Battery Question - Bayliner 175 3.0 MerCruiser

[MikesBayliner]

I bought a Bayliner last fall and winterized it correctly and kept it on a battery maintainer during the winter. This past weekend I pulled the boat out and tried to start the boat. Nothing but clicks at the solenoid and the starter would not turn over. I tried jumping the boat and eventually the boat cranked and ran fine. Took it out and spent several hours getting to know the boat. The next day I went to clean it up and tried to start the boat, but again, just clicks at the solenoid. I didn't have my multimeter with me to check the battery but feel that the battery won't hold a charge. What I don't understand is that with the key in the off position, all of the controls (and horn) will still work. That's my question: With the key off should any power be "on" at the dash? Please let me know. If anyone else has any other ideas on what would be a battery drain would be helpful. One last thing: I noticed in the bilge area this past winter when I was wintering the boat a short 8-10" insulated wire with alligator clips on each end. Could this have been used to jump a bad section of wire between the battery and solenoid/starter? Not sure it's related to my problem, but found it strange thinking I knocked it off during the winter maintenance.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Scott Danforth]

clean your battery cable connections to shiny metal at the battery, starter and block. by shiny, I mean clean enough to eat off of.

horn may or may not be direct to battery along with trim.

 

[Chris1956]

It sounds like a bad battery, however, consider the following:

Every accessory in the boat takes much less current than the starter, therefore, they could all work, even with a bad battery. That is, the battery cannot deliver 150+amps to the starter, but can deliver 10A to the accessories.

The description of the boat is such that, I would think it necessary to check for shorts and drain on the battery, when the ign is off. You will need to trace those alligator clipped wires as well, as they are not standard. Maybe for bilge pump, trolling motor, lights, battery charger???

An ammeter (or multimeter) is necessary to do this.

 

[MikesBayliner]

Understood and thanks for the help. Safe boating to you all.

 

[garbageguy]

I assume only one battery. Do you know how old it is? Maybe load test it. You could take the battery to an auto parts store, most will do a "free" load test. Just be aware some will try to sell you a new battery no matter what. Some will only if you really need a new one. But they will sell what they have, may not be what you want. Or, you could use a portable load tester to get an initial idea of the battery's condition. Sometimes batteries can be "restored", sometimes not as they've reached their end of service life for one reason or another.

But either way, do as others suggested - clean all contacts and check for shorts and other drains on battery.

 

[San_Diego_SeaRay]

That's my question: With the key off should any power be "on" at the dash? Please let me know. If anyone else has any other ideas on what would be a battery drain would be helpful. One last thing: I noticed in the bilge area this past winter when I was wintering the boat a short 8-10" insulated wire with alligator clips on each end. Could this have been used to jump a bad section of wire between the battery and solenoid/starter? Not sure it's related to my problem, but found it strange thinking I knocked it off during the winter maintenance.

Google "How to find a parasitic drain on a battery". Note that you'll need a multimeter. What you're looking for here is where the amps are going when the boat is turned off.

Also, do you have a battery switch like a PERKO? Moving a battery switch to the "Off" position normally takes care of most parasitic leaks. The only thing wired outside of this switch that I can think of would be a bilge pump.

What I don't understand is that with the key in the off position, all of the controls (and horn) will still work. That's my question: With the key off should any power be "on" at the dash? Please let me know. .

Yes on most boats the majority of accessories work independent of the ignition being in "Run" mode. Most are "live" and are controlled by a battery switch mentioned above.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,..... Cleannin' the wirin' connections costs nothin', 'n usually clears up such issues,.....

Don't neglect the Grounds,.....

 

[MikesBayliner]

I'll be adding a power cut-off switch and a new battery after cleaning the connections. Thanks for all of the help. I'm sloooowwwly starting to understand boats a little more after working on cars and motorcycles my entire life.

 

[MikesBayliner]

I just got back to the boat and disconnected all of the cables from the battery, ground, solenoid, etc and cleaned them up. Put everything back together. The battery was at 13 volts on my VM. Went to start the boat and got nothing but (solenoid) clicks. Took everything apart and redid it, and still the same. When I had the boat out a couple of weeks ago it did the same thing but the starter would catch after 20 or so turns of the key enough for me to take the boat out for a few hour ride. Got back, cleaned up the boat and "clicks" again. Also, after the first round of cleaning I forgot to take the battery cable off and was torquing down the small yellow wire to the right of the solenoid and I inadvertently hit the positive post and it cranked over, so I think the battery is fine. Attached is the pix and the post with the yellow wire is the one I hit with the wrench against the positive post.

If I recall from back in the day on older Fords you could jump a car by popping the hood and doing the same thing, so I'm wondering if the solenoid needs to be replaced. Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

[stonyloam]

OK first thing, your horn and trim should work with the key off. Horn for safety on the water and trim so you can tilt the outdrive when launching and loading the boat when the engine is not running.
sounds like you have a bad solenoid, either the slave or the starter. Locate the slave and jumper across the two large terminals (r/p hot to y/r to starter). If the engine turns over you have a bad slave, if it just clicks you have a bad starter solenoid.

 

[Bt Doctur]

locate this , if its clicking and the starter dosent turn, its bad contacts , jump the 2 large lugs ,that should spin the starter. Yes replace slave solenoid
If No, the Red/Purple does not have 12 v supplied

 

[Bt Doctur]

 

[MikesBayliner]

Thank you Terry and Bt for the great help. I jumped the 2 terminals on the Slave Solenoid and the starter cranked, so it must be a bad Slave Solenoid, correct? All other connections are clean and tightened down. And perhaps the wire that had the 2 alligator clips attached that I found in the bilge that I mentioned in my initial post must have been attached to something in the solenoid and came loose? When I bought the boat everything checked out and when I put it away for the winter that's when I found the wire.

 

[stonyloam]

Sure sounds like it. Listen closely to the slave and have someone hit the key. If it clicks and the starter does NOT start, then for sure. Yeah the clip was probably for starting. You can jumper from the large starter terminal (battery) to the small r/y terminal on the starter or across the slave terminals like you did in an emergency.

 

[MikesBayliner]

Sure sounds like it. Listen closely to the slave and have someone hit the key. If it clicks and the starter does NOT start, then for sure. Yeah the clip was probably for starting. You can jumper from the large starter terminal (battery) to the small r/y terminal on the starter or across the slave terminals like you did in an emergency.

Thanks again Terry. I'll change out the slave solenoid since it's so cheap to do so. Hopefully that will solve the clicking. I'll post back with the results so that others can be aware.

 

[MikesBayliner]

Just to conclude this post, I finally got down to the boat to change the slave solenoid. Ended up prying back the bracket clips to make it easy to just change the solenoid and leave the bracket in place instead of having to bust my knuckles trying to fit a 7/16 behind the main bracket. Took about 1/2 hour and put everything back together and it fired right up. Problem solved, but I do plan to replace the battery. I had it on a maintainer and it tested at 14 volts but under load the battery was struggling.

Thanks for the all of the help.

 

[MikesBayliner]

Hate to bring this post back up, but having a smilier problem: When I try to start the boat from the key I get nothing (no click), but when I jump the newly installed slave solenoid it fires right up. I have power at the dash with blower, bilge pump, horn, etc. I pulled the ignition switch and it tests fine in all positions and I also removed the neutral safety switch at the engine by removing the NSS and plugging the 2 connectors together. Still the engine won't crank. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[TurtleTamer]

Turn the key on and jump the large terminals again. The market is flooded with very cheap versions of that solenoid that may work for years or may work for days. If that works, disconnect one of the smaller terminals and use a multimeter to read the ohms across the two small terminals. If you get OL (stands for "Out of Limits," not "overload") or in the 1M or above range, you're looking at a bad coil in the new slave solenoid.

Otherwise, you're looking at a starter/solenoid issue or a wiring issue.

EDIT: just noticed you already jumped it. My apologies as I've already gotten into my cups tonight.

 

[stonyloam]

OK: you should have 4 wires on the slave. Yellow/red and black on two small terminals and yellow/red and yellow/purple on the two large terminals. You should have 12v on the r/p wire all the time. Jumper from the large r/p to the small y/r, the solenoid should close and the starter run. If not you probably have a bad slave solenoid. If the starter does run then the trouble is most likely in your ignition switch or wiring.

 

[MikesBayliner]

Jumping the 2 terminals on the slave solenoid with the key in the on position and the starter cranks and the engine runs. Turning the key off the engine shuts down as it's suppose to. I pulled the ignition switch and disconnected it and put one probe of the multimeter on the ground pole and the other probe on the other pole. Turn the key in the "on" position and it shows resistance. Then I move the probe to the other lug and turn the key to simulate the "start" position and it also shows resistance. I also sprayed contacted cleaner in all openings on the switch with no luck. So it appears that the switch is ok. Isn't that a good test or should I simply replace the switch?