86 Force 85HP No fire?

[04Sierra04]

Hello all, I've been lurking in these forums over the past few weeks and now I need some help.<br /><br />Last week I bought my first boat, a 1990 Maxum 1800XR bowrider. It's powered by a 1986 Force 85HP. When the guy brought it over when I bought it, he put the key in and it seemed to roll over quite a bit, then he noticed that the kill switch wasn't plugged in. He plugged it in and the boat fired right up. From that day, I brought the boat home. The first time I put it on water, it would roll and roll but wouldn't kick/start. We took the boat out of the water and brought it home where I cleaned all battery connections and replaced some of the wiring in the battery compartment. We also installed a new Marine battery. We managed to get the boat running in the driveway. We went back to the lake and put it on water and went for a little ride. We stopped at a friends place and shut it down. When we went to leave about 15 minutes later it rolled over quite a bit before it started but then it kicked and ran. This weekend, I went back up to the lake, and did some minor maintainence on the boat. I changed the through hull fitting for the bilge, installed a CD player etc. We went down to the lake and the boat started no problem. We drove it down to a friends place and shut it down. 10 minutes later when we went to leave, it wouldn't start at all. Lots of rolling but absolutely no kick. This problem seems very intermittant but now were at the point where it will just roll and no kick. I've checked every single wiring connection I could find and the fuses but to no avail. <br /><br />ALSO-> while trying to get it running we noticed that the wires for the kill switch had come off, I dont know if/when we knocked them off. Since the kill switch has 4 prongs and their were only two wires, I put the wiring on 2 of the prongs and tested, then the other two prongs. None of this helped. I thought to myself that I could just strip the wires and connect them together to complete the circut. I dont know if this is the correct thing to do, but it didn't help either. I've also checked ALL fuses and they are all good. Lastly, we pulled out one plug and checked for fire but didn't see any so we pulled out another and tried it and no fire. I've read that this isn't a good idea as you can fry something on these engines so I didn't roll the motor over for more than a second to see if their was fire.<br /><br /><br />If anyone has any ideas, I would greately appreciate it as right now, my boat is docked at a friends place and I have no way to get it back to the boat launch!<br /><br />Thanks for any help.<br /><br />AS.

 

[roscoe]

Re: 86 Force 85HP No fire?

welcome.<br /><br />First lets deal with that kill switch. You will either have to bypass it or disconnect it for now. I'm not sure if that switch is normally open or closed. Perhaps someone else will be along to tell us.<br /><br />Then, what is your starting procedure?<br />Are you using the choke?<br />Are you advancing the throttle (not putting it in gear) to start it?

 

[04Sierra04]

Re: 86 Force 85HP No fire?

Well, since I didn't know if the switch should be opened or closed, I tried both by disconnecting the wires and then connecting them together again. Neither way would give me any fire to the engine. My normal starting procedure is:<br />1- push key to choke, leave key pressed in and roller over till she starts kicking pretty good. <br />2- Pull out throttle leaver and push forward<br />3- roller till she starts.<br /><br />Like I say, no matter how much I roll it, no kick at all,,, just roll roll roll.<br /><br />Thanks,<br />AS

 

[spartanpele]

Re: 86 Force 85HP No fire?

On the kill switch.... disconnect your wires you spliced together. It won't start when those two wires are connected. <br /><br />When the laynard is attached, the circuit is open and the engine can run. When the laynard is removed, the circuit closes, which kills the engine. <br /><br />Usually on the switch there are prongs on the outside and prongs on the inside. On my 87 the wires must be attached to the two prongs on the outside. Check for resistance with a mulitmeter to determine the proper open and closed based on the laynard attached or disconnected.<br /><br />If the switch is bad...replace it. Don't just leave the wires hanging. In an emergency (runaway, no water coming out the rear hole, etc.) you need to be able to kill your engine.

 

[04Sierra04]

Re: 86 Force 85HP No fire?

I appreciate your comments, I was wondering if they should be connected or disconnected. My kill switch has 4 connections but they are all the same.. for now, until the boat is running, I will leave them disconnected, then once she's running, I will troubleshoot the kill switch at that time, I'd rather take anything I can out of the situation to ease troubleshooting!<br /><br />Thanks,<br />AS