no juice after thud

[vdubyah73]

Noobie to this site be gentle! Took the Old Girl out for the last ride of the season yesterday. Old Girl is a 22' 1976 Searay hardtop. Repowered "93 fan belt to prop crate engine from Mercruiser 350ci. Long story short, on third date with new "friend" letting her drive thru the Cape Cod canal. 40'ish sport fisher comes along kicking big wake,I tell her to cut the throttle ( she obviously knew her way around boats from years on blow boats) Gave it throttle instead. I split second decide its ok, it wasn't. Got a little air with the Old Girl, she took it like an old Searay would, settled right back in the water with a good thud and nary a shudder but the engine died and I had nothing at the dash. Turn the key nothing, the gauges don't move, no blower, no horn , no bilge pump,no running lites, the Old Girl is completely dead in the water.Now we got a 7 knot current, rocks to the rite rocks to the left and a railroad bridge thar I can fit under in the middle but I'm not. Get rescued by a passing boater, towed to a boat ramp. I used my million candlepower find the mooring in the dark lite as a test lite and I got power to bat switch, power to starter but nothing works, Find a bus bar in dash that has power jumper to key switch get blower, horn, bilge but no starter, Tilt trim works with jumper too so I tilt up, call my bro who works nearby, he picks us up on way home got the truck and drug the Old Girl home. WTF happened? Starter did act funny a couple times this summer turn key and nothing try again and off it would go. Where does the juice to the dash and key come from? I'm guessing a corroded terminal let go but I can't spot it. Would a bad starter solenoid kill every thing? Is there a relay as well on the 93 engine?etc...........Oh yeah I think I'll see my date again because she didn't panic, asked if I wanted the anchor out and didn't get bltchy, she just generally kept her cool and we all know thats a big plus on the water! Anyway sorry for the long post.Hope you got a chuckle out of it, I sure did, even in the middle of it,well maybe not until I had a line on my bow cleat.

 

[Don S]

Re: no juice after thud

Sounds more like a loose connection or bad circuit breaker or fuse on the engine (If you have one). You should have a second wire either a #8 ro #10 guage wire going from the main starter terminal to the alternator and main harness power plug. The plug could also be faulty.<br />With power to the starter you should have power to the alternator B+ terminal and the big red wire at the main plug.<br />What engine do you have (I know it's a Chevy) is it Mercruiser, Volvo, or OMC?

 

[vdubyah73]

Re: no juice after thud

crate engine from mercruiser. The red 50 amp circuit breaker didn't trip. Is that a remote starter relay next to the circuit breaker on the front of engine on starboard side? Thanks Bill

 

[Don S]

Re: no juice after thud

It was kind of hard to decipher the real information out of your post. Missed the "93 fan belt to prop crate engine" part. After rereading, fI assume that means you got a complete repower package, including transom shield and drive. Below is a wiring diagram of a basic Mercruiser electrical system. You're just going to have to get a test light or meter and start checking till you find where the power stops. Check both sides of the circuit breaker. If it went bad, it may not pop, but it won't work either.<br /><br />

 

[vdubyah73]

Re: no juice after thud

Looks like I need to check the starter conn's,orange to alt, yellow/red nuetral safety switch,and a bunch of red/purple & purple. I'm thinking its gonna be rite at the starter cause my makeshift test lite showed no power at the circuit breaker but power at the starter, prolly a crumbling terminal connector