Low Voltage at Helm - nothing happens when I turn the key

[bleonard]

Forgive me if this is a simple question or has already been asked - I couldn't find anything exactly like this.

I recently came into possession of a '92 Four Winns with a '90 125 HP Johnson outboard. The boat has been on a lift and hasn't touched water in more than 5 years. I don't have any marine experience, but have a little mechanical attitude, so I figured I give it a go.

After clearing out the spiders and wasp nests, I put in a new battery and got it cranking. While it wasn't starting, I was feeling pretty good. But when I was cleaning the fuses and kill switch contacts (thought maybe the gunk was preventing the ignition circuit from firing) suddenly nothing happened when I turned the key. No lights, no beep, nothing. Very frustrated!

I started pulling thing back apart, and I noticed that the voltage at the ignition switch was 9 volts. I'm assuming that this is the problem. I had just sprayed a bunch of electrical contact cleaner and fiddled with some wiring right before things stopped working.

Does this sound like a grounding issue? Voltage at the battery is still 12. The battery is brand new, though I had tried to crank the engine perhaps 20 times.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[Scott Danforth]

Start at the battery and clean the electrical connections and cable ends with 3m scotchbrite or 320 grit sand paper until every connection is clean enough to eat off of. Then once you electrical system is back up to snuff, spray each connection point with electrical varnish to seal.

Use the electrical contact cleaner on old radios and TV's where it works best. It is a solvent for removing dirt and oil, not a magic wand for corrosion.

 

[gm280]

:welcome: blonard to iboats, nice to have you aboard...

No better suggestions then what Scott Danforth stated. Dirty and corroded contacts are the number one reason for most every electrical problem. It also seems like you have a volt meter as well. And that is a good thing to help locate your problem. Starting at the battery, reading the voltage and move down stream of the wiring harness to see where your voltage drop off. But do that only after you cleaned the contacts as previously stated. And that does include the negative or ground wiring as well. Most folks some times ignore the ground connections. If you do have good voltage on one end of a wire and a huge drop on the other end, you have a bad probably corroded wire run that needs to be replaces. JMHO

 

[StarTed]

The above advice is excellent.

I might add that a lower voltage reading indicates that some current has to run in the test circuit in order for the voltage to drop. A digital voltmeter usually doesn't draw enough current to drop much voltage. A reading of 9 volts at the switch tells me that some current is flowing in that circuit. Connect a light bulb or something then read the voltage again. Any significant voltage drop indicates a connection problem. Don't forget that a crimp connection is also a connection and can corrode inside. Just moving the wiring may have made an existing condition become a problem.

Good luck solving the problem/s.

 

[Alumarine]

Make sure the motor is in the water or on muffs before trying to start it.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Additionally, after 5 years, the raw water pump and fear oil need servicing along with the fuel system will need a thorough cleaning

 

[bleonard]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to head up to the lake this weekend and take another swing and work from the battery on down as suggested. Luckily the boat lift lets me submerge the bottom half of the motor and work on it. I realize the whole thing will need some serious servicing, but I just want to see if I can get it to run first before devoting too much time / money on the project.

I guess I have two questions though:
Is 20 attempts cranking on a brand new starter battery enough to drain it to below a critical voltage? (Sorry if that is a silly question)

Does the 9ish volts (which were very slowly, but consistently dropping) I'm seeing at the ignition mean that the starter is somehow engaging?

I appreciate everyone's suggestions. These forums are really informative!

 

[StarTed]

Charge your battery. Lead acid batteries don't like to be discharged too far and leaving them discharged is even worse.

9 volts is bare minimum to turn a 12 volt starter. Any line losses and you're dead. The voltage may drop to a minimum of 9 volts at the starter when cranking on a heavy load with a fully charged battery.

 

[bleonard]

After a great deal of effort, I discovered that I have a faulty solenoid and a break in the starter wire from the engine to the ignition key. Somehow I managed to kill them both in one go when I was fiddling. (I sprayed a bunch of contact cleaner, so potentially I shorted something out).