Boat running fine then all the sudden Dead in the water.

[stemjosh]

Yesterday we took our bayliner out for a day of boating camping and more boating the next day. Everything went fine yesterday and most of the day today until we get about 5 miles from the dock and we stop for sunscreen on the kids. Then when i tried to fire back up nothing. No click no turning over just nothing. Never had any issues with this boat so after messing with it for about 45 min checking connections (with a very crude tool kit for the boat) I came up stumped I'm guessing maybe the starter solenoid but really not sure. So after all the tinkering to no avail I just jumped the starter with a screwdriver and headed back to the dock. if it helps the exact model is a 1994 bayliner capri with a mercruiser 3.0

 

[Bt Doctur]

ignition switch, slave relay

 

[titaniumneck]

I.d.k sounds like a bad starter solenoid, but could be as simple as corrosion on connections. Take off all connections and wire brush them all shinny, then wire brush all nuts to solenoid and try again. If it still doesn't work, multi meter the wire to solenoid from starter switch, if power from switch, then solenoid, if no power from switch, then it's switch. But with electrical I always clean corrosion off everything first before I start buying stuff.

 

[tpenfield]

Lanyard maybe . . . :noidea:

 

[stemjosh]

Alright well there was a loose wire on the starter but it wouldn't tighten while trying to take the nut off to examine and try and get another nut on there that would i proceeded to strip all the threads off th bolt coming out of the starter solenoid. So now its just a small smooth shaft so i guess im gonna have to order one of those first and anyway hopefully that will be problem. Then ill look at what BT doctur mentioned. And tpenfield my boat doesn't have a kill lanyard.

 

[alldodge]

Agree with BT and most probable is the slave solenoid, looks like this

 

[andrewterri]

You might get a voltmeter and ask someone to chime in to find a way the test the key switch and slave solenoid, if you can, first to find which one is the problem. Buying parts and trying them to see if that's fixes your problem gets expensive.

 

[stemjosh]

Yeah Im going to get a new multimeter soon mine bit the dust a while back. I don't see much other option at this point now that replacing the starter solenoid at least cause like I said earlier removing one of the nuts that way somehow crossthreaded or something down stripped all the threads off the small upper right hand bolt coming from the starter solenoid. I can't find any way to affix the wire back too it and have it hold down anywherer near tight. They seem hard to find though anywhere other than ebay. I hate to replace the entire starter again. I just put that one on last year.

 

[achris]

A known problem with boats of that era is the 3AG 20A glass fuse that is in the power lead of the ignition key. The fuse and its holder get a bit of corrosion and lose conductivity. I always replace that 3AG fuse with a blade fuse and holder. Solves the problem (and potential problem) completely.

Just another possibility worth a quick look.

Chris.....