tybouff
Seaman Apprentice
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2011
- Messages
- 42
Greetings friends,
I have a 1990 Bayliner Cobra with a 150HP Force outboard engine. The issue: when I turn the key the starter turns the flywheel weakly, gradually slowing until I let of the key. Details: this occurred three days ago and I had been pulling tubes and skiers for a couple of hours. I parked the boat, we ate lunch and then fired it up again only to have the engine puke out on me as I tried to pull a tube out of the hole. I fired it up again thinking the engine stalled and the same thing happened. The next time I tried to start it is when the described issue occurred. I opened the battery compartment to find that smoke was coming from the positive accessory wire and that the housing was melting. Further Details: I run everything off of a one year old marine cranking battery which seems fully charged. "Everything" includes the power and ground wire that run to the engine (duh), and a positive and negative accessory wire. Not only does the accessory include the depth finder and dash gauges, but also a new, self installed sound system. I have six interior speakers wired directly to the head unit, one sub woofer with a built in amp, and four tower speakers which are also powered by an amp. Both amps as well as the head unit's power and ground wires are all tapped into one power and ground wire that must connect to the positive and negative accessory wires. There was one 10 ampere fuse in between all of these accessories and the battery. I say "was" because I blew that fuse two outings ago and replaced it with a 30 ampere fuse. This fuse is located on a panel with several other fuses under the dash. My guess is that A: the positive accessory wire is too small to handle all of the accessories and B: the wire slowly burnt up (I ran the boat for one outing before this one with seemingly no problems) because the new 30 ampere fuse allows too much current (or whatever it is) to pass through instead of just blowing up and protecting my wires. Is this a solid conclusion? If this is the case, what could I have damaged that will not allow enough juice to go to the starter? Could I have somehow loosened a ground wire from the starter? Any tips and pointers are super appreciated as always. Thanks in advance for your help. Best regards,
I have a 1990 Bayliner Cobra with a 150HP Force outboard engine. The issue: when I turn the key the starter turns the flywheel weakly, gradually slowing until I let of the key. Details: this occurred three days ago and I had been pulling tubes and skiers for a couple of hours. I parked the boat, we ate lunch and then fired it up again only to have the engine puke out on me as I tried to pull a tube out of the hole. I fired it up again thinking the engine stalled and the same thing happened. The next time I tried to start it is when the described issue occurred. I opened the battery compartment to find that smoke was coming from the positive accessory wire and that the housing was melting. Further Details: I run everything off of a one year old marine cranking battery which seems fully charged. "Everything" includes the power and ground wire that run to the engine (duh), and a positive and negative accessory wire. Not only does the accessory include the depth finder and dash gauges, but also a new, self installed sound system. I have six interior speakers wired directly to the head unit, one sub woofer with a built in amp, and four tower speakers which are also powered by an amp. Both amps as well as the head unit's power and ground wires are all tapped into one power and ground wire that must connect to the positive and negative accessory wires. There was one 10 ampere fuse in between all of these accessories and the battery. I say "was" because I blew that fuse two outings ago and replaced it with a 30 ampere fuse. This fuse is located on a panel with several other fuses under the dash. My guess is that A: the positive accessory wire is too small to handle all of the accessories and B: the wire slowly burnt up (I ran the boat for one outing before this one with seemingly no problems) because the new 30 ampere fuse allows too much current (or whatever it is) to pass through instead of just blowing up and protecting my wires. Is this a solid conclusion? If this is the case, what could I have damaged that will not allow enough juice to go to the starter? Could I have somehow loosened a ground wire from the starter? Any tips and pointers are super appreciated as always. Thanks in advance for your help. Best regards,
