hot ground wire

[prider11]

I have a custom woodend boat with a Perkins deisel engine in it. The problem is with starting the boat. When I turn the key the engin barely turns over. It makes a revolution and then stops as if the battery was weak. I tested all the batteries and they are fine. I also tested the starter. It is fine. The interesting thing is that when you twist the key to accessories everyting is normal. When you twist the key to the start position the ground wire gets so hot that it will burn you. It does so in a matter of seconds. What in the world is the problem? I guess it must be the ground, but I don't know how to fix it.

 

[FatBack]

Re: hot ground wire

The ground wire from where? What is maybe happening is-- you've lost proper connection from the ground wire of your battery and all the other ground wires are trying to carry the load. It is a common problem. They are all usually connected to one terminal on the engine block. Find it the{common ground} and loosen the connection and remove the wires and clean the the eyelets wire brush the terminal and replace. tighten down real good. Good Luck Scarlet

 

[magster65]

Re: hot ground wire

Good call.<br />Just a thought but another thing you may want to check is the way some of the accessories are wired. Some boats are wired so a switch enables / activates / connects the ground and some connect the power. If some systems are one way and some the other it's easy to get confused when something new is installed.