electrical short

[rexfunk]

Before you tell me I'm stupid, I'll agree with you- this wasn't very bright. <br /><br />I was trying to clean up the engine compartment of my 85 hp Force, and was trying to carefully wash out some gas and gunk with water. Apparently I got water in something electrical, mostly likely the starter solenoid, because hooking up the battery causes the start circuit breaker to pop. I tried using a hair dryer on the solenoid, the circuit breaker, the neutral start safety switch, etc. but no luck. <br /><br />I assume it's the solenoid that's unhappy, because when i pull the red wire off the hot side of the solenoid (the wire that sits on the same post as the battery cable), I can reset the circuit breaker. Reattaching the red wire to the post will cause an immediate trip of the breaker.<br /><br />The motor ran great before this, fyi. <br /><br />Any ideas on where to go from here?<br /><br />Thanks,<br />Rich

 

[rexfunk]

Re: electrical short

I figured out where i goofed. I recently had new battery cables made up and they didn't have the right size fitting for one end of the positive cable, so i used one that was the size of the negative. short story, when i threw this together, i was able to switch battery terminals, resulting in an automatic short when the battery was connected. So it didn't have to do with the wash down, just operator error.<br /><br />-Rich

 

[eurolarva]

Re: electrical short

Rectifiers/ regulators are better fuses then circuit breakers. You should test the charging circuit on your motor next time you are out. After motor is running the voltage should go over 13 volts if measured on volt meter.

 

[roscoe]

Re: electrical short

Yep, pretty good chance you fried the rectifier diodes. All it takes is a second.