2002 SANTE electrical short (WONT START)

[wakehead]

Alright Guys, who ever can figure this out is a true winner.

Here is the deal. I have had these electrical problems and boat hasn't started for a few weeks. Very sad sad situation. What happens is that when i press start after punching in the code the system shorts and the cumputer shuts down. I hear the perfect pass beep beep consistently when putting the ignition in start mode (after activating the computer i press start a second time to turn the guages on, this is when the perfect beeps every 3 seconds or so).

COuld it be that the perfect pass is acting up. All my connections are solid, no blown fuses, solenoid and starter seem to be in tact and all the grounds even on the battery are rock solid. I hear the starter click which i go to start right before the system shuts down. This makes no sense to me but is definitely something electrical.

What do you all think it could be. I just noticed the perfect pass issue once i had the boat out of the water. I cant even turn the perfect pass off once its beeping. Seems like it has a mind of its own now. as for the engine everything ran A1 when it was going.

Let me know what I should do as the next steps ....

[jamiewilson3]

Follow the advice that was given to me this weekend by a DanielC, whilst I was checking everything with a mutlimeter.....

Check the battery connections. Clean the battery connections and tighten them down. May be it, may not be. It will take 5 minutes to do.

[WakeSlayer]

Lanyard? I assume you cannot hear the fuel pump priming?

How about your battery voltage. PP needs ~12v or it will get goofy. Are you sure you have a full charge? and it isn't jut shutting down the computer because it is too low?

[wakehead]

All the connections are solid, i even put some vaseline on the terminals of the battery ans tighten them just nice and snug. As for the volts I had perfect charge. Is there a ground coming off the perfect pass somewhere? my throttle was acting up a bit but I am sure it was in neutral. Where does the perfect pass hook up to the engine? COuld it be that connection?

Let me know what to check next

[Rick]

Check the solenoid

If the solenoid is really bad you might hear a click and the voltage may be feeding back through the ignition.I would start there They are relatively cheap and pretty easy to replace.

[bkhallpass]

Sounds like low voltage on the battery to me. I'm not fully understanding what your PP is doing, but I had similar symptoms on mine, and it turns out battery was shot. I charged it several times, seemed to be charged, but got similar symptoms at the key pad. Changed batteries and it was fine. I'd at least check it with another battery that you know is good. Not a mechanic, just a personal experience. BKH

[scuff97]

I agree with the other guys. Put a volt meter at the positive terminal at the starter itself and the other to the groung at the block. Have someone try to start the boat and watch the voltage drop. It should not drop below 8 volts

[core-rider]

You say the voltage is good, but I'm assuming that is unloaded. My guess is there is a bad battery or two and you voltage drops critically low when trying to start. Remove the batteries and take them somewhere to be load tested. My guess is you will need new batteries.

If the batteries test good, then unfortunately you will have a good bit of troubleshooting in store it sounds like.

[wakehead]

Thanks Guys,

I am going to try this out. The battery is no more than 2 seasons old but i will give it a try anyways. So you are guys are basically telling me that if there is not enough voltage in the battery then that would cause the entire system to shut down when going to press start?

Thanks for all the help.

[WakeSlayer]

Most of the electronic crap we put on our boats requires 12v to work properly. It may well work below that, however, you never know where exactly it is going to drop out. My iPod controller works below 12v, but the spec says it needs the 12v. Same with PP. I would guess the keypad etc may be the same. I have a key and breakers and no real experience with the keypad boats. Your battery might say 12v sitting there, but putting a load on it is entirely different. Report back with what you find. If you can fix your problem for $80 in 5 minutes, sweet !!

[CradGen2]

Volts and Amps are two different things. You could have a battery charged and on an amp meter readin 12+ volts, but as soon as you put any AMPs on the battery it kills it.

An example is I can get the key pad on, but when I hit the botton and the gauges start coming up the whole boat shuts down.

[wakehead]

I will definitely keep you posted. For starters we are going to kook my brother truck up to the battery and try using booster cables to see if its the voltage issue. We will also put the volt meter on the ground of the battery as well as see what the volt meter reads. It does make sense. But what i don't understand is that the root of the problem happened out on the lake. I was towing my nephew. Stopped the boat and went to restart and there it happened. "click"

I will let you guys know the outcome.

Thanks again

[wakehead]

Sorry crad i just saw this now. Thast is exactly what is happening to me. How do you suggest i check the amperage ?

Does this also relate to probably needing a new battery?

Let me know

thx

[wakehead]

OKay so here is the deal,

My bro boosted the battery right from his truck and went to start the boat and the same thing happened. The click and the short. Further more the keypad didnt even work half the time. the lights didnt light up when he was punching in the code. It only randomly worked after a few times. CAN this still be a faulty solenoid as an option or can I rule that out. I am wondering now if its either the keypad itself ??? Does the perfect pass have a separate ground just for itself?

[Johnsongc]

I had a very similar issue. It turned out to be a bad negative battery cable. It was corroded and not getting a good ground. Even when charging or jumping with my truck, nothing worked (or only a few lights sometimes). didn't make any sense until we folded back the insulation on the ground and saw that it was green and pretty nasty. cut it back a few inches, bolted on another terminal, and there she goes. not a problem since.