Bayliner Capri 1850LX I/O starter solenoid blowing 10A fuse?

[asmith89]

Hey everyone,

My I/O Bayliner 1850LX has recently stopped turning over, because something is shorting out a 10A fuse under the helm. When I first got to the boat, I had power to all gauges and instruments, blower, horn, bilge pump, etc. However, it would not crank at all. Turning the key simply produced a clicking sound out of the motor. Battery was pushing 12.4V, so know that is not an issue.

After turning the key a whole bunch of times, it eventually tried to crank, but sounded like it was just getting VERY little power, the engine was turning over but just barely. It did that for 3-4 seconds, and then stopped. I had then lost power to all gauges and instruments, blower, etc. The only thing that still worked was the trim pump. At this point I checked fuses under the helm, and found that one 10A fuse had been blown. I replaced it, and the exact same thing happened again. Click, click, click, try to turn over a little, blown fuse again.

If looking at the fuse box, it is on the left side, the second one up from the bottom. There is a red wire with a purple stripe coming out from the left side next to that fuse. So, I started looking for a red wire with a purple stripe. The only one I could find was on the starter solenoid, but that one is a much larger diameter wire than the one under the helm.

I believe that it is the starter solenoid that is shorting out and somehow breaking that fuse. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any idea how to fix it?

Thank you,

Alex

 

[bruceb58]

What engine do you have? Also helpful to know year and model number.

 

[Samcent]

It's a 2000 Mercruiser 4.3L 262

 

[bruceb58]

So, just so you know, you have a slave solenoid in between your ignition switch and your starter. If this fuse is what powers the start circuit to the solenoid, I would be looking at either the solenoid or the console shifter that contains the neutral safety switch. I would probably start off with disconnecting the wire that goes to the slave solenoid and see if your fuse still blows when turning to the start position. If it does, you have a sort between the ignition switch and the solenoid, possibly in the shifter.

 

[asmith89]

Ok, please pardon my ignorance but I know very little about car/boat electrical systems. What exactly am I looking for in the neutral shift stick? A burnt wire? A wire that isn't connected tightly enough? What exactly can cause this kind of short to blow a fuse like that? Also, this may be difficult to diagnose as you said, because the fuse doesn't blow when the key is turned to the start position. 90% of the time trying to ignite does nothing but a click, and the fuse is fine. 10% of the time (at best) it tries a little bit to turn over, and then the fuse pops.

 

[glenn property of pam]

http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Techbk/94/94hg4d.pdf

the fuse I believe is meant to be a 20amp inline. The fuse is the main feed to the key switch which is then connected to the purple wire which connects to at least 10 other items. The ignition switch also when turned to start is connected to the starter slave. As the fuse doesn't blow instant its possible that you are overloading the fuse. Have you installed anything like a stereo, or anything that you have connected to the purple wire?. If its been happy to run on the 10amp fuse up until now something has to have changed or there is a problem with any of the items connected.

As for the starting issue I don't think that's to do with the fuse. A starter motor that's clicking or dragging is normally caused by a bad connection. Check all cables on battery are clean and tight, check the ground cable connected the motor is clean and tight (that includes the area its bolted to). clean all solenoid cables so they are clean and shinny. If that doesn't fix the problem get a volt meter and measure the large cable at the starter motor the voltage when the key is turn should be around 10.5 volts (when someone is turning the key so get a helper) if its lower work back towards the battery until you see 10.5v then tell us at what point. If you get to the battery and that's lower than 10.5v then have the battery load tested. If you get 11.5+ at the starter then check the yellow/red at the starter for 12v.
tell us what you find so we can tell you where to look next.