hot wires with ignition off

I have a 1987 mercruiser 454 with a bravo 3. When i hook my battery up my wires running to the ignition solenoid are hot with the ignition switch in the off position. all wires that are supposed to be hot when you turn the ignition on are hot with the ignition off. I did not realize they were hot until i hooked up my electrical fuel pump and it turned on. i was hoping someone could point me in the right direction on diagnosing my problem. Like what to check for first. thanks

Re: hot wires with ignition off

They should not be on. Have you been having problems lately with your battery discharging?

Re: hot wires with ignition off

When you connect the battery, your ignition is energized?

As with many new problems on a boat, you should ask your self what did I "FIX" last. start by looking there. If you installed an accessory, did you connect the wires back to the ignition switch right?

Sounds like a wire is connected wrong at the starter (ign resister) or at the back of the key switch, or at one of your gages.

Many of the gages get power from the ignition switch so that is a common area.

start off by looking at the starter solenoid for non-factory or confused ring terminals.

A quick way to find a current draw is to remove fuses or open circuit breakers one at a time until you make the draw go away.

If the breakers or fuse have an effect, it will help you narrow down the fault.

Re: hot wires with ignition off

yeah when i connect the battery all hot wires go hot! I have been wiring up everything but just noticed it when i wired the fuel pump. I will have to check my starter wires. I have not changed any wires at the key switch or at the guages. The last thing i did was run a wire to oil pressure switch for the guage. I iwll try removing the fuses first. thanks and all info is welcome

Re: hot wires with ignition off

When the batttery is connected there is power to all the major components.
When you say solenoid is HOT ,exactly what do you mean? Physically or electrically.
The key switch battery lug is powered, only when you turn it to "run" do you energize the ign and gauges, in "Start" you supply power to energize the slave to energize the main solenoid on the starter

Re: hot wires with ignition off

Thinking about what device you added last is a great suspect to consider as was already posted.

Disconnect power to your ignition with battery cables still hooked up to battery. Also leave selonoid connected. If power still present at selonoid, it's something else. If not at selonoid, suspect ignition switch.

Essentially, focus on one devise at a time and connect/disconnect to rule it out or find it guilty.

I normally half-step the problem. However, there are too may devices in parallel than in series to do that effectively.

Let the Force be with you.