1998 175 Ficht Dropping Voltage at Solenoid

My battery is 7 years old but never been used, I bought it as a spare. I charged her up and this is what I am getting.

My battery reads 12.4 Volts

When I crank the engine and keep meter on battery terminals it drops to 11 volts

When I crank the engine and keep meter on solenoid it drops to 8.1 volts

When I run jumper cables from the battery to the solenoid it reads 8.1 Volts at the solenoid

So far I have replaced the battery cables from the battery switch to the engine as they showed signs of corrosion. I have checked and I cleaned all the connections between the battery and the engine.

The logical next step is to get the battery tested while under load at the shop but figured I would throw this on the forum to see if anyone had any further insight

Re: 1998 175 Ficht Dropping Voltage at Solenoid

Good choice. Get the battery load tested.

Re: 1998 175 Ficht Dropping Voltage at Solenoid

A fully charged battery should read a little over 13 volts... sound like cranking amps output is low.

Re: 1998 175 Ficht Dropping Voltage at Solenoid

I had my battery tested and they say it couldn't be better and a top of the line battery, despite that I bought a new spare battery as I needed one and installed it on the boat. I also replaced the battery lines from the battery to the switch. Everything "current" wise to the engine is brand new except for the switch so for testing purposes I bypassed it.

When cranking my voltage at the battery switch wires is 11.2 and 8.1 on the battery side of the solenoid and believe it or not 8.7 on the starter side of the solenoid.

The test I did on the solenoid as described in the manual has someone cranking the engine with the - side of the tester on the battery side of the solenoid the touch the starter side of the solenoid with the positive side of the tester and if it reads more than 2 than the unit is losing resistance, same with the starter. The solenoid test yielded a 1 and the starter yielded a 2.

My engine cranks over like it always has, fast and easy.

My next thought is maybe I have a wire crossed on the starter?

The other clue that I have is, when someone is cranking the engine for an extended period like 10 seconds the ignition beeps sporadically like it does when you first turn the key on and it goes through it's sequence.

Re: 1998 175 Ficht Dropping Voltage at Solenoid

**This is advice I got from someone on another board and thought I would post it here to possibly get someone on here interested in helping me tackle this and maybe shed some additional light on the problem.

Here's what I'd recommend doing next - disconnect the positive battery
terminal (for safety), then at the starter solenoid, remove the nut on the
battery side and take all the cables off except for the battery cable and
reinstall the nut. Now on the smaller middle post of the solenoid, remove
the yellow/red wire (the wire on the other small post should be black?).
Then hook the positive battery cable back up to the battery (don't want to
chance having the solenoid end of the positive cable hit the engine block
while still connected to the battery). Jump the positive battery post on
the solenoid to the small middle solenoid terminal that you removed the
yellow/red wire from. This will close the starter solenoid and the starter
will engage, then measure the starting voltages. (or if you have some solid
house wire and a wall switch, you can use that as your jumper, and when you
turn the switch on, the starter will engage) What this does is effectively
remove every other load (like the stator, injectors, PDP, power relay) from
the starting circuit and reduces it to just the starting elements alone: the
battery(s), cables, solenoid, and starter. If your cranking voltage is
still below 10, the issue is either the starter or the solenoid as
everything else is new. But if the cranking voltage goes up over 10, the
issue is with one of the circuits that you removed from the positive
solenoid post and we can troubleshoot those individually.

At this point if the cranking voltage is still low, you can do a different
test on the starter solenoid. Remove the cable to the starter at the
solenoid post, and jump the solenoid as described above to close the
internal switch. There should be a very audible click. Now measure the
resistance across the two large starter solenoid terminals, it should be
very low, less than an ohm's resistance.

The starter can be "no load" tested when it's running and the current draw
should be less than 30 amps but you'd need an amp meter or amprobe to do
that.

Let me know what you find out,

Re: 1998 175 Ficht Dropping Voltage at Solenoid

My battery is under the center console as well, with the on/off switch under the rear seat. I only have one battery connected but keep a second under the console with a wrench as a backup.
I followed your instructions and removed the yellow/red and the 2 smaller wires that go to the battery side of the solenoid. I am still getting 8.2 volts. The resistance test on the solenoid was .1 ohms. I have a smaller tester that has a clamp for testing amps, I believe you don't actually clamp the wire starter wire but rather make sure the wire is in the middle of the clamp. I am getting a 7.50 reading at the 400a setting on my meter and 7.95 (is this really 79 amps?) on the 40a setting on my meter.
Once again I tested the resistance of both the solenoid and the starter. The solenoid reads .1 and the starter reads .2
Thanks
Bob

Re: 1998 175 Ficht Dropping Voltage at Solenoid

What exactly are you trying to figure out ?? will the motor not start??

Re: 1998 175 Ficht Dropping Voltage at Solenoid

If you have no spark check the ignition module as these are know for failures and it wont show up in codes. Only the 1997/98 and early 99 models have these..Hope it not as a used one goes for $450-650 and new one is $1300
1998 Johnson Evinrude 175HP Ignition Module 3100 | eBay

Re: 1998 175 Ficht Dropping Voltage at Solenoid

1- The original problem is the engine would not start and I determined I was not getting spark
2- I have identified that I am getting a significant voltage drop Where the battery wire connects to the solenoid And have since replaced the battery and all of the battery wires without any success.
3-I removed the wire that talks to the EMM from the solenoid and performed the voltage drop test again with the same results. Common sense says that With the EMM being disconnected from the solenoid the voltage drop is being caused by the starter, the Solenoid, or the wire that goes from the starter to the solenoid. I tested the starter and the solenoid and the results are above.
4 -This morning I removed the wire that runs from the solenoid to the starter, This wire does have a break in the casing and I had tape on it. My meter shows that this short wire has a resistance of .1 ohms.
I'll replace this wire and I guess start shopping for a starter
I am just fishing for other worldly advice

Re: 1998 175 Ficht Dropping Voltage at Solenoid

One thing you must remember, the Ficht does everything differently than any other engine. Troubleshooting procedures are different. You must have at least 9.5 volts at the starter when the starter is engaged. Any less then you have a cable, connection or battery problem. 9.5 or better, then it's a starter problem.

Re: 1998 175 Ficht Dropping Voltage at Solenoid

I tracked down the problem to a faulty wire harness connection, capacitor wire going into the power distribution panel had a corroded connector, I replaced it and she started right up. Thanks for everyone's comments.