90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

[corzy]

Hey guys, well i had my first boat fire in my boating career 2 days ago, a lil scarry but not bad after it was done looking back...It ended up being the voltage regulator where the fire came from (apparently they just go bad sometimes says the mechanic?)
I have a baja blast, 1994 mercury sport jet 90, i found the regulator online for 130 bucks (the dealer wanted 210), now my question is should i be looking at anything else? the one mechanic said the alternator might have caused the problem, or be damaged because of it...now i looked around (internet included) i cant even find an alternator online anywhere for sale for this model...i also cant find it on the boat, does it just look like a normal car alternator, kinda bulky with a pully on the one end (obviously attached to a belt)
my other question is on the new regulator there are 2 red 2 yellow and a greyish wire coming from it, now the wires on the boat were damaged in the fire a little bit, but have lots of line room left for splicing etc...I just wonder if it matters to have the correct yellows matched up and reds...they look to be the same tone of red, but the boats old and the wires are faded so maby it just looks like the same colors.....
any advise is great thanks
Corzy

 

[kend301]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

First of all fire your mechanic , NO alternator on the Sport Jets . You really need to post some pics of the damage to the harnesses and post some info as in black or red stator , Swichbox CDI ignition or the CDM ignition . These regs burn up due to a voltage feedback on shutdown . Up to date parts will fix it but if the updated parts were run with an old regulator ... SMOKE !!
Post some details and we will get you sorted out .

 

[corzy]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

oh man thats great, i was losing my mind trying to find it hahaha, he was NOT my mechanic (i dont have one i just learn and do myself) he was one of the salesmen at an evenrude dealership, he was trying to get me to sell the boat due to problems and no available parts hahahaha (****)
Now when it burnt up, i was driving the boat, it wasn't after s/d, however i had shut it down maby 20 min prior so maby that was when.
as for the harness damage, there isn't a harness that i can find, just looks like plastic connectors from the reg to each component, the damage looks to be on the regulator side of the connectors, so i'm hopeing they will still undo and connect easy to the new reg.
ok, i will try and post pics, as for ignition, how can i tell the difference? Also, heres a dumb question, where is the stator? :J
thanks for the help.

 

[calledinsick]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

Here is a thread with pics on changing the stator. It's under the flywheel. You can look under the flywheel and see if it's red (obvious) or black (a little harder to see). Best way is to look at the wires coming out of the stator. Original had 2 yellow wires, 1 red, and 1 blue coming out of it (first pic - near the center of the pic - they are the wires runing vertical).
Black to Red Stator conversion

 

[corzy]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

OK, off the top of my head, i remember there being 2 reds and 2 green/white wires, the 5th wire could have been blue (cant really remember) so i guess that would mean i have a red stator no? But anyways, The new reg. has 1 big red wire, one small one, 2 yellows and a grey...so im guessing that the reg, has been replaced before. so the reds should be easy, but will it matter which yellow goes to which green????/
thanks again, thats a great post calledinsick!!!

 

[kend301]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

You really need to post a pic , the white/green wires from the stator means you have the red stator . The lone blue wire kinda hints that you have a CDI (switchbox) type ignition , Unless you have a CDM conversion. I am going to have to see several pictures to help you rewire this boat !!

 

[corzy]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

OK, ill have pics up by monday (havent been home for a few days and am gone forthe weekend)
Really appreciate the help (and patience hahaha)

 

[kend301]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

Post them up as soon as you can !!!

 

[lmurtagh]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

94 Sport Jet 90 with Red Stator. CDI as far as I know. My regulator burnt up a couple days ago. See pic. I think it happened while I was driving last week...she died dead as a door nail at WOT. I could smell burning plastic or something. In addition to the pictured damage, my battery terminal looks a bit burnt. Gave it a couple minutes and it started right up.

Now it will not start. Cranks like a dream but it wont turn over...wondering if I have lost my spark. Could the regulator outtage cut out the spark? Or does it just send charge to the battery?

Also wondering what would cause the regulator to burn up? Can you explain the voltage feedback on shutdown problem?

Looking for a quick fix to get back out on the water!

 

[kend301]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

Please start your own thread for a new boat / problem , Makes it much easier to track !

 

[rodbolt]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

typpically when we had regulator fires we tracked it back to bad battery connections.
there were some that the rectifier simply failed and lit up with the engine off.
its also why anything I sell or install gets a battery switch.
I worked as a lead tech at a dealership selling merc,mercruiser,force,go devil suzuki and surgar sand marine jetsfrom 1990 to 96.
problem with parts seems to stem from merc never supported the old force design much and pretty much dropped everything when Force engines went out of production.
regulator fires,while uncommon,do happen sometimes for no apperent reason.
had a yamaha F250 with 16 hours on it lite up sitting in the shop last winter.
backed it in,trimmed it down and removed the hood.
went for coffee.
while chatting with another tech and the service manager we noticed smoke and lots of it.
ya should seen the scramble.
regulator was burning merrily.
motor had not run in several days.
trust me,it wasnt smoking when I took off the hood.

 

[corzy]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

OK finally got down to the boat for some pics (sorry about the quality it was super wavy...guess i was wrong earlier, theres 2 reds 2 yellows and like a blueish whiteish one, also there was a black wire that was grounded, but there isn't a ground wire on the new regulator? as you can see from the one pic, its the red stator.

 

[corzy]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

here is another one, as well as the new regulator. It has 2 yellows 1 small red, 1 big red and a grey....so my guess is that the yellows dont matter just hook them up, but the big red would line up with the red on the boat that goes back to the starter???? just my guess.
thanks guys
Nick

 

[kend301]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

Yellows to stator , orientation does not matter , Gray to gray , this is the non existent tachometer connection , One red to starter solenoid on battery side , tape the thinner one up (not needed) . You can put the burnt ground wire to one of the mounting bolts to insure ground as you can see the corrosion around the reg mounting bolts that are the built in ground . Start there and check for spark

 

[corzy]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

ok great, sounds pretty straight forward. but im not sure about the ground wire, as there isn't a ground wire on the new reg? as you can see from the pic, i have the ground wire on the one bolt, but the wire goes no where...
thanks
Nick

 

[corzy]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

Alright!! wires all matched up as i was told, (other than the one ground wire, couldn't find where it went to save my life) but she fired right up, cant take it out for a long test run until thurs/friday but thought i would thank everyone who helped me out.
Nick

 

[kend301]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

Nick , Take that ground wire put a ring connector on it and put it on one of the voltage regulator mounting screws , it gives you a second ground to insure this will not happen again as long as you keep the battery terminals clean !

Glad we could help , wish all these things were this simple to figure out

Bob

 

[corzy]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

ok, so you want me to take the wire and connect it to the other ground connections somewhere on the motor? Just curious because the reg is bolted to the side of the motor, and it should already be grounded, no?

 

[kend301]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

Run the wire from ground to the regulator mounting bolt , you can build corrosion on the plate that can interrupt the ground built into the regulator , Put the ring connector between the bolt head and the regulator body .

 

[corzy]

Re: 90 Sport Jet Electrical Fire!!!

Oh I see, ok will do...now one more stupid question, does it matter which way the regs mounted? one side is the metal body and the other side is like a hard rubber substance (black), does the metal have to be against the motor or the rubber side?
Nick