my girl won't start

[dusty72]

start my 98 Ski up at 10am, run around for 30 minutes to one hour with kids tubing and skiing and then after I shut the boat off for potty breaks(about 10 minutes) the boat won't start. Turn the key and I don"t hear the fuel pump selonoid kick in.
I was told to switch the relays around and this worked once. Now this trick won't work and I even bought new relays and they wouldn't fix the problem. I really love this 98 SKI, but it is embarrassing. Any ideas ?

[SkiTower]

RE: my girl won

My last boat had a similar problem. Worked fine one moment and nothing the next. Eventually found out the connection between the battery cable and engine was so corroded there wasn't a connection. Cleaned it up and it worked fine. And my boat was less than a year old.

[SquamInboards]

RE: my girl won

1. Safety cord shut-off switch
2. Big red breaker button by relays
3 Do you have power everywhere else? Check battery if not.
4. Ignition switch problem, is power getting to the relays?
5. Sorry, but are you in gear?

There are plenty of causes but these are just a few things to check.

[WakeSlayer]

RE: my girl won

Last year, my friend's Pro Air had a similar issue. There was a pluggable wire that was loose but not disconnected at the connection below the fuel control cell. Took us a while to trace it to that, but it started right up after wiggling and re-seating the connection. We had gone though Squam's list before figuring it out.

[Hollywood]

RE: my girl won

The problem may be you're using a tournament ski boat to pull tubes.

[whitlecj]

Re: RE: my girl won

1. Safety cord shut-off switch
2. Big red breaker button by relays
3 Do you have power everywhere else? Check battery if not.
4. Ignition switch problem, is power getting to the relays?
5. Sorry, but are you in gear?

There are plenty of causes but these are just a few things to check.

Good post above. You really should check those items out.

[Red57Bird]

Girl won't start? Do what Spitzer did and get a hooker :razz:

Sorry dude - I couldn't resist. My apologies in advance in the event that we are not allowed to say "hooker" on this forum.

[BigBald]

I vote with Hollywood on the tube issue....

[mdboats]

Re: my girl won't start

Everyone had some good points. Let it sit for a couple hours and see if it will start. If it does you most likely have a bad acorn fuel pump (PCM RAO80018). This pump quits working in a heat soak situation, when it's defective. If this is the problem you have to repalce that pump. If the boat does not re-start tomorrow then check for an inline fuse on your positive battery cable very close to the battery. You could do this today. I'm refering to EFI motors if you are carb it's a whole different ball game
Hope this helps.

Mark Q

start my 98 Ski up at 10am, run around for 30 minutes to one hour with kids tubing and skiing and then after I shut the boat off for potty breaks(about 10 minutes) the boat won't start. Turn the key and I don"t hear the fuel pump selonoid kick in.
I was told to switch the relays around and this worked once. Now this trick won't work and I even bought new relays and they wouldn't fix the problem. I really love this 98 SKI, but it is embarrassing. Any ideas ?

[slob02]

If you are already out tubing and from Michigan, It may be frozen!! Just kidding. :mrgreen:

[dusty72]

my girl won't start

Thanks for the point about the fuel pump. The boat "will" start in about 30 minutes or so. And will start right up the next day without any problems. Since the motor cranks, the battery would not seem to be the issue, I have power to the other accessories.
Is there any way to check the pump off the boat ? Resistance low ?
As for the tubes, gotta do something with the old guys - their legs are gone !

[slob02]

RE: my girl won

Relays..............

[NautiDave07]

RE: my girl won

Check at the battery there is a tube that holds a glass fuse. I was running double ups a few years ago in my 2000 super air and it would just shut down dead no power or anything. I wiggled some stuff around and it started again. this fuse holder just pops together no threads or anythin and over time it wiggled apart causing it to short and begin to melt. I soldered in a new one and never had the issue again