marlboro180
Lieutenant Junior Grade
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2009
- Messages
- 1,164
While I wasn't boating, I was on the boat finally getting her ready to get back out on the water after long awaited repair.
Motor back together? Check. Bolts torqued? check. Alternator hooked up? Check. Fuel full? check...You get the idea..
Fired right up and I had a big 'ol grin , patting myself on the back for actually getting the old Merc 3L running again. Kicked back with a cold one while the motor warmed up,then cleaned up the tools still keeping eye on things. Must have bumped a connection for the fuel gauge sender I thought to myself as now the fuel gauge read "E" . Didn't do that before and never touched the gauges. Just a head / manifold, etc.
Shut the motor down and got out the electrical stuff. Should be fun
Got comfy under the dash and started poking around and all the power is on to everything, so it must be the sending unit. Pull off the deck and diagnose sending unit. it is fine, gauge is good too. But still reads "E" . But tank is full, so what gives?
I started checking voltage everywhere and was getting some funky reads- 12V positive on the - side of the blower connection with the switch off, same thing at the bilge pump. Turn switches on, they don't run but now have power on both sides. WTH??? Time to get comfy under the dash again and see what happened. Chipmunks? Squirrels? Mice??? Wouldn't be the first time...
So I'm laying under there and now its getting dark and I'm cuddled up with a flashlight and a test light. Got not horn, no running lights , no fuel gauge, no blower and no pump. Ain't going out in the AM as planned I'm thinking...
I hear my wife pulling into the drive as I'm yet again testing the horn button, pressing it indignantly thinking that will make it work somehow. She gets out and says "Well, hello back!" What? how's she know I'm in the boat under the dash?"
Turns out the horn button was making the bow lights work! I never touched the wiring! My kid thought it was hilarious. They saw the lights flashing on and off while I was hitting the horn button and thought I was saying hello. Too funny. We sat there laughing , wondering what gremlin ( besides me ) got in there to mess things up.
Back and forth checked everything again and again . Nothing was making sense. Gonna be a long night..After another round of terminal checking, back to the manual time and time again:
Make it back to the battery one last time, about ready to hang it up for the night. Hey , what are these two small negative terminal rings doing tucked behind the battery box? Oh yeah , those came off when taking the head off. Better put those back on....Needless to say, when I hooked them back up, everything worked just fine. All gauges working, pump,blower, lights and horn function as normal.
What a brain fart!! Going back to basics when something looks funky is a basic concept . Still can't figure out why I was getting the readings I was though. Or why the lights worked with the horn button... Needless waste of time chasing a problem that wasn't , I could have been putting the gear together for tomorrow's trip!
Motor back together? Check. Bolts torqued? check. Alternator hooked up? Check. Fuel full? check...You get the idea..
Fired right up and I had a big 'ol grin , patting myself on the back for actually getting the old Merc 3L running again. Kicked back with a cold one while the motor warmed up,then cleaned up the tools still keeping eye on things. Must have bumped a connection for the fuel gauge sender I thought to myself as now the fuel gauge read "E" . Didn't do that before and never touched the gauges. Just a head / manifold, etc.
Shut the motor down and got out the electrical stuff. Should be fun
Got comfy under the dash and started poking around and all the power is on to everything, so it must be the sending unit. Pull off the deck and diagnose sending unit. it is fine, gauge is good too. But still reads "E" . But tank is full, so what gives?
I started checking voltage everywhere and was getting some funky reads- 12V positive on the - side of the blower connection with the switch off, same thing at the bilge pump. Turn switches on, they don't run but now have power on both sides. WTH??? Time to get comfy under the dash again and see what happened. Chipmunks? Squirrels? Mice??? Wouldn't be the first time...
So I'm laying under there and now its getting dark and I'm cuddled up with a flashlight and a test light. Got not horn, no running lights , no fuel gauge, no blower and no pump. Ain't going out in the AM as planned I'm thinking...
I hear my wife pulling into the drive as I'm yet again testing the horn button, pressing it indignantly thinking that will make it work somehow. She gets out and says "Well, hello back!" What? how's she know I'm in the boat under the dash?"
Turns out the horn button was making the bow lights work! I never touched the wiring! My kid thought it was hilarious. They saw the lights flashing on and off while I was hitting the horn button and thought I was saying hello. Too funny. We sat there laughing , wondering what gremlin ( besides me ) got in there to mess things up.
Back and forth checked everything again and again . Nothing was making sense. Gonna be a long night..After another round of terminal checking, back to the manual time and time again:
Make it back to the battery one last time, about ready to hang it up for the night. Hey , what are these two small negative terminal rings doing tucked behind the battery box? Oh yeah , those came off when taking the head off. Better put those back on....Needless to say, when I hooked them back up, everything worked just fine. All gauges working, pump,blower, lights and horn function as normal.
What a brain fart!! Going back to basics when something looks funky is a basic concept . Still can't figure out why I was getting the readings I was though. Or why the lights worked with the horn button... Needless waste of time chasing a problem that wasn't , I could have been putting the gear together for tomorrow's trip!
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