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Jul
Solenoid Troubleshooting for Boats. A faulty Shift Interuptor Switch on the shift plate assembly.
No Mess No Wire Nuts.
What causes a boat not to start. If you try starting the motor and smell gas the motor is likely flooded yes as noted above the gas smell can come from a cracked fuel line but that is not as likely. Do NOT use the squeeze bulb that will further flood the motor. You have two choices for a fix.
Wait about 10 minutes and try starting again. There are five major things that you can troubleshoot to get your engine turning over. The battery battery cables starter solenoidrelay the starter itself and the key switch.
This article covers exactly how to diagnose a boat engine that wont turn over and how to troubleshoot the source of the problem step-by-step. FILMING IS DIFFICULT ON A BOAT. Boats make filming difficult they rock about all over the place the wind never stops and the lighting changes rapidly.
Once bitten by the filming bug youll see the flaws in films which you never noticed before. Youll be rewinding all the time to check out why that scene looked so good or so bad. Solenoid Troubleshooting for Boats.
All boats with electric start engines have a starter solenoid through which the electricity flows from the battery to the starter motor. If you turn the ignition key to the start position and nothing happens you may be having a solenoid problem. Dry starts Most boaters are guilty of accidentally starting their engine with the prop high and dry but Ive seen boaters at the ramp give their engine a quick bump of the starter switch just to make sure their battery is strong enough.
This is a huge no-no. More often than not the root cause of these issues is poor-quality workmanship. To learn some of the ways to avoid these mistakes check out these Q A posts.
No Mess No Wire Nuts. When lightning strikes a boat that is not properly grounded the lightning could cause a hole or crack where it leaves your boat hull. If your boat gets struck by lightning and even though you cant see any initial damage you should still have it looked it.
Below is a quick list of items which can cause a no spark condition from the coil. A bad key switch. A blown ignition fuse.
A bad harness connection or bad harness. A bad shift cable. A faulty Shift Interuptor Switch on the shift plate assembly.
A removed or faulty Safety Lanyard Switch. A bad ignition coil. The most common reason a starter is not engaging is low battery voltage or a faulty starter motor solenoid.
It can also be caused by faulty internal parts of the starter motor like the plunger or pinion gear. There could be many other reasons causing your starter not to engage properly but mainly there is an internal issue with the starter motor. There are different causes to this depending on your engines.
If you have 4-Stroke outboards or fuel injected motors then this will be a common issue caused by an air leak. 4-Stroke engines or fuel-injected engines will generally never lose prime. The engines store fuel in.
This could result from a ruined water pump impeller which will require service. But more often than not the issue arises because the tell-tale is clogged with grit mud or a bit of seaweed the engine picked up. If you dont know which is the cause youll have to pull the boat and head for the mechanic.
One of the more common reasons with an outboard boat engine is that the rectifier is not working correctly. Just like the alternator on a car the rectifier is supposed to charge your battery while the engine is running. If this little unit is not working correctly then it wont be able to convert the AC Alternate Current to DC Direct Current.
If you notice your boat beginning to vibrate you could have an issue. This is especially true if it gets worse the faster you go. The most likely cause of this vibration is that something has gone wrong with the prop.
There could be a couple of possible issues with the prop that can cause a vibration of the vessel. Possible prop issues can include.