1988 Mercruiser 4.3L 4BBL

[watersted]

I bought this boat 2 weeks ago, great condition and well cared for. The third time I had it out which was laste weekend I noticed that the volt gage was only showing around 10 volts. Just about when our day was over, I attempted to start the engine and got that dreaded click click click we all can't stand. I switched the battery box to battery 2 and away we went. Volt gage still showing 10 volts. Got home and charged both batteries and installed new alternator. Took her out again today and same old same old. 10 volts on the volt gague and another dead battery. Any suggestions or am I missing something simple here. Already have $150.00 in the new alternator but clueless as to what else it could be. Thanks in advance.

 

[BigBK]

Re: 1988 Mercruiser 4.3L 4BBL

I bought this boat 2 weeks ago, great condition and well cared for. The third time I had it out which was laste weekend I noticed that the volt gage was only showing around 10 volts. Just about when our day was over, I attempted to start the engine and got that dreaded click click click we all can't stand. I switched the battery box to battery 2 and away we went. Volt gage still showing 10 volts. Got home and charged both batteries and installed new alternator. Took her out again today and same old same old. 10 volts on the volt gague and another dead battery. Any suggestions or am I missing something simple here. Already have $150.00 in the new alternator but clueless as to what else it could be. Thanks in advance.

I would check wires for a short somewhere, also check battery terms they may have a bad connection, Check and clean all elect connections

 

[wca_tim]

Re: 1988 Mercruiser 4.3L 4BBL

I've had an issue before with the prongs in the main plug that connects the engine wiring harness to the front, worth a look. pull it apart and see what it looks like, wiggle it, etc... and see if the volt meter jumps at all. (as in while it's running so would go from 12 to 14 ish... look for any connections that are in poor repair, wires that may have been disconnected (or grouded out) and so on. wiring diagram and trest meter if nothing obvious comes up...

 

[watersted]

Re: 1988 Mercruiser 4.3L 4BBL

Update, Have checked wires, connections and the plug described herin. Thanks for the advise but nothing that I found was out of order. I did notice as the engine was running that the alternator itself (the brand new one) did not appear to get warm at all. I did have a friend tell me there could be something wrong with the other end of the exciter but tried tracing that wire and lost track of exactly where it went. Could it be the Coil? Grasping at straws now. Thanks again.