Quickstart jumping in and out, driving me mad!!

[sutor623]

So got the new powerhead on the '95 v4 Looper 130 and boy was it hard to start up the first time. Was cackling and coughing, and not starting. Anyways I let it set for a bit, then drained the water from the tub and fired her up on the muffs. Once started, she ran like a dream. Ran it long enough to warm it up, and check idle timing. Last powerhead like 6 degrees ATDC at idle so I figured it was a good starting point.

Now that it was warmed up I put it in a bucket and it started just fine. But, I noticed that quickstart would engage and disengage erratically until either A) the motor was warmed past 96 degrees or B) I physically grounded the white/black wire to ground. Even after the white/black wire was grounded, it would still go in and out of quickstart erratically for a few seconds. I disconnected the yellow/red wire and started it up and it STILL went into its erratic quickstart dance. I know that with that yellow wire disconnected it should not even TRY to go into quickstart. There is no voltage coming in on that wire unless the key is being turned. I checked all the CDI checkpoints with no love. This powerpack is 3 months old and the stator is brand new CDI.

Anyone else have an idea on what to check? Does it sound like I have a faulty powerpack? I dont mind just grounding out quickstart, but the motor will not start easily with the erratic dancing, plus I know it cant be good for my new powerhead.

 

[Faztbullet]

Yez de pack iz bed as Hosea wuz hurtn headz fromz de tequila when he doez it herez in south America.....

 

[sutor623]

Yez de pack iz bed as Hosea wuz hurtn headz fromz de tequila when he doez it herez in south America.....

Fazt, you doin ok bud?

 

[Faztbullet]

Im fine...but that south american pack aint.

 

[sutor623]

Oh I gotcha. Yea I have heard cdi's quality has really taken a downturn. I will have to send it to thn for a replacement. At least I figured out why my newly rebuilt powerhead has a hard time starting.

Weirdest thing was that I wanted to do reeves max spark advance and when I unplugged the yellow and red wire and grounded the temp wire it was still trading 10-12 degrees advanced!!!!! But the oddest thing is I swear my last powerpack was bad also. Just don't want to keep putting them on here if they're going to keep blowing. Will voltage coming in from the kill switch kill a powerpack?

 

[Faztbullet]

Will voltage coming in from the kill switch kill a powerpack?

Yep......as for parts I use Serria as they will pay me if product has problems and warranty is best and there is not but about $10 difference between the two(dealer cost)

Limited Warranty:
SIERRA INTERNATIONAL INC. (“SIERRA&#148 warrants its products to be free of defects in workmanship and materials for the useful life of the product (the “Warranty&#148. If a SIERRA product fails to comply with the Warranty, SIERRA will repair or replace the defective product free of charge. The Warranty is subject to the additional terms, conditions and limitations set forth below.
Warranty Claims for Professionally Installed Products:
For any SIERRA product that was originally installed on a vessel by a dealer or other professional installer that fails to comply with the Warranty, in addition to repairing or replacing the product free of charge, SIERRA will also reimburse the customer for reasonable labor charges incurred to replace the product, and reasonable towing and other similar incidental expenses incurred as a result of the failure of the product to comply with the Warranty. Labor will be calculated based on the installer’s posted shop rate that is competitive with their local market rates. The original work order along with the original invoice and a copy of the new re-work order must be provided to SIERRA to file a claim for reimbursement of labor expenses. Towing charges will also be paid based on reasonable and customary rates in the local trading area. A copy of the original invoice for the towing service must be provided to SIERRA to file a claim for reimbursement of towing expenses.

 

[jakedaawg]

Faztbullet - Have you used the warranty and did they honor it? Sure sounds generous.

 

[Faztbullet]

Had a impeller hub fail and they paid me to rebuild customers 200hp motor and had several packs and stators and they stood behind all of it .Lucky my distributer(Donavans) is about 30min drive away so I can get parts quickly....

 

[sutor623]

Had a impeller hub fail and they paid me to rebuild customers 200hp motor

Wow, that's incredible!!!!

So, I did some more checking and was wondering if any of these factors would be causing multiple powerpack failures:

When engine is running, I get 10v coming from the tan (temp alarm) wire at the harness.

When key is off I get 0v at kill switch. When key is in the on position I have .02v coming into the killswitch from the harness. When the motor is running I believe I have 0v, and when I cut the motor off there is a quick spike of 10v coming in from killswitch at harness.

Will any of these trash a pack?

 

[Faztbullet]

When engine is running, I get 10v coming from the tan (temp alarm) wire at the harness

That is normal as its a feed thru the horn, remember the horn has voltage when key is on and the sender is the ground waiting to happen to turn it on....

when I cut the motor off there is a quick spike of 10v coming in from killswitch at harness.

Its actually more than 10V but it normal as your slamming ignition voltage into ground, pull the blk/yell loose and touch it when motor is running....you might have a little bladder leakage!!

 

[jakedaawg]

When key is off I get 0v at kill switch. When key is in the on position I have .02v coming into the killswitch from the harness. When the motor is running I believe I have 0v, and when I cut the motor off there is a quick spike of 10v coming in from killswitch at harness.

Will any of these trash a pack?

Are you talking about the blk/yel wire here?

 

[sutor623]

Are you talking about the blk/yel wire here?

Yes, In the harness side.

 

[jakedaawg]

Some will argue but the .02v while running may be an issue. Personally I would isolate and ohm the blk/yel to all others and ground. Should be open on all results. I would also check to make sure no one used the blk/yel as a ground for some fishing apparatus or radio or other stuff.

 

[jakedaawg]

Engine side harness or vessel?

 

[jakedaawg]

Before you go to all that trouble you may consider cleaning all connections that blk/yel goes through including the back of the key switch and the red plug. Then retest. If .02 still present test as mentioned above.

 

[jakedaawg]

The problem with this line of thought is that stray voltage on the kill circuit usually blows a different part of the pack. Not the QuickStart. It could be a contributing factor but I do not know.

 

[sutor623]

The problem with this line of thought is that stray voltage on the kill circuit usually blows a different part of the pack. Not the QuickStart. It could be a contributing factor but I do not know.

Gotcha, well, the thing is, the only time I get that voltage is when the key is on, but NOT when the engine is running.



Cant remember exactly what the other issue was with the other pack.It is long gone or else Id just slap it back on there............. Anyways, I may have made a boo-boo. When I bypass the quickstart I used the bolt holding the ignition coil onto the block as my grounding point. That may have sent some stray electricity up to the powerpack, but I don't know. Next time, if I have to bypass quickstart I will ground to the bolt on the powerpack(that the powerpack grounds to.)

But, this powerpack is DEFINITELY faulty at this point. Reason that I noticed is when I went to set WOT with Joe Reeves method, the timing was coming in 10-12 degrees more advanced when cranking, then where it is at idle. So it is automatically in quickstart, whether or not the yellow/red wire was connected or not. I let the motor run with the kill switch dosconnected, the tan wire disconnected, yellow/red wire disconnected and white/black wire grounded to block, and the motor STILL bounces in and out of quickstart for the first 5 seconds.

Unfortunately for me, CDI is out of the office until Jan. 4, so I will have to wait for my replacement. They also want me to send the faulty pack in before they send me a new one. Glad they get some deserved time off, but man I have been waiting to get back on the water.........

 

[jakedaawg]

I have quit using cdi stuff lately. Have had several unacceptable products in the last summer.

 

[sutor623]

I have quit using cdi stuff lately. Have had several unacceptable products in the last summer.

I have been hearing more and more of that...........

 

[sutor623]

So I sent the pack in to CDI. They were closed until Jan. 4................. They say once they get the part it takes them 1-2 days to turn it around and send a new one out my way. I guess we will see.

Still cant believe this thing failed right out of the box.