NO POWER TO ANYTHING? - Iginition dash breaker on or off

[SacandagaNautique]

I have a 94 closed bow nautique with the 5.8ho proboss w/ a carb. I went to use the boat yesterday and turned the iginition on and nothing, no power to anything. I used a booster pack and jumped the boat and it ran fine. Came back in last night, shut of the boat and left it until this morning. I again had ZERO power to anything. I again tried to hook up the booster pack thinking it just needs another jump. I got absolutely NOTHING, no lights, no gauges, no clicking, etc. I installed a new battery, still nothing when I press the iginition breaker on. I traced the main battery lead to the relay, I have juice to it.

Here is my question:

Does ALL of the power first go thorugh this problematic relay??? If it is bad would I have nothing at the dash? Everything I read seems to say that you would still have the power at the dash but just nothing when you try to turn over the engine??? Which is correct? Would a bad relay make it so there is no power to ANYTHING in the boat??

Please help, your advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[M3Fan]

RE: NO POWER TO ANYTHING? - Iginition dash breaker on or off

ALL of the power that goes to the ignition breaker comes from the 50 amp breaker behind the engine. Make sure it is not popped.

[SacandagaNautique]

Hello,

Thank you for your reply. I did "so I thought" check the breakers first. I pushed on each of them and they didnt move, both the 50 amd 12.5. I did notice though that looking at them from the side that the 50 is about a 1/4 inch out further than the other. Should/would they a very hard push to reset?


Thanks again

[M3Fan]

To answer the second part of the first question, the only power that goes "through" the relay is the high amp power that goes to the starter. The battery cable goes from the hot side of the battery to one of the posts on the relay and the power to the 50A breaker (and whole dash) is merely spliced off that same input post of the relay. The relay could be completely blown and you would still get power to the dash.

[SacandagaNautique]

*UPDATE*

M3FAN, Thanks for your insight thus far.

I did go back out to the boat this morning and check the 50 amp breaker again. It doesnt budge when I push on it. It does seem to stick out of the bracket a bit farther than the 12.5 amp (protec breaker). I now understand that even a bad relay would give you power at the dash, so I am moving on in my troubleshooting. I also know that the dash ignition switch was replaced about a year ago. I can tell that it is new compared to the others by looking at the white in the sides of it, the others are worn, the ignition still has fresh white on it. So basically the 2 major items that would lead to no power to anything would be:

(1) The 50 main breaker on the back of the engine
(2) A faulty dash ignition breaker

Is this correct?

Also what please give me some insight on getting a dead boat on the trailer (to take to the dealer). Should I just set the trailer in the water a bit deeper and walk the boat up enough to hook the bow eye to the trailer hook and drive out nice and slow??

Any insight is greatly appreciated!

Thank you

[M3Fan]

You are on the right track. Take the two leads going into the back of the ignition breaker (two spade female terminals) and hold them together with the key turned on. If you get power, it is the ign breaker. If that didn't work- Next step- take a long length of wire and temporarily tie it in from the positive on the battery right up to the ignition breaker- just take that whole trip back and fourth to the engine compartment out of the equation. If you get power doing either of these, you know it is somewhere in the wiring, connectors, or the ign breaker if case 1 fails. Get some electrical cleaner in any case and pull apart every wire loom and connector at the engine and behind the dash. There are probably a half dozen connectors that are big looms. Clean them all out and reconnect after you do this troubleshooting. I got a full volt out of my system by doing this.

[Hollywood]

Check your ground wire!!! Make sure it is clean and tight.

[M3Fan]

yes, good call H- that ground can be an elusive bugger. Basically, bypass and test every link in the equation. If you bypass the hot right to the battery, and it doesn't work, bypass the ground right to the negative terminal. Test, retest, bypass, etc. A quick test for 12v on the output side of the 50A breaker is also another test to run.

[SacandagaNautique]

you guys rock, thanks again

[SacandagaNautique]

Hi All,

Just to update:

I followed all electrical leads from the battery to the dash. Disassembled everything and began cleaning and then tightening all connections. I got everything back together and WALA!! POWER, boat started right up! I also as M3Fan mentioned, I am reading 2 full volts extra now!! Amazing, my engine is spotless but just that little bit of corrosion screwed me up!! Thank you all for helping me through this.