Can't start my starboard engine 2011 37 PC


NH-PC

NH-PC

New member
This is a Boat I just bought this year and have been working through numerous wiring issues successfully ? with a lot of help from here!. I thought I was in a good place, family coming Sunday, and I lost the ability to start the starboard engine and am stuck at the marina?

It looked like it was a bad starter solenoid, the one in the impossible to get to place between both engines. One side was battery power 12.8 V (in off) and the other zero( as it should be) but when you turn the ignition on will go to 6.5, Not 12.8? Doing more research it would be at 6.8 volts even with the ignition set to off . Obviously a problem. When trying to start vessel view would be lit up with all sorts of errors for low-voltage Voltage. 6.6 he's not going to get it going

One wood hatch frame support later, plus RAM removal, I changes a VERY badly corroded Starter Solenoid. Why would they put them here? Another story.. It looks like the solenoids got underwater and look like crap so I replaced the one that showed 6 V and now it shows no volts which is somewhat better but the system now shows dead.

I've already tried 2 starter solenoid relay so I know it's not that

As for digging. The relay with the button reset on the back the engine is fine, so are the four fuses on the back as well. Interestingly the starboard switch above the generator no longer shows red w the new selonoid. As an FYI when we were turn this engine on w the power wall main switch it would never click. The poor side always dead click. So maybe I had a problem here and the solenoid made it worse?

So here I am stuck in the water looking for some information to follow, I have four small wires coming off all four posts of the solenoid, besides the two large ones. can't find any wiring diagrams that show me what those do. I have a red that goes to the large batter cable that goes to the battery. A purple on the other large cable going to the started. On the ?S? wire I have brown/green on the left of the solenoid and Brown/black on the right side, the I cable?

This will be weekend too without the boat :-(. As the dealer here is very backed up

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Steve
 
Is there signs of the starter being under water? You may as well change both now as they will not last long once wet.
 
No, it's higher. Also the motor is new, 80 hours. The old one had an exhaust issue and they hydraulic' d it.

The fact the start/off button in the engine compartment doesn't light up has to be a good clue..
 
Sounds like corrosion to me
Starter with the Bat cables Pos and Neg. Do not foget the Neg side cables. Remove the cables from everything and have a close look. Use a ohm meter and check connections on BAT switches
 
The 12 V side of things is solid. All cables removed and cleaned plus the new starter solenoid which has the corrosion

I can jump the hot side of the starter solenoid to the upper and the motor will start

something in the system is stopping it from powering on properly. No light or click with the engine switch in the engine apartment
 
The mention of "power wall and no click" gave me a bad switch or corrosion. Seeing 6.8V from a Bat is either corrosion or a bad Bat.
Do look at the cables and try to pull them apart by hand, might be under the jacket

Check for 12V when the key is turned ON at either the coil and main power relay (MPR). The MPR should click when key moves to ON. The MPR can be swapped with any of the other relays to see if that's the issue. The MPR must turn ON for anything else on the motor to energize
 
Thank you so much! A lead!
I have more test equipment coming and been waiting on TAG.. I can see the 4 wires here to the solenoid and yes fuses on each. Replaced the yellow glass things w modern waterproof fuses. Now I need to find the other end of this.
 
OK,
So I got this figured out. In the end something simple..... but not so simple from another angle.

I knew the starter solenoid was toast. It was bleeding voltage 12 on one side and 6.7 on the other. I got what looked like a replacement. According to the people in the know any starter solenoid would work. It didn’t work. I got a second opinion and a marine version. it didn't work either. So tore it apart twice, maybe 3x w no sucess. Finally pushed TAG to help me after lots of emails. Kind of frustrated them but this issue went on for a while. On my third trip to the lake pushed TAG to get an engineer involved as I floated around w the boat apart and hatch cover on 2*3's as the RAM has to come out. Why these thigs are back in the stringers on a 12' wide boat makes no sense. You have to do install and wiring, and crimping using 1 hand only. Crimping 2 wires w 1 hand is tough I learned.

In the end this is just a battery disconnect solenoid I found out. It may looke like a typical Ford style solenoid with power in/out and 2 small wires; "S" closing the circuit and "I" feeding an accessory like ignition. This is how their diagram shows it, power in, out, S & I. The thing is this isn’t a normal solenoid. I had to push for the other end of the wiring which wen to a switch. This thing is a latching Solenoid. This means once power is applied it latches open or closed. S is + and I is negative to turn it on. Switch Polarity and that shuts it off S is - and I is +. This explains 2 weeks of hell and why the new ones did not work. . With that in mind I hard wired an original solenoid to a switch as one typically would and a starting boat !. After 45 minutes the solenoid toasted as the solenoid I needed, the latching one, is also rated as a "continuous duty" latching solenoid and of course that will take a week to get. A continuous selonoid is used for situations where a unit is on for an extended time period. In this situation as a battery on switch the power passing through is like cranking a starting engine all the time. Think golf-cart. So the right parts are on order, replacing both, and I can be in the water again...... Thanks all for the help. Got a couple of bad points and ran with them. TAG was great but they are short handed too. Having the right info is everything.

Again, thanks all, you headed me down a path to success.
 
Glad you got it sorted out but dang
What is your motor serial number, just for reference?

I know about the S and I terminals, but don't remember them being used since the old Fords
 
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