Hello Don,
Boat is 1986 Rinker V170 with 3.0L 140 HP OMC Stern drive. It started hesitating while throttling up, in the beginning it used to pick right up but as time went by it just started stalling and idling but th engine almost never died.
One fine day I just started it and after going 100 feet or so tried to go fast, the engine died and never fired back again but it was cranking good. I figured its the fuel pump and so opened it and cleaned the filter and put it back until the new filter arrived. I started the boat and it started right up, but i can hear a hiss from the carburetor. It was idling at 600 rpm, same as always even when I had the faltering issues before.
But I couldn't lowered the O/B, it just clicks and nothing happens. I looked up in this forum and read some related posts and messed with the solenoids and made it go down somehow.
I started test driving the boat and it still wouldn't pickup beyond 2000 rpm. The pressure gauge was reading 2 to 2.5 Psi After sometime it started loosing pressure and died, It fired right back when i started but the pressure drops and dies again and again. I figured my new filter would fix it when it arrives and started driving back to the dock and it died en route for the last time. I tried restarting without success but as i tried again and again the starter started sounding weak with each try. After sometime all I can hear is the starter making very weak buzz like a pump.
At this point all my gauges died and the fuel tank gauge started showing full when the key is off and 3/4 when the key is on. when i tried to start again next day I couldn't hear a thing and all the gauges including the battery gauge died. The lights, bilge pump, blower still works even today but all the gauges are dead. when i turn the ignition on nothing happens, not even a click.
So I checked this board and read up your test and tried it today. My battery only has 200 amps so I changed it and the new one is showing 650 amps as rated. My starter solenoid has 38 volts on one post(one with red and red, purple wire) but the other one( yellow/red wire) doesn't have any voltage. Interestingly the small post(Ground) also has yellow/red wire. I tried jumping the solenoid as you said but still no luck, not even a click.
I went back to the ignition switch and couldn't read any voltage on any posts. But the switch itself appeared good, i cleaned up all connections and put back just in case. I went back to the engine and checked the connector but only one post (no.5 connects to ignition) is hot all the rest of the posts in the connector are reading nothing.
This is puzzling me, I would really appreciate if you can help. I checked all fuses including the two 50 amps near starter solenoid, and 20 amp fuses to the gauges. All are good, not even a single fuse is blown. I didnt see any fuse attached to my ignition though. I was wondering if there is something like that some where, which is blown probably but I couldn't find it.
My manual is in the mail and should arrive by the end of next week.
Thank you for your time and help, I appreciate it.
I have the pictures but they are 188kb jpg and larger than 99kb allowed. I couldn't compress more. I will try to take them again at low pix and send if we must need.
Boat is 1986 Rinker V170 with 3.0L 140 HP OMC Stern drive. It started hesitating while throttling up, in the beginning it used to pick right up but as time went by it just started stalling and idling but th engine almost never died.
One fine day I just started it and after going 100 feet or so tried to go fast, the engine died and never fired back again but it was cranking good. I figured its the fuel pump and so opened it and cleaned the filter and put it back until the new filter arrived. I started the boat and it started right up, but i can hear a hiss from the carburetor. It was idling at 600 rpm, same as always even when I had the faltering issues before.
But I couldn't lowered the O/B, it just clicks and nothing happens. I looked up in this forum and read some related posts and messed with the solenoids and made it go down somehow.
I started test driving the boat and it still wouldn't pickup beyond 2000 rpm. The pressure gauge was reading 2 to 2.5 Psi After sometime it started loosing pressure and died, It fired right back when i started but the pressure drops and dies again and again. I figured my new filter would fix it when it arrives and started driving back to the dock and it died en route for the last time. I tried restarting without success but as i tried again and again the starter started sounding weak with each try. After sometime all I can hear is the starter making very weak buzz like a pump.
At this point all my gauges died and the fuel tank gauge started showing full when the key is off and 3/4 when the key is on. when i tried to start again next day I couldn't hear a thing and all the gauges including the battery gauge died. The lights, bilge pump, blower still works even today but all the gauges are dead. when i turn the ignition on nothing happens, not even a click.
So I checked this board and read up your test and tried it today. My battery only has 200 amps so I changed it and the new one is showing 650 amps as rated. My starter solenoid has 38 volts on one post(one with red and red, purple wire) but the other one( yellow/red wire) doesn't have any voltage. Interestingly the small post(Ground) also has yellow/red wire. I tried jumping the solenoid as you said but still no luck, not even a click.
I went back to the ignition switch and couldn't read any voltage on any posts. But the switch itself appeared good, i cleaned up all connections and put back just in case. I went back to the engine and checked the connector but only one post (no.5 connects to ignition) is hot all the rest of the posts in the connector are reading nothing.
This is puzzling me, I would really appreciate if you can help. I checked all fuses including the two 50 amps near starter solenoid, and 20 amp fuses to the gauges. All are good, not even a single fuse is blown. I didnt see any fuse attached to my ignition though. I was wondering if there is something like that some where, which is blown probably but I couldn't find it.
My manual is in the mail and should arrive by the end of next week.
Thank you for your time and help, I appreciate it.
I have the pictures but they are 188kb jpg and larger than 99kb allowed. I couldn't compress more. I will try to take them again at low pix and send if we must need.
