Electrical stopped working suddenly

mcclain.brianna

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May 28, 2016
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5
I have a 1988 16' Forester. I was out a few days ago fishing, and things were running completely normal. We had been out for a couple hours and adjusted our position several times with no problems. The suddenly, we went to turn the key, and nothing. Not a sound. All the accessories, trim, etc. also stopped working.
We do have a jump wire running straight from the ignition wiring from when we had a problem in the past. When I touched this to the positive battery terminal, i could hear the motor clicking. But still nothing when the key was turned.

Help! What could the problem be???
 

GA_Boater

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
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May 24, 2011
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49,038
Welcome aboard.

Either a dead battery or the battery posts need cleaning. Also clean the battery wiring from the battery to the starter, including the solenoid. Could also be a main fuse, but since you were using a jumper wire, I'll go with the dirty/corroded connections or battery.
 

mcclain.brianna

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May 28, 2016
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Thanks for the welcome GA_Boater. We regularly clean the battery connections and posts, making sure that clean, bright metal is exposed on the wiring connections, and tighten well. We did disconnect and reconnect our connections and tried again today. Still nothing. To get back to shore, we connected our trolling motor to the same battery and it got us all the way home, so I don't think the battery itself is an issue. We were thinking that a fuse may have been blown, but are having trouble determining what fuse would be the issue, and where it would be located.
 

GA_Boater

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To begin - Check for 12 volts on the solenoid lead coming from the battery.
 

Silvertip

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Sep 22, 2003
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28,758
I take it this is an outboard???? Check under the engine cover for a 20 amp fuse,. Then forget the jump wire and fix what's wrong.
 

mcclain.brianna

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May 28, 2016
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I ran voltage on everything and it seemed to be fine. I brought out some cables and jump started it. Worked right away. But if I shut it off, it still does the same thing. No power at all. My neighbor was with me and suggested that it was a bad solenoid.

Silvertip, yes, it is an outboard. But there aren't any fuses that I can see at all near the engine.
 

sam am I

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Jun 26, 2013
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2,169
Have you went here? Section 5, starting at pg. 116 would be some good info and a good starting point, if not contain the answer you need. .Thinking the clicking you hear is just the solenoid as mentioned above, it's engaging but, it's starter contacts are probably worn down.

The manual is free and you'd learn a ton about your motor............ I'm thinking there are a few more issues and the manual is really good stuff to help
 
Last edited:

NYBo

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Oct 23, 2008
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7,107
Welcome to iboats!:welcome:

If you have everything running through the ignition switch, it may be burnt out. It's not designed to handle all the electrical loads on the boat. Only the motor and the gauges should go through the switch, with accessories having their own feeds from a separate fuse or circuit breaker array that in turn has it's own feed directly from the battery.
 

mcclain.brianna

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May 28, 2016
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I think I am going to replace my starter solenoid for good measure, but I may have to look into some other things as well. The deeper I dig, the more I think it may be something related to the ignition switch. Thank you for pointing this out NYBo. Does anyone have a good source for parts? My solenoid is Hitachi MS5C-281-1 12V. Is there a part number for the ignition switch, or will most work?
 
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