2002 Air electrical fault

[02Air]

I grew up skiing and boarding behind an 86 2001, long time Nautique snob here! My wife and I purchased a 2002 Air Nautique with 300 hours earlier this summer, we have really enjoyed the boat so far. Unfortunately we had an electrical issue rear its head the other day after about 20 hours of use this summer. When leaving the dock I went to turn on the blower, as soon as I engaged the switch I lost power to the majority of gauges and accessories. The temp and oil pressure gauges remained, but all other gauges, head unit, and accessories lost power. I attempted to cycle power with the Perko switch, this temporarily rectified the issue but after testing the horn button (horn made about 1/3 the sound of normal, possibly not getting full voltage?) the loss of power returned. Repeated this cycle a few times; turning the key off, cycle the perko switch to off, then 1 (or 2) battery, then restart the boat. When there is no power to the gauges it I can I hear feedback from the subwoofer and the fuel pump prime, even with the key in the off position. The check engine light is also partially illuminated regardless of key position. Eventually I was no longer able to turn the boat off with the key, no matter what position the key was in the engine remained running. This led me to believe it might be an ignition switch issue, so I purchased and installed a Sierra switch, unfortunately that did not solve the problem.

I have pulled the dash away to check for loose wiring, have tightened and wiggled connections on the gauges and switches but nothing permanently resolved the issue. At the advice of Superior Inboard in Lake Oswego, OR I checked the main battery fuse for corrosion and attempted to reset the breaker, neither made any change in the symptoms. It appears that the issue (guessing loose wire or short) is either behind or underneath the dash. I say this because when I manipulate the harness under the dash the issues comes and goes, especially when working around the fuse block. Is there a common failure I am missing here? I have searched and read lots of threads but not found any that appear to be related to my issue. The boat is a Air SE, or possibly a sport SE that has factory ballast tanks, tower, etc. installed to match the features of the air. I have a key ignition, not the keypad. The boat had a myriad of accessories installed by the original owner (heater, sound system, tower lights, docking lights, shower, depth finder, etc.) so unfortunately there has been several different installers crimping onto wires and messing with things over the years. I may have learned a lesson here about buying boats with factory accessories as opposed to the aftermarket add ons, the many crimps and splices seem like they could be the source of my problems!

Looking for any and all advice this forum can offer on where I should look next. We have a cabin reserved for a 3 day weekend starting on the 17th, I tried to get the boat into our local Nautique dealer and a few independent repair shops next week but no appointments available. It is down to me fixing the issue myself or not bringing the boat on vacation. Please help!!

[Skidave]

Sounds like you might have found the source of the issue where you wiggled the harness. Lots of threads here about older Nautiques having too small of a gauge of wiring going to the dash and gauges. Not sure if this applies to a 2002 with analog gauges. But check all grounds, fix all hacky work done previous to your ownership and check battery cables / clamps / connectors/ ground to the block of the engine. All of the above have been sources of weird electrical problems for many other owners (and posted here).

Sent from my SM-J337V using Tapatalk

[02Air]

Battery cables have been checked, new Interstate deep cycle battery was installed approximately a month ago (second battery was still holding charge, Optima). I have only set the Perko switch to 1 or 2 since the new battery install for fear of causing an issue with the mixed chemistry batteries running in parallel. Engine is an Excalibur, looks almost new so I wouldn't expect corrosion on the engine ground to be an issue but that is certainly possible. Can you tell me where to look for the ground cable attachment point on the block?

All connections behind the dash have been checked for shorts/loose connection at this point, aside from tearing things apart and replacing the splices that were installed by the sellers Nautique dealer and/or radio install shop. To be honest when I opened the dash I was shocked at the rats nest of wiring, very little appeared to be factory which led me to believe maybe the gauges had been replaced previously due to a digital gauge failure. I am not sure what to think of the analog gauges and standard ignition switch on a 2002, based on the things I have read on the internet, shouldn't this boat have a key pad? The original owner claimed the boat came from the dealer with analog gauges installed, though his level of credibility is dropping the longer I own the boat. He purchased it in 2003, maybe the recall had started and the gauges were changed out by the dealer? Or are the analog gauges and standard ignition switch an SE feature?

Sorry for posting a new thread on an issue that has be covered in the archives. I have done lots of searching here and on CCfan, maybe I am not using the correct search terms?

The symptoms are so far reaching I was hoping the forum would be able to help narrow this down so as to avoid rewiring the dash console this week. Is the fuse board a failure point? There are lots of wires attached to the auxiliary hot post, I don't see any obvious shorts when inspecting things.

[JDski]

My 99 Air was ordered without digital gauges, ballast tanks , or a tower. It was ordered as a family ski boat and still is. The original owners brother was a Natique dealer and he said that the new digital dash may be a problem area and to avoid so my boat was ordered with analogue gauges. You mentioned your horn making a partial sound. I had my horn do the same thing right after I purchased mine. I do not remember an issue with other gauges at the same time but possible. However, I ordered a replacement horn from Natique Parts. The original had two horns and the replacement was a single and as I recall it did not attach exactly as the original. The horn was causing a short. It was a PITA to get to. You remove the driver side kick panel and try to reach it up near the vent in front of the windshield. When complete the horn worked properly and I recall it solved another issue but I do not remember what.

[02Air]

Thanks for your reply JDski. I actually solved the problem on Monday with the help of Skidave and other posters on correctcraftfan. Description of my trouble shooting and repair below in case somebody else has a similar issue in the future.

I pulled the fuse block, cleaned all contacts and re-bent the slide terminals so that they properly attached to the fuses. Reattached all wires and tested, unfortunately it had the same behavior. Started chasing wires back into their respective looms and a ground wire came out of its loom with an slight pull. It was a bullet style slide connector deep in the loom that was spliced in for the stereo. $4,500 receipt from the previous owner for the stereo equipment and install, yet they didn't solder the connections....

I couldn't access the slide connector as it was behind the subwoofer box and heater, time to pull the boat apart a little further! The heater was installed on top of the subwoofer box by some genius, of course the heater core had a small leak and the MDF box was swollen in place. I couldn't budge the box despite pulling all mounting screws so I pulled the sub out of the box. That’s when I realized the box had lots of moisture inside, sound deadening was partially soaked. Then I got out the hammer. I had to break up the box, which mostly fell apart with minor pushing and pulling due to the moisture. The heater was then easy to access and remove, small leak on the end of the heater core that I soldered up. I have a replacement core on the way that I will install this winter and save the repaired unit as a backup.

After removing the heater and sub I was able to locate the other end of the ground wire that had come disconnected from the bullet connector. This was properly soldered back together to avoid this problem in the future, as it should have been when originally installed. I don't know if I will build a new sub box or just leave it out, may hurt resale but I don't really feel like I have a NEED for extra bass.

[JDski]

Glad you found it. The Guys over on Correct Craft Fan are Great. Hopefully your boat will be operational for vacation. I have spent a little time upside down under the dash of my Air Natique and the only place I like less is under the dash of my 240Z.

[Skidave]

Happy to hear you found the issue. The old saying...do it once and do it properly. However, it allowed you to discover the heater core issue before it got much worse.

Sent from my SM-J337V using Tapatalk