mercrusier problem!

[bjalbert]

Hello all,<br />I have a 5.7L efi mercrusier I/O. I seem to be having a battery drian. Yesterday while on the river it started skipping real bad and would not really get over idle. My question is does this motor have a threshold voltage. The batteries got to the point it would not start the boat and it did not seem to be charging the battery when I was running. I had to jump the boat a couple of time to get it to start. I have a battery switch box that has a lug on it for the altenator. Does this need to be hooked up and will this cause a drian if I keep the battery box to off? Thanks in advance for any help.<br />-Barry

 

[mestey2004]

Re: mercrusier problem!

Have you changed anything on the engine recently. It sounds like you have a short somewhere or your alternator has gone bad. With a bad alt. the boat will run off the battery until it dies, but it will become more and more sluggish because it wont be able to draw enough power. Ive never heard of the battery switch w a connection for the alt. Im pretty sure the battery is charged by the excess current in the system. IF your battery switch is new, look for a connection problem there. If you have had it for a while, then look at the alt. as the problem<br /><br />just my 2cts