FlatBlack
Cadet
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2013
- Messages
- 15
I've created an impressive mess of issues, this will be a long post.
I have a 1986 Sunbird I/O bowrider 175 that runs awesome. It's been super reliable for the past 4 seasons. We took it out yesterday and had a pretty good day on the lake until the engine stalled while towing a wakeboarder.
I put a brand new deep cycle marine battery in the boat a few months ago, and I've only been out twice since I did that.
Nothing was wrong with the boat all day until the ignition switch loosened up the nut that attaches it to the dash and started spinning when we'd turn the engine on. The dash wiring is pretty janky, so we were having some intermittent electric cutouts on the dash gauges, but besides that everything was running fine. When I went to ride with my wife driving, the engine started cutting out (I'm 95% sure that the ignition switch connection caused this) and then died. She said it felt like it was running out of gas (we had half a tank left)
The boat wouldn't start up even after I messed with the wiring, it cranked a few times then sounded like a dead battery. We got another boat to give us a jump (and eventually tow us in) but the engine just completely stopped turning over, like the battery was completely sapped.
So today, I take the dash apart and fix the rats nets of spaghetti wires, and try to 'bench test' starting the boat with the dash still apart. I fixed the intermittent power issue, but the battery still is acting dead. I put it on the slow charger, and get the battery out of my car. It's doing the same thing where it sounds like it's dead, it just cranks a little bit, not even a full engine rotation, even though the battery is 100% good. I used the old shadetree mechanic trick of jumping the post of the battery to the solenoid, and it did the same thing. The engine isn't spinning over anymore.
I fear that somehow the engine is trashed, even though it was running like a champ all day yesterday.
I check the oil, it's fine - then I pull the spark plugs (they are about two seasons old). The plugs look nice and there isn't any water on the pistons. I pulled the starter and turned the engine over with the flywheel, and it's not seized. It's a little tougher to turn over than I'm expecting, though.
I ordered a new starter, I'm hoping that's the culprit but it seems super odd that it would fail at the same exact time as the other issue. Hopefully I won't have to pull my head but if the new starter doesn't work I guess I'll have to have a look inside.
Any advice or tips are appreciated.
I have a 1986 Sunbird I/O bowrider 175 that runs awesome. It's been super reliable for the past 4 seasons. We took it out yesterday and had a pretty good day on the lake until the engine stalled while towing a wakeboarder.
I put a brand new deep cycle marine battery in the boat a few months ago, and I've only been out twice since I did that.
Nothing was wrong with the boat all day until the ignition switch loosened up the nut that attaches it to the dash and started spinning when we'd turn the engine on. The dash wiring is pretty janky, so we were having some intermittent electric cutouts on the dash gauges, but besides that everything was running fine. When I went to ride with my wife driving, the engine started cutting out (I'm 95% sure that the ignition switch connection caused this) and then died. She said it felt like it was running out of gas (we had half a tank left)
The boat wouldn't start up even after I messed with the wiring, it cranked a few times then sounded like a dead battery. We got another boat to give us a jump (and eventually tow us in) but the engine just completely stopped turning over, like the battery was completely sapped.
So today, I take the dash apart and fix the rats nets of spaghetti wires, and try to 'bench test' starting the boat with the dash still apart. I fixed the intermittent power issue, but the battery still is acting dead. I put it on the slow charger, and get the battery out of my car. It's doing the same thing where it sounds like it's dead, it just cranks a little bit, not even a full engine rotation, even though the battery is 100% good. I used the old shadetree mechanic trick of jumping the post of the battery to the solenoid, and it did the same thing. The engine isn't spinning over anymore.
I fear that somehow the engine is trashed, even though it was running like a champ all day yesterday.
I check the oil, it's fine - then I pull the spark plugs (they are about two seasons old). The plugs look nice and there isn't any water on the pistons. I pulled the starter and turned the engine over with the flywheel, and it's not seized. It's a little tougher to turn over than I'm expecting, though.
I ordered a new starter, I'm hoping that's the culprit but it seems super odd that it would fail at the same exact time as the other issue. Hopefully I won't have to pull my head but if the new starter doesn't work I guess I'll have to have a look inside.
Any advice or tips are appreciated.
