Dead Boat... No Power to Dash

[flyer08]

2008 Nautique 206 with 780hrs work fine yesterday, flatline today. No power to dash, code would not start boat, No light on any place on dash, No horn, No blower... nothing with master switch on. Only power I could get was master power set to Bilge On and red indicator light just left of master switch lit and bilge would turn on... So some power to master switch. Battery full charge. No popped breakers.
Any place I can check?
Any ideas?

Thanks for any input.

[Ryan747400]

So I had the opposite problem with my master switch where dash power worked but nothing in bilge mode. Some wires had broken off the back of the switch and others were close to breaking. I bought a new switch with post terminals and made new connections, everything works fine. That would be the first place I would look. If all looks fine with the switch and connections, I believe there is a relay for dash power connected to that switch that could be bad. If thats good then I would be thinking the keypad itself. I didnt get too deep as my issue was fixed with the switch, hopefully yours is that simple too. Hooe that helps.

[flyer08]

Thank you for input.
Whats best way to get access to master switch and possible relay

[bturner]

Those switches are basically plastic and the connections have gotten cheaper over the years. I've had them actually fall apart in my hands as I was remove one from a boat I was working on for a friend. At 14 years of age I would be looking real close at the cables as Ryan suggested. Time takes its toll on everything, even pristine looking boats that have been pampered.

Unfortunately, can't help with. It might help though if you posted some pictures. Most of these boats are assembled in a similar and a picture may help jog someone's memory on how they took apart a similar looking installation.

[Ryan747400]

My boat is a 2006 210 so there may be some differences internally but the switch location and panel should be the same. You should be able to inspect the back of the switch and the wires/connections just by looking behind the panel from below. If you need to take it out, the switch is released by unscrewing the ring around it on the front side. I had to disconnect one of the harnesses behind the panel to get enough length to pull it far enough out to work on it. This is where yours may be different but its all pretty easy to see by laying on the floor and looking up behind the panel. As for the relay, mine was labelled at the swich(hopefully yours is too) and i was able to follow that wire to find it under the dash.

[functionoverfashion]

My money is on the switch itself (the master toggle switch). For how well the rest of the boat is made, I find it surprising that the whole dash relies on a cheap toggle switch. I've replaced mine once preventatively and I probably will do it again at some point, because it's cheaper and easier than an impeller and obviously critical to the functioning of the boat. I also keep a spare in my glove box.

[shag]

most of the panels use 'Christmas tree' type fasteners to pop out. You may need a trim tool to get behind and not damage anything. I suspect the same as above comments... It is a wiring issue most likely.

[ally505]

I had exactly the same problem on my boat a few weeks ago, 08 210. It was the relay that feeds the dash that went out. Really poor design in my opinion, heavy gauge cable to just before the relay, dropped to light gauge in and out the relay, then back to heavy gauge to feed the dash. I swapped out for a 100a relay, retained the same gauge of cable throughout and problem-solved.

took a while to find the problem, checked the toggle switch and kill cord before noticing the relay was warm, metered it and no power to the dash.. to access, drop the kickokste panel to access the wiring under the dash, and follow the 8awg wiring from the main breakers under the dash back to the relay.

based on your description with the symptoms being identical to mine, i would recommend replacing the relay, it’s just a 40A, no need for anything special. If you have any doubts, remove the relay and put a jumper across the two high power contacts, ie not the ones from the master toggle switch or earth. This is what I had to do when the relay failed whilst we were on the water.

[ally505]

Pic

[flyer08]

Thanks all for the replies... This is a bit of good news and bad. Back the next day and all worked perfectly. I did re-create the issue after many attempts. If the master is on and quickly flip down to bilge then up to on, no power is sent to dash. I had to wait 30 seconds to two minutes to move master switch from off to on, all button dash lights flash red once, then I could put in start code and start.
Note the button red lights would flash when master turned to on, the it would work perfectly. I have never noticed that red flash before.... is that normal?
The good... it works
The bad... not sure what caused the issue... Prime suspect is the master switch has some corroding connections. Boat will need service (new thread coming) and hope to check master then.

Any thoughts?

[ally505]

Your answer lies in my post above. I had exactly the same scenario as you, dash went out, then was intermittent for a period ( a year actually), then died completely. The relay under the dash was the culprit, and most probably the culprit in your case..

If you don't want to modify (and improve) the wiring, and I understand a lot of people aren't keen to carve into the wiring on the boat, then replace the relay, its cheap and available on eBay, at the very minimum, you're removing one fail mode. relay pictured below.

Corrosion on the contacts for the relay can contribute to the problem, potentially the relay in not energising due to the increased resistance. Look carefully at the contacts, any corrosion needs to be addressed (this is also a reason as to why I cut the loom back as the female socket the relay plugged into, despite being sealed, was showing signs of corrosion).

Good luck and pls let us know how you get on.

[bturner]

It always amazes me on how poorly some of these Top Level boats are wired. My 07 MC was pretty clean, but not without several coils of plastic cladded wiring here and there. The couple of Malibu's I've worked on were a mess under the dash. Pretty much like ally's picture along with area where the wires were not properly supported. From what I've seen on my 16 Nautique, I' fairly happy. The breaker panel is neat and the wiring going to the dash seems to be clean as well. Stereo areas on nearly every boat I've worked on seems to be a weak area. I've yet to see one that didn't have a ball of cable hidden out of the way somewhere.

To be truthful none of these wake or ski boats can compare IMO to the Cobalt I owned or the couple of Formula's that I've worked on. Those brands had it dialed in or at least the boats I worked on did. Everything was labeled, well routed and supported. A relay like the one above would have been mounted to a bracket and labeled not taped to a cluster of wires. Don't know if that inline fuse was added by someone but that type of thing is completely unacceptable in my book.

[ally505]

Ha! Well spotted!! The inline fuse was the cable I had onboard the boat that I was using to bypass the relay and limp home. The insulation tape was to hold the wire in place.... But I agree, the wiring was okay, not great under the dash. the relay was not supported properly as it should of been. Varying gauge of cable is just silly, 3 ballast pumps running, blower, heater, lighting etc must have got pretty close to 40A, the max capacity of the relay. All wiring was however labelled, but with a 14 year old boat some of the labelling was pretty difficult to make out.

All now neatly taped together as appropriate, properly supported and working as it should.

[ally505]

Hope you managed to fix the problem - always good to post the outcome for the benefit of others!

[SilentSeven]

flyer08 - did you ever get this fixed? What was the solution? I'm having the same issue.....