Atlanta_Pontoon_Guy
Recruit
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2009
- Messages
- 4
I have a Crest pontoon boat with a 2000 Johnson 70 HP 2-stroke oil-injected outboard. The thing is driving me a little insane. Please forgive the detailed post but hopefully someone will see a possible cause given all the information...
3 years ago, after about 50 hours of gentle family use over 5 years, the motor apparently broke a ring. The powerhead was replaced with a remanufactured unit by a reputable, if rather slow, outboard shop. The shop was so slow that I lost nearly an entire boating season but the boat was running fine once repaired. Now a couple of years later, the motor has about 20 hours on this powerhead.
After it sat for much of the summer, I went to the lake a couple of weeks ago to find the boat with a dead battery (I will call this battery #1). Fine, that happens. I had a fully charged spare with me ("battery #2") and I replaced the battery. With the battery changed, the boat cranked up fine but I needed to clean it up so I shut it off and did some clean up. A couple of hours later, I went to crank it again and nothing. I know the battery was well charged but it acted like it had a dead battery again (the first one really was completely dead)-- I could hear a rattle from the starter solenoid and the power tilt sounded like it was making relays hum, but that's about it. Yet checking the battery voltage on the now installed battery #2, it seemed fine.
Later that day (after battery #2 first started but then would not restart), the boat again cranked fine, still on #2 (and with no further recharging). I shut it off and it cranked fine a second time after that. I let the motor warm up and went for a cautious drive-- not wanting to stall and get stuck in open water. The boat ran fine but I noticed some odd gauge behavior. The tach would act normally for a while but then fall to zero (off and on) and the volt gauge would drop to zero or flutter from 10 to 16 volts then suddenly return to a nominal (13-14 volt) reading.
I got back to the dock and tied up, then shut off the motor-- after that, nothing again; no restart, yet the radio would play, and volt gauge would read around 12. Dock lights seemed bright and even with them operating (dock lights being the only real "load" accessories I have to kill a surface charge on the battery except for the tilt and I didn't think of that at that moment) the volt gauge held steady at 12. For good measure, I charged the battery (#2) for a while. Nothing but a rattle from the solenoid (as before I recharged) and the same lack of response from the motor tilt as before. Further, attaching it to a "smart" battery charger that will charge and the "best" rate up to 40 amps, the charge rate was very low as this charger typically is as it ramps a nearly 100% charged battery up to a complete charge. Adding a 90 amp boost to the battery had no effect on the boat's starting either.
The boat stays in a covered slip and the console is covered when the boat is not in use as well. The interior stays so dry that 4 or 5 months after pollen season there was still lots of bright yellow pollen in the carpet that I washed out when I cleaned it that day, but "just in case" I pulled apart the console. Wiring looked brand new. No moisture. No corrosion. Nothing was loose. (The wood inside is bone dry too.) Also no bugs, etc.
By now it was very late. I gave up and went home-- the boat is a 3 hour round trip from my house. I returned today, 2 weeks later. Battery #2 seemed charged still. Radio sounded fine. Gauge read 12 volts and so forth, but the tilt (both on the console and the motor) failed to produce more than a hum. Tried to start and the solenoid clicked & rattled. After 2 weeks there was clearly no surface charge on the battery-- this was not a false reading. Dock lights still came on brightly and didn't kill the voltage reading, etc.
On the off chance that #2 battery was just somehow out of whack, I went to Sam's club and bought yet another a new battery. (I was going to set up a pair on an isolator anyhow.) They go through batteries fast at Sam's, so it was very recent and well charged. I bought a big one (bigger than this motor calls for) and it was made 2 months ago (per the stickers on the battery). Call this "battery #3"
I went back and installed battery #3. The boat cranked immediately-- I mean I bumped it and it fired up in probably a second-- (MAYBE two). "Great-- so it was the battery", I thought. About when I assume the choke let off, the motor stalled. Bumped it again, it fired back up-- again, immediately. Let it run maybe 3 to 5 minutes. All seemed normal. Water coming out of the little place where it squirts and all, but then I noticed if I came out of idle, the tach would go flat to zero. The volt meter and gas gauge would flutter wildly at the same time. Turned it off. Went to restart. Nothing. Same hum from the power tilt, etc.
Sorry if that is excessive background but I wanted to be clear about what all has happened. So I pulled off the outboard cover. All the wiring looks like new. I did see where some mud wasps had tried to make a home under the flywheel somehow and that was removed but the rest was spotless. No oil, no dust-- nothing. Connectors all were all tight and clean. All the little spring retainers were on the connections, etc. I unplugged and re-plugged everything I could see. All was neat an clean and firmly attached.
Apart from the mud wasps (which again seemed to have caused no real damage), there were two things that seemed odd to me. On the top of the motor I found a female bullet connector with nothing in it. On the passenger (port) side of the motor (near the bottom), I found three wires together-- black, green, and tan with a stripe. the green wire goes to a MALE bullet connector. That is also not connected. It did occur to me that those two connectors would fit together but the wires are not long enough for them to have come apart.
Since the powerhead has been replaced once, I can't help but wonder if some wiring came loose or unplugged somewhow but if there is anything else to plug into it is well hidden. Clearly a male bullet connector seems a bit questionable just hanging there, but is that related to the problem?
I pondered this for a bit and realized that it could be that something was getting reset when the battery got disconnected (when I changed batteries) so I unhooked the battery (battery connections were also good) and then restored the connections. No change.
At this point, apart from wanting to find a wiring diagram (mainly to check on those bullet connectors), I'm stumped. There is nothing I hate more than intermittent problems like this where it seems like you fix a problem then it comes back over and over. I have no desire to THINK this is fixed and then end up stuck in the middle of the lake, especially with my family on board!
Any suggestions?
3 years ago, after about 50 hours of gentle family use over 5 years, the motor apparently broke a ring. The powerhead was replaced with a remanufactured unit by a reputable, if rather slow, outboard shop. The shop was so slow that I lost nearly an entire boating season but the boat was running fine once repaired. Now a couple of years later, the motor has about 20 hours on this powerhead.
After it sat for much of the summer, I went to the lake a couple of weeks ago to find the boat with a dead battery (I will call this battery #1). Fine, that happens. I had a fully charged spare with me ("battery #2") and I replaced the battery. With the battery changed, the boat cranked up fine but I needed to clean it up so I shut it off and did some clean up. A couple of hours later, I went to crank it again and nothing. I know the battery was well charged but it acted like it had a dead battery again (the first one really was completely dead)-- I could hear a rattle from the starter solenoid and the power tilt sounded like it was making relays hum, but that's about it. Yet checking the battery voltage on the now installed battery #2, it seemed fine.
Later that day (after battery #2 first started but then would not restart), the boat again cranked fine, still on #2 (and with no further recharging). I shut it off and it cranked fine a second time after that. I let the motor warm up and went for a cautious drive-- not wanting to stall and get stuck in open water. The boat ran fine but I noticed some odd gauge behavior. The tach would act normally for a while but then fall to zero (off and on) and the volt gauge would drop to zero or flutter from 10 to 16 volts then suddenly return to a nominal (13-14 volt) reading.
I got back to the dock and tied up, then shut off the motor-- after that, nothing again; no restart, yet the radio would play, and volt gauge would read around 12. Dock lights seemed bright and even with them operating (dock lights being the only real "load" accessories I have to kill a surface charge on the battery except for the tilt and I didn't think of that at that moment) the volt gauge held steady at 12. For good measure, I charged the battery (#2) for a while. Nothing but a rattle from the solenoid (as before I recharged) and the same lack of response from the motor tilt as before. Further, attaching it to a "smart" battery charger that will charge and the "best" rate up to 40 amps, the charge rate was very low as this charger typically is as it ramps a nearly 100% charged battery up to a complete charge. Adding a 90 amp boost to the battery had no effect on the boat's starting either.
The boat stays in a covered slip and the console is covered when the boat is not in use as well. The interior stays so dry that 4 or 5 months after pollen season there was still lots of bright yellow pollen in the carpet that I washed out when I cleaned it that day, but "just in case" I pulled apart the console. Wiring looked brand new. No moisture. No corrosion. Nothing was loose. (The wood inside is bone dry too.) Also no bugs, etc.
By now it was very late. I gave up and went home-- the boat is a 3 hour round trip from my house. I returned today, 2 weeks later. Battery #2 seemed charged still. Radio sounded fine. Gauge read 12 volts and so forth, but the tilt (both on the console and the motor) failed to produce more than a hum. Tried to start and the solenoid clicked & rattled. After 2 weeks there was clearly no surface charge on the battery-- this was not a false reading. Dock lights still came on brightly and didn't kill the voltage reading, etc.
On the off chance that #2 battery was just somehow out of whack, I went to Sam's club and bought yet another a new battery. (I was going to set up a pair on an isolator anyhow.) They go through batteries fast at Sam's, so it was very recent and well charged. I bought a big one (bigger than this motor calls for) and it was made 2 months ago (per the stickers on the battery). Call this "battery #3"
I went back and installed battery #3. The boat cranked immediately-- I mean I bumped it and it fired up in probably a second-- (MAYBE two). "Great-- so it was the battery", I thought. About when I assume the choke let off, the motor stalled. Bumped it again, it fired back up-- again, immediately. Let it run maybe 3 to 5 minutes. All seemed normal. Water coming out of the little place where it squirts and all, but then I noticed if I came out of idle, the tach would go flat to zero. The volt meter and gas gauge would flutter wildly at the same time. Turned it off. Went to restart. Nothing. Same hum from the power tilt, etc.
Sorry if that is excessive background but I wanted to be clear about what all has happened. So I pulled off the outboard cover. All the wiring looks like new. I did see where some mud wasps had tried to make a home under the flywheel somehow and that was removed but the rest was spotless. No oil, no dust-- nothing. Connectors all were all tight and clean. All the little spring retainers were on the connections, etc. I unplugged and re-plugged everything I could see. All was neat an clean and firmly attached.
Apart from the mud wasps (which again seemed to have caused no real damage), there were two things that seemed odd to me. On the top of the motor I found a female bullet connector with nothing in it. On the passenger (port) side of the motor (near the bottom), I found three wires together-- black, green, and tan with a stripe. the green wire goes to a MALE bullet connector. That is also not connected. It did occur to me that those two connectors would fit together but the wires are not long enough for them to have come apart.
Since the powerhead has been replaced once, I can't help but wonder if some wiring came loose or unplugged somewhow but if there is anything else to plug into it is well hidden. Clearly a male bullet connector seems a bit questionable just hanging there, but is that related to the problem?
I pondered this for a bit and realized that it could be that something was getting reset when the battery got disconnected (when I changed batteries) so I unhooked the battery (battery connections were also good) and then restored the connections. No change.
At this point, apart from wanting to find a wiring diagram (mainly to check on those bullet connectors), I'm stumped. There is nothing I hate more than intermittent problems like this where it seems like you fix a problem then it comes back over and over. I have no desire to THINK this is fixed and then end up stuck in the middle of the lake, especially with my family on board!
Any suggestions?
