wont turn over.

Good morning folks. I am working out my electrical gremlins. I fixed my no spark issue. I still have an intermittent wont turn over situation. What i have noticed is when i turn the key, the only gauge that moves is the power trim gauge. I have read that the sending units on the drive go bad quite often. Which course of action should i take next. I am thinking of bypassing the gauge or disconnecting the sending units or maybe trying to adjust first. The needle on the gauge gets pegged when i turn the key to on. Like i said no other gauges come on. Disableing is only for testing. I will replace the defective unit once it is identified. The battery is strong, because when it does turn over it turns normal. All the connections have been cleaned and tightened.This is on a 1983 470 with an R drive.
Thank you for your assistance.

Re: wont turn over.

The trim gauge has nothing to do with the engine turning over.
Follow this test procedure for the cranking problem, be sure to follow the first part about clean tight connections.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=167035

Re: wont turn over.

I followed the steps in the link. One question though. Couldnt a ground on the purple wire at the ignition/key look like a bad ignition. I put my volt meter across the big red wire. 12v. Then i went across the ign and turned the key. No voltage. The link says you now have a bad ignition/key. i removed the purple wire (instruments) and got voltage across the other post. I then started lifting the purple wire off every gauge that is in series and it went through all the gauges then into the wireing harness to the engine compartment. I saw a purple wire on the electric choke on the carb an pulled it off the choke. My ground went away and it started.
Is this choke connected in series with all the instruments or is my electrical gremlin playing tricks on me?
Can an electrical choke ground out and cause a no turn over situation?

Re: wont turn over.

I followed the steps in the link. One question though. Couldnt a ground on the purple wire at the ignition/key look like a bad ignition. I put my volt meter across the big red wire. 12v. Then i went across the ign and turned the key. No voltage. The link says you now have a bad ignition/key. i removed the purple wire (instruments) and got voltage across the other post. I then started lifting the purple wire off every gauge that is in series and it went through all the gauges then into the wireing harness to the engine compartment. I saw a purple wire on the electric choke on the carb an pulled it off the choke. My ground went away and it started.
Is this choke connected in series with all the instruments or is my electrical gremlin playing tricks on me?
Can an electrical choke ground out and cause a no turn over situation?

Click to expand...

Instruments and the choke are in parallel, not series.

If one item (gauge or choke or ignition module) is low to ground it could drag the 12volts down, but that would indicate a very weak battery. If the choke was grounded it would have blown the fuse in the instrument circuits (the one in the key switch harness).