Need help, electrical issues - 2004 226

[benjamin_rohrs]

2 days ago the engine got a little hot while surfing, but we caught it before any serious heat damage and got towed back to the dock. I took a look at the engine yesterday and saw the belt laying in the bilge. Other than this, I ran the engine for a few seconds and it cranked and started fine. Today, I went out and got coolant for it and got the belt back on. When I went to start the boat it made a bad noise that sounded like a cracking of some sort, then the gauges and keypad cut out. Now, I get no response from the keypad, and have no way of running the bilge pumps with the boat off. The speakers make popping noises whenever the batteries are on, no matter what position the little switch under the throttle is in. Has this happened to anybody else? I am totally lost here and not sure what to do.

[SilentSeven]

The serpentine belt came off? Is there currently enough battery power to crank the engine? The odd symptoms you describe could be low battery voltage related. The belt coming off would have impacted the charging system. If the engine won't crank, I'd charge both batteries and try again.

From your post it's bit difficult to understand the sequence of events that happened.

[benjamin_rohrs]

Was a little had to describe the issues over text, but I had a mechanic friend take a look at the boat and he said there is some kind of short behind the dash. Gonna dig a little deeper today but just seems like some electrical problems. Voltage checked both batteries and they read normal at 12.5v

[SilentSeven]

hmmm. Hard to correlate an engine overheat with a dash short. Will be curious how this one plays out. Looking forward to hearing what's found.

[benjamin_rohrs]

Seems like the electrical problem is just an unfortunate coincidence. I think we traced it down to the what is hopefully the keypad on the dash. Going to bite the $350 dollars and order a new one and see if that fixes it.