westerbeke troubleshoot help

[papertrail]

I have a 2000 Westerbeke 5.0 genny. The breaker keep tripping. Here are the clues.

Genny was running ok prior to me changing out all the batteries (may or may not be related)
The wiring harness gets noticably hot and it trips the breaker even without trying to start the genny.

Where would you start?

 

[fwebster]

Check the polarity on the generator cables at the battery.............

 

[papertrail]

Check the polarity on the generator cables at the battery.............

I did. Seems to be ok, although the negative connection doesnt look great and I was going to replace. Could this be the issue? genny does have power to it and will briefly try to start before breaker trips

 

[PlayDate]

I have a 2000 Westerbeke 5.0 genny. The breaker keep tripping. Here are the clues.

Genny was running ok prior to me changing out all the batteries (may or may not be related)
The wiring harness gets noticably hot and it trips the breaker even without trying to start the genny.

Where would you start?

1) Which harness (or is it the battery cables) are you saying gets hot without starting the generator? (That would really worry me and would support Frank's theory that the + and - got swapped.)

2) Which breaker is tripping?

John

 

[papertrail]

I have confirmed -/+ are correct to the battery. There is a multi-pin connection that plugs to the genny. That gets very warm and then trips the small resetable fuse. I think its 10amp. Any thoughts on where to start?

 

[papertrail]

Had to call out the tech. Problem was faulty water temp switch. 2 hours labor +parts.