2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not charging

[chuexiong1]

2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not charging

2001 Evinrude Ficht Model: E135FSXSIF

Before I had problems of high voltage and low voltage, but I thought I fixed it since it hasn't come on for many fishing trips in the past 3-4 months. Just a few nights ago, I took the boat out for some sturgeon fishing. Everything was fine in the beginning. Getting ready to come back to the launch, I crank the motor and it weakly turned over. She still fired up though unexpectedly, but once she's running, the check engine light quickly comes on. She ran fine all the way back to the launch.

Got home and check the battery. It was drained out. I recharged the battery and she fired right up fine with no check engine light. With the engine running, I used a multimeter to test the voltage at the battery. It reads 12.5 at idle and stays at 12.5 when I increase the rpm up to 1500rpm. Change battery and tried again. Same result. Hooked it up to the software and the check engine light was for low voltage/excessive battery load, which proves the battery was drained out. The voltage stays constant at 12.5 when idling and revving. Besides this problem, she runs great and fires up great with a fully charged battery.

My guess is the outboard is not charging the battery.

I've been reading and researching and believe it is the rectifier/regulator in the EMM? Just need confirmation or some help to steer me in the right direction.

Thanks.

 

[Bosunsmate]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

I dont know that motor but it sounds like you are on the right track, it could also be a problem in the stator or the cabling from it.
Maybe CDI electronic troubleshooter can show you how to test the stators changing
ISSUU - CDI Electronics Practical Outboard Ignition Troubleshooting by CDI Electronics

 

[boobie]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Agree + 1.............Or else call DFI .com.

 

[chuexiong1]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

I will try and update.

 

[daselbee]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Yes, unfortunately the Reg/Rect is inside the EMM. Needs repair thru DFI.
Double check all wiring back to the battery to make sure it is not something simple first. Maybe check the PDP for opens, etc.
It is a long shot, but it is worth the extra checking before calling the EMM bad.

 

[daselbee]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re-reading above, his stator is good, because it is putting out the proper 40v required to run the motor. So that 40v gets regulated down and charges the battery too. Stator is good, for some reason the charging current is not getting to the battery.
Open in wiring, or bad EMM.

Not likely an open tho. There is one big heavy red wire that supplies battery power to the EMM, and the same wire supplies charging current back OUT of the EMM to charge the battery when engine is running. If that red wire is open, you would have other codes/problems.
Possible that it wouldn't even start. I would have to study the wiring a bit on that one. I mean, you wouldn't have the fuel pump.....etc.
Probably would not even start. I am not sure. I heard tell of a guy rope starting a Ficht....

 

[seahorse5]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Does your software show EMM overheat codes ?

 

[chuexiong1]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

daselbee, is the red wire by itself or tied up with other wires?

Seahorse5, it does. It occured once at hour 325:47 EMM temperature above expected range. Right now, I'm currently at hour 396.

Update:
I decided to take the OPTIMA Blue Top AGM Marine Dual Purpose battery to test at the auto parts store just to rule it out. According to them, the battery is bad. Not sure if they messed it up because the guy said it was smoking. When I was charging it at home with a wal-mart charger, it didn't smoke. Anyways. I'll just take it to another place to confirm.

 

[seahorse5]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Well, you may have had battery problems but many times soon after an EMM overheat, especially a severe one, problems crop up with the EMM and it may need repair. First try a new battery and be sure to use hex nuts, not wing nuts, on the cables.

 

[daselbee]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

IF you were to go thru the process of removing the EMM, you would see the two large approx. 40 pin connectors on the stbd side, and along with those, you would see very large wires, maybe 12 gauge...both red and black, that run from the emm across the top of the block over #1 cylinder, and down the STBD side to the PDP.

Those two wires are +12v (red) and GND (black) to power the EMM. I am not sure they are in a loom or not, but I would suspect that they ARE.

When engine OFF, the red wire is battery voltage, when running, it will go up to 14v or so, as an indication of the charging system working.

 

[chuexiong1]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Here are some pics. I tested the big red/white wire and the red wire behind it. With the ignition on, motor running, and at 2000rpm I got 12.5v for the red wire. For the red/white, I was reading btw 36-40v. Did I meter the correct red wire? If not, please point it out for me.

Thanks,





Also, here is a wire that I cannot find where it plugs to:

 

[chuexiong1]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

anybody?

 

[seahorse5]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Is that the 2-pin connector for the shift interrupter switch?

You really should be referring to the factory-service manual to troubleshoot the motor, especially the electrical section. These low-emission computer-controlled outboards are like nothing we've had in the past - "They ain't your father's outboard" to paraphrase the bygone Oldsmobile commercial.

 

[seahorse5]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Is that the 2-pin connector for the shift interrupter switch?

You really should be referring to the factory service-manual to troubleshoot the motor, especially the electrical section. These low-emission computer-controlled outboards are like nothing we've had in the past - "They ain't your father's outboard" to paraphrase the bygone Oldsmobile commercial.

 

[daselbee]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

The large red wire is +12v from the PDP to the EMM. Your engine starts, so that line is OK. You are generating +40v for the engine to run, so your stator is OK.

If you have installed known good batteries, then I would have to say that the EMM charging circuits are bad.

If you will indulge me....I have a 2004 E225 HO. I have two batteries on a selector switch, and I usually run it in the "all" position.

One day, I had what appeared to be dead batteries. I charged them on an external charger, but the system still was not right...slow cranking speed, low voltage codes on the engine EMM, etc. I found that when the selector switch was on batt #1, everything was OK, but when on batt #2, the system was pretty much dead/non functional. I was getting the low voltage code consistently on batt #2.

It turned out that batt #2 had internal cell shorted. That short in batt #2 drew batt #1 down so bad when the selector switch was in the "all" position, that the engine couldn't charge properly. I was consistently getting no more than 12v when the engine was running.

I was really worried. I figured the EMM was shot as it wasn't charging. I was very surprised to find out that after I installed two known good batteries, the EMM was now charging properly, at 14.7v on the nose. I can only guess that the EMM has some serious internal protection circuitry to protect it from overcharging into a shorted load.

However, if you have two good batts, and still not charging.....looks like a bad EMM.
Oh, and my batteries are standard lead-acid marine batteries. I have heard rumblings about these AGM batteries. I really don't think I would ever use one of them. They don't charge the way the lead-acids do, and I think the charging circuits internal to the EMM do not respond right to the AGM batteries. Just my opinion....don't really know.

As for the two pin connector, I don't think the 135s have the shift interruptor switch.

Looks like the external oil tank sender line to me, but I cannot be sure.


EDIT: Check that!!! Just looked at the parts list, and YES the 135s DO have the shift interrupt switch.

 

[seahorse5]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

The 135 uses a shift interrupter switch

 

[chuexiong1]

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Re: 2001 Evinrude Ficht Check Engine Low voltage/Excessive battery load & not chargin

Thanks you two very much. I am going to buy a FSM. One dumb question. I was searching on the evinrude website and found an operator's guide. Is that the same as the FSM? Other than that I have found seloc manuals only.