GT-40 Starter Relay Wiring

[BobbyGagnon]

I have a 98 Sport with a Boss GT-40 that has had multiple maintenance symptoms this year. I have replaced the Fuel Filter, the Impeller and Thermostat and hopefully that will take care of that problem. I was lead to another forum by Jeff on why my boat won't start on a few attempts then suddenly it will start up. He mentioned the Starter Relay has been notorious for going bad.

Yesterday, I got the new relay from Skidim and proceeded to replace it. I was certain that I was careful on making sure the correct wire will go back on the bolt on the relay but it was such a tight fit that I may have goofed. Now my boat won't even crank. I have checked my 2 batteries and it shows 14 Volts. The radio won't even power on. I checked to see is I was getting voltage from the positive (red) battery wire that connects to the relay and to the starter and its getting 14 volts. I then decided to put my old relay back on to see if the new one was defected and again nothing. I have attached a diagram and a picture showing how I ran the wires. Can any help? Thanks!

[richard]

Starter Relay problem

Seems you don't ground the starter relay

[lukeduke95]

RE: Starter Relay problem

By your drawing, if the battery and starter are hooked to the same pole, the starter would just crank and crank and crank, you would have no control. I would assume,(need to confirm mine) That the battery positive, and the alternator charge wire connect to the same point, and the starter to the other side.

[BobbyGagnon]

RE: Starter Relay problem

hey lukeduke, do you think the large red positive wire from the starter should be on the oposite side where the smaller yellow/red stripe also connects to the starter? have you had a chance to check yours. thanks!

[lukeduke95]

RE: Starter Relay problem

Hey bobby,

Get it figured out? I have been in Shasta for the last week.

[clayk]

RE: Starter Relay problem

the big wire from the starter should be on a pole by itself , and the battery , circuit breaker , and alternator wires should be on the other post. bolting it down would ground it.

[M3Fan]

Re: RE: Starter Relay problem

the big wire from the starter should be on a pole by itself , and the battery , circuit breaker , and alternator wires should be on the other post. bolting it down would ground it.

This is incorrect. On the GT40 the starting relay itself is actually part of the starter so the battery feed to the starter is on 100% of the time and a yellow/red smaller wire is used to take switched power from this relay to the starter to activate the relay in the starter. In the picture at the top of this post, the one large post should have 3 wires connected to it- the red battery feed, the red starter feed (both thick cables) and the red feed for the dash/engine. The other large post should just have the thin red/yellow wire going to the starter and a purple wire. The two smaller posts should have one with the yellow/red from the dash starter switch and the other should have two other smaller wires. Just updating this post since I just did mine and if anyone searches for it they won't get the wrong info.

If the original poster simply moved the thicker red wire from the right side to the left side of this relay it would have worked fine for him.