No Electrical Power to Dash- 98 Ski Nautique

[genevatexan]

Case: started boat and ran out to a cove on the lake, shut down to gear up for a slalom run, and when restarted, the dash was dead, no power at the ignition switch.Root Cause: Recently had the large 60 amp in line fuse replaced when the fuse holder crumbled during battery removal. Local Nautique dealer replaced with a spade fuse holder, using butt connectors to splice into the original 60 amp line. this was 2 weeks before this failure. Probing the 60 amp fuse line from the battery toward the subhull entry in the battery box, everything is hot. probing the line that exits the subhull under the drivers footwell and headed up to the ignition switch, the line is dead. It appears there is some break in the sub hull.
Anyone have experience with this, or know what connection may exist in the subhull between the battery box and the dash? I used a jumper wire from the positive terminal on the battery to the ignition switch and the boat started perfectly.
Input :shock: :shock: on whats between the battery box and the subhull exit under the drivers feet is requested, along with ideas on how to pull that wire and replace, if no other answers found...
K

[Andrew]

RE: No Electrical Power to Dash- 98 Ski Nautique

my guess would be that cc used some trashy butt connector, and it has simply come apart. cc is notorious for splicing extra pieces of spare wire together..........

[inboardsonly]

Couple of things to look at...

Did you check the ignition breaker on the instrument panel?

Did you check the breakers on the engine?

Power goes from the battery to the engine, and then from the engine to the instrument panel. There is a bundle of cables with a large connector on it. These are for the ignition, power, and all of the senders, fuel, oil, temp. Check to make sure it is secure.

Check the ground strap on the engine, and the ground strap on the engine bed.

Clean? Tight?

Safety lanyard?

That's about all I can think of.

[genevatexan]

I jumped a wire from battery to ignition terminal and boat starts and runs. Therefore we can rule out ground strap. I clicked the ignition breaker on and off a dozen times while trying to find problem so not there. Electrical probe of breaker shows no power, in fact no power at any location in dash. I did not realize that the power from the 60 amp line from the batter did not go directly to the dash through the sub hull. IF it runs back to the engine and the engine starts and runs when I jump from battery to ignition, can we rule out engine breakers? (where are they?) Safety lanyard is fine. Thanks for the help,
K

[genevatexan]

It was the Engine breaker--

Well, I should have read the manual. Thanks to you guys, I went and looked at the 60 amp breaker on the back of the motor as suggested and indeed it was tripped.
One last question-- What would trip that breaker? Could this be an overheat, or some other risky situation?
Many thanks,
K

[inboardsonly]

RE: It was the Engine breaker--

Low volts on the battery = high amp draw when trying to start it.

Timing advanced can make it hard to turn over.

Dirty contacts on battery or engine can build up the amp draw.

Starter solenoid could be shot and have a small contact area, driving up the current across it.

The battery cables are iffy when it comes to size. I think if I have the time, it would be a good project
to go up one size, to a tinned, fine stranded marine battery cable.

Notice I said "Good" and not fun...

[Andrew]

RE: It was the Engine breaker--

glad u got it figured out (its always nice when u can fix stuff with the press of a button )

but, i thought u said u were getting current on both sides of the breaker???

[genevatexan]

current on both sides of the 60 amp fuse in the battery box

actually, I never got to the back of the motor breaker when I was diagnosing the problem. I was testing on either side of the big fuse in the battery box. You guys helped me find those breakers...
Any idea what would cause the big 6o amp breaker to trip?