens013 said:
Replaced the shut off board with a new, out of the box OEM part. Still pops the 12 volt; 8 amp fuse on the generator. I am so disturbed by this development.

The ESRS Mark V specifically for this SeaRay was a pain to locate but that's what I replaced it with. When power Is applied I can hear the relays being activated. So you had pretty much the same issue and it turned out ding the helm mounted unit? I've spent the better part of two days, my maintenance guy has also been trouble shooting the boat and we thought the ESRS was the culperate. That and the Sea Fire technicians told me that was a 90% probability the shut off relay box was the culperate. Did you're situation look like a short in the 12 volt gen or a short in the shut won system?

Appreciate any assistance you can offer.
Click to expand...


If you are popping the 8A fuse on the control box, you have a bad diode. I wrote several post about this problem. It turns out that this failure usually takes several sensors with it, so it appears to have multiple failures.

Search for 7.6BTD or generator under my name and you should see several posts about how I fixed this issue.
 
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dtfeld said:
If you are popping the 8A fuse on the control box, you have a bad diode. I wrote several post about this problem. It turns out that this failure usually takes several sensors with it, so it appears to have multiple failures.

Search for 7.6BTD or generator under my name and you should see several posts about how I fixed this issue.
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I found your post. Man I hope that's the issue. I have pretty much run out of ideas and patience. Funny thing is the technician that looked at this mess is a Westerbeke service rep.
 
stephens013 said:
I found your post. Man I hope that's the issue. I have pretty much run out of ideas and patience. Funny thing is the technician that looked at this mess is a Westerbeke service rep.
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You are about the 3 or 4th person this has happened to. We must have found the life age limit for diodes in Westerbeke generators
 
dtfeld said:
You are about the 3 or 4th person this has happened to. We must have found the life age limit for diodes in Westerbeke generators
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Well I guess that's a good thing, that being narrowing this issue down. I looked in the top of the generator control box and there it was. Not blown, still in tact. Figure there's no reason ripping it out, testing it and all that mess, until i have replacment parts in hand. Tested the manual over ride control at the helm; its good and darned if I can see, smell or in any way note a shorted out plug or wire.

Hope this diode replacmnet turns out being the fix I'm looking for. An honest to goodness fault and repair. We are gearing up for the 'bucket list' cruse to the islands. Don't want some deal where it works now but darned if I can figure out how or why should it happen again.

Really apreciate your inputs. I'll let you know how this all shakes out.
 
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Skuza said:
I had an experience last year that turned out to be a bad sensor. It was shorting out and smoking a capacitor or resistor thing on the one control board. It was also popping fuses. Drove me nuts. I thought it was a bad fuel lift pump then control module. Almost bought two expensive parts. Turns out it was a $30 sensor.
Click to expand...

Ive already changed the Sea Fire control box with no results. That was a cool $349. I was thinking sensors but the guy I had looking at it is a Westerbeke Rep. All that aside I'm finding the hard truth is that having the confession on such things don't mean nothin.

So which sensor we talking about?
 
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Problem resolved. After several "experts" poked at it the problem it proved to be simple and relatively inexpensive. Well it would have been inexpensive had I called this marine electrical dude from the get go. Boiled down to the water temp heat sensor and a short in the starter.

The only reason I'm not considering inflicting bodily harm to my self is the that even the Westerbeke service guy gave up. Guy from Tony's Marine, Destin, Fl showed up and had her fired up in little more than an hour.
 
bahamabreisus said:
Thanks for the update, glad you are fixed
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I was pretty near the edge of disparate after the second so called expert perused my predicament then was never to be seen again. Now that just pissed me off. Just plain ass rud. Wasted my time, not in calling them in the first place, but by them not coming out and sayin they were unable to fix the issue I wasted time not getting to the guy with the right skill set.
 
Skuza said:
I had an experience last year that turned out to be a bad sensor. It was shorting out and smoking a capacitor or resistor thing on the one control board. It was also popping fuses. Drove me nuts. I thought it was a bad fuel lift pump then control module. Almost bought two expensive parts. Turns out it was a $30 sensor.
Click to expand...

Mine boiled down to a Water temp sensor and a dead short to the starter.
 
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