Voltage Woes...What's wrong?

[BajabossJD]

Hi Guys,

I've taken 6 months off from the boat. I'm back. I just had the 454 rebuilt and I installed it, aligned it and tried to fire it up. The temp, oil pressure and fuel gauges peg when I turn the battery switch on. They return to 0 when I turn the key to the "on" position. The voltage gauge always reads 0 (except maybe 3-4 volts when key is on). No click from the starter.

I have 12v at the key...but only like 3-4 volts at the fuse panel inside. All fuses look good. No accessories work. Even the radio deck doesnt light up..

I cleaned the plug connections in the engine bay and made sure my ground to the block was good. Batteries are fully charged.

What could this be? The engine rebuilder was a decent one..but he's not a die hard marine guy..So I'm on my own. I don't even wanna deal with him anymore to be honest..


Thanks,
Joe

 

[achris]

Re: Voltage Woes...What's wrong?

Sounds like a bad ground to the instrument panel. Make sure all the pins in the big canon connector are making good contact too.

Chris.....

 

[alldodge]

Re: Voltage Woes...What's wrong?

Something is hooked up wrong and we can not see what your seeing. Some pics might help. Is the POS cable on the starter, and the NEG cable go to the block?

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Voltage Woes...What's wrong?

Hi Guys,

I've taken 6 months off from the boat. I'm back. I just had the 454 rebuilt and I installed it, aligned it and tried to fire it up. The temp, oil pressure and fuel gauges peg when I turn the battery switch on. They return to 0 when I turn the key to the "on" position. The voltage gauge always reads 0 (except maybe 3-4 volts when key is on). No click from the starter.
Thanks,
Joe

all 3 gauges that you listed are grounded referenced so a ground problem would be the suspected at or near the dash. When you take the voltage reading where are you reading the negative side?. If you have a old piece of wire then put a clean nail in a piece of wood and connect a wire from there to the negative on the battery and use that as a test point then measure the voltage at the dash. This is the easiest way to see if you have positive or negative problem as a meter will only tell you that there is a problem not which side the problem in on.

 

[BajabossJD]

Re: Voltage Woes...What's wrong?

Hey guys, I wanted to give you an update.

I had all the issues mentioned above..then I tried jumping a ground from the battery to anything by the dash. Sure enough..everything came back to life. I have a ground for my amp in the cabin that I can jump to the ground on the interior fuse panel and everything works.

Any reason why this would need to be done after sitting for so long? I sanded down the connections in the cannon plug and it looks like its making good contact. Is the cannon plug the only spot that offers the ground for the entire 12v system on the boat? I dont like making jumper wires.. all it takes is for it to come lose and I am dead in the water.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[alldodge]

Re: Voltage Woes...What's wrong?

Hey guys, I wanted to give you an update.

I had all the issues mentioned above..then I tried jumping a ground from the battery to anything by the dash. Sure enough..everything came back to life. I have a ground for my amp in the cabin that I can jump to the ground on the interior fuse panel and everything works.

Any reason why this would need to be done after sitting for so long? I sanded down the connections in the cannon plug and it looks like its making good contact. Is the cannon plug the only spot that offers the ground for the entire 12v system on the boat? I dont like making jumper wires.. all it takes is for it to come lose and I am dead in the water.

Thanks,
Joe

Unless someone add an additional ground then yes the cannon plug is the one spot. You cleaned the connections but more then likely the internal connections from the pins to the wire is corroded internally. You can pull the pins out (this most time is an issue) after finding replacements, but most just run a jumper around the plug. Make sure it's the cannon plug and after cleaning the pins need to use some dielectric greese on them to reduce additional corrorsion

 

[achris]

Re: Voltage Woes...What's wrong?

...Any reason why this would need to be done after sitting for so long?...

Reminds me of Neil Young album title of a few years ago (1979).... "Rust never sleeps"....

Just sitting doing nothing is the easiest way for corrosion to do its worst. It just sits there, corroding things away, in complete silence, and completely unobserved. It only needs the tiniest of breaks in a wire, and no circuit....

That's what has probably happened...

Chris.......

 

[BajabossJD]

Re: Voltage Woes...What's wrong?

Reminds me of Neil Young album title of a few years ago (1979).... "Rust never sleeps"....

Just sitting doing nothing is the easiest way for corrosion to do its worst. It just sits there, corroding things away, in complete silence, and completely unobserved. It only needs the tiniest of breaks in a wire, and no circuit....

That's what has probably happened...

Chris.......

Lol.. I will have to listen to that song!

I thought moving away from the ocean to Atlanta would slow my rust bucket down.. I guess not! I am sure there is something funky with that ground in the cannon plug. I will make a solid jumper for the time being. I would love to use the boat once this year!

Joe