'05 four winns bilge pump problems

[bcnumber1]

I recently (less than a month) bought a 2005 four winns 183 ski/fish boat. Everything seems to be working when testing it except for the float switch. I poured water in the transom almost all the way to the bottom of the engine and the float switch never activated the bilge pump. The bigle pump works when manually turning it on. I'm just worried that if I leave this boat on the dock 9which is an hour away from my home) for the rest of the season it may get some water accumulation. The boat has 2 batteries and a switch to control both of them. The manual says the float switch will still activate the bilge even when the battery switch is set to off. Any suggestions on fixing the problem?

 

[oops!]

Re: '05 four winns bilge pump problems

check the float switch to make sure there is no gunk around the switch and that it moves freely.....if it does...and all looks ok.....just replace it.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: '05 four winns bilge pump problems

it also may not be wired correctly.

 

[Five O'Clock]

Re: '05 four winns bilge pump problems

to test my float switch, i filled up a bucket with water and poured it into the bilge to see if the float switch would kick on... and it did.

if it didn't, i would replace the float switch...

 

[Silvertip]

Re: '05 four winns bilge pump problems

Do you have 12V AT the float switch when the battery switch is set to OFF. If not, the float switch is wired wrong. If you don't have power at the float switch in any battery switch position, you need to figure out why (the float switch in this case is not the problem but wiring is!). Is there a MANUAL-AUTO switch for the bilge pump? It would need to be set to AUTO for the float switch to work.

 

[bcnumber1]

Re: '05 four winns bilge pump problems

The manual is very vague on information about the bilge and I don't even think it says anything about the float switch. We only tested to see if it would work when the battery was in the off position. Tomorrow I will test it with the battery on and try to find a man/auto switch. silvertip would a manual auto switch be somewhere near the battery or on the actually bilge pump?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: '05 four winns bilge pump problems

A "manual/auto" switch for anything would be on the console along with all the other switches.

 

[bcnumber1]

Re: '05 four winns bilge pump problems

Well I know there is nothing like that on the console. There is a reset button that we can't figure out it's purpose...any ideas on what that could be for?

 

[Boatin Bob]

Re: '05 four winns bilge pump problems

Where is the switch you used to turn it on manually? Wuite often these are the 3 position switches that Silvertip referred to, auto-off-manual. Could be a rocker or even a toggle switch (probably rocker for the newer boats), if there is no auto switch then the float switch must be direct wired to a battery or even to the back of the battery switch, it should also have a fuse or breaker close to where it's wired to.