Outboard Electrical Power Loss

[fishfetchr]

Hello- I am hoping to get some help here.
Yesterday, at the dock, after having the boat out, I tilted the engine up (87 150 Merc), just about all the way out, it stopped (no more power). I tried up. back down- nothing. Turned the key switch back on- nothing. I noticed that the fuel and amp gauges didn't show readings like they usually do with the "key on". Next, to the battery- I disconnected the cables and brushed them up to clean them up a bit, reconnected and still nothing. Here's the thing, some accesories are working (lights & bilge pump). If it were a weak battery, wouldn't the gauges still "show" with the key on? Could this be a wire coming off somewhere? A fuse? Am I correct in guessing it's something with the trim-tilt since it happened actually during raising the engine out? The throttle is a Morse SL-3 Type with trim in the handle. Funny thing is once in a while when tilting the engine up it would stop briefly, then if I'd let go of the switch and do it again it would be fine.
Also- there is only the one battery hooked up right now and it's less than a year old.

Thanks For Your Time- Just looking for a good place to begin.
Mario

 

[Scaaty]

Re: Outboard Electrical Power Loss

Hmmm..tough one..
I'd start with a Multimeter, and start seeing just where voltage is going from the battery, and where it stops. Could be a fuse somewhere, corroded wire, etc. Electrical problems are a witch to find sometimes

 

[microvibe]

Re: Outboard Electrical Power Loss

I had this happen to me on older 35hp evinrude, try wiggling the wiring coming out of the engine while turning key over to see if its bad wire there. Or turn key over and manualycross over the start solenoid to see if power is reaching it. I doubt its your controls or ignition switch since u seem to have been having this issue when triming the motor. Its ethier your connector where the extrenal harness conects to the engine harness or wiring from the engine to the boat. Just spend afew hours with a multimeter and do continuity checks along all the wires. As for some accesories working that i sbecause they are wired on there own cercuit(i assume u dont need key on to use bilge or lights?)

I am pretty certain this will be a cheap fix and simple too just abit time consuming.

good luck let us know how it goes.

 

[fishfetchr]

Re: Outboard Electrical Power Loss

Thanks For The Replies.

I figure it'll be easy fix too, probably just need to do a lil "searchin"- Just wanted to know exactly where to look at the engine first, cause it's a bit of a mess with all the wires under the dash which all seem to go from gauges to the throttle etc. There don't seem to be any fuses in the wiring under the dash- Just some connections made here and there for the trim-tilt wires coming from the throttle. Could something in these wire connections cause the ignition switch not to work? I suspect maybe its around there since the last thing I did was trim the motor with the key in the off position. I see the manual talks of a fuse in a red lead somewhere around the starter at the engine. The thing that gets me is that it happened at the dock, w/out the boat rockin and rollin, which makes me think it isn't a case of something coming loose- ya know?
Also- Correct about the lights and bilge working w/out the key on.

Really need to rewire this whole thing to make it all more neat-but that's in the future.

Mario