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I'm getting REAL tired of electrical problems with my 2001 Ski Nautique. So a little back story:
I bought this boat new to me last fall. Ran it once without issue. Rewire entire dash with new Faria gauges. Go to start it this spring, and it blows a fuse when I try to start it in the driveway. Chase it down to a crappy positive clamp, causing the starter to draw all its current through the ignition lead from the dash. Replace battery clamps, everything is happy.
Ski several times this year, notice that sometimes you have to push the start button several times to get the starter to catch (see click. click. click. start. thread). So I set out to replace the starter relay after measuring everything and finding it bad. It's kind of a b!tch to get to BTW. Anyway, I replace the starter relay, go to fire up the boat, it cranks first try, but as soon as I let go of the starter, the thing blows the 20A dash fuse again. That's where it sits on the lift today. I checked all the connections, everything is tight. Replace the fuse, try again. Same result. Replace fuse again. Try just turning on the ignition by quickly pressing the start switch. It blows just turning the ignition on!
Now, I have two schematics for this boat. I have attached both below.
GT_40_DIAGRAMS.pdf ENGINE%20MANAGEMENT%20HARNESS%20WIRING%20DIAGRAM.pdf
As near as I can tell, the ONLY thing coming from the dash that powers anything engine related with power going through the 20A fuse is the purple "IGN" wire. It runs to two things. The field wire on the alternator, and the relay that controls power to the EEC. When the boat is cranking, the power to the field wire and the EEC system relay are coming through the starter relay. When not cranking, the power reverts to being fed from the dash.
This might explain why the old starter relay went bad. What it doesn't explain is why it is now blowing fuses when it didn't when it was bad. I'm going to go check both the field wire and the EEC relay to see if either has a low ohms across it. The only other thing I can think of is that the wiring somehow got compromised when I unplugged the two relays (I had to get the wiring out of the way to get the bolts for the starter relay out).
Has anyone ever ran across this problem before? How did you fix it?
I bought this boat new to me last fall. Ran it once without issue. Rewire entire dash with new Faria gauges. Go to start it this spring, and it blows a fuse when I try to start it in the driveway. Chase it down to a crappy positive clamp, causing the starter to draw all its current through the ignition lead from the dash. Replace battery clamps, everything is happy.
Ski several times this year, notice that sometimes you have to push the start button several times to get the starter to catch (see click. click. click. start. thread). So I set out to replace the starter relay after measuring everything and finding it bad. It's kind of a b!tch to get to BTW. Anyway, I replace the starter relay, go to fire up the boat, it cranks first try, but as soon as I let go of the starter, the thing blows the 20A dash fuse again. That's where it sits on the lift today. I checked all the connections, everything is tight. Replace the fuse, try again. Same result. Replace fuse again. Try just turning on the ignition by quickly pressing the start switch. It blows just turning the ignition on!
Now, I have two schematics for this boat. I have attached both below.
GT_40_DIAGRAMS.pdf ENGINE%20MANAGEMENT%20HARNESS%20WIRING%20DIAGRAM.pdf
As near as I can tell, the ONLY thing coming from the dash that powers anything engine related with power going through the 20A fuse is the purple "IGN" wire. It runs to two things. The field wire on the alternator, and the relay that controls power to the EEC. When the boat is cranking, the power to the field wire and the EEC system relay are coming through the starter relay. When not cranking, the power reverts to being fed from the dash.
This might explain why the old starter relay went bad. What it doesn't explain is why it is now blowing fuses when it didn't when it was bad. I'm going to go check both the field wire and the EEC relay to see if either has a low ohms across it. The only other thing I can think of is that the wiring somehow got compromised when I unplugged the two relays (I had to get the wiring out of the way to get the bolts for the starter relay out).
Has anyone ever ran across this problem before? How did you fix it?
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