Howdy everyone. It's been a long time since I've posted. I'm restoring an old '84 Cheetah boat with a Merc 470 engine. it's been a work in progress, but it's nearly done. Took my first ride on the lake the other day, and I was very happy with it. I have 2 problems though, and I figured I could use some input from the brain trust here.
1) Boat won't die when you turn the key off. The engine fires up great, but when it's time to kill it, and I turn the key into the "off" position, nothing happens. I was told that this is likely a diode in the alternator that has gone out, allowing the alternator to continually feed the engine. When I went out on the lake, I just used unplugged the coil wire when I needed to kill it.
Here is what my wiring of the alternator looked like:
To isolate that the problem is indeed the alternator, I removed the alternator belt from the engine. With no alternator, the boat starts and stops fine. There are only 2 wires going to the alternator. Positive from the battery, and then the power coming from the key switch. I verified that the key is working correctly (12 volts when key is "on", gnd when key is "off").
I took the alternator in to be tested, and it tested good. (it's a delco alternator). Thinking that maybe the alternator test machine may not test removing power from the alternator, I just went ahead and purchased a new one. Installed it, ... same problem.
At this point, I thought that maybe it had been wired wrong. When wired as the picture above, the boat will not die. I removed both wires from the 1 and 2 ports, and started it. It started fine, and volt meter read 12 V. I decided to change my wiring of 1 and 2, and see what happened. To my surprise ... it works. The engine starts and stops just fine with the key, and I see 14 volts on the volt meter.
Today I looked up the wiring to be sure I wasn't setting myself up for trouble, and I saw that according to images I find online, the old way was the correct way to wire it. Can anyone give me any guidance?
2) Second issue I had on the lake was that it turned to the left very easily, however, it took more effort to turn it to the right. What causes this. I don't notice it when the boat is out of water, but it takes a lot more muscle to turn right, while turning left the wheel just moves freely. Any ideas?
Thanks guys. I'll get some pictures of the boat when it's done and post it so y'all can see the transformation.
1) Boat won't die when you turn the key off. The engine fires up great, but when it's time to kill it, and I turn the key into the "off" position, nothing happens. I was told that this is likely a diode in the alternator that has gone out, allowing the alternator to continually feed the engine. When I went out on the lake, I just used unplugged the coil wire when I needed to kill it.
Here is what my wiring of the alternator looked like:
To isolate that the problem is indeed the alternator, I removed the alternator belt from the engine. With no alternator, the boat starts and stops fine. There are only 2 wires going to the alternator. Positive from the battery, and then the power coming from the key switch. I verified that the key is working correctly (12 volts when key is "on", gnd when key is "off").
I took the alternator in to be tested, and it tested good. (it's a delco alternator). Thinking that maybe the alternator test machine may not test removing power from the alternator, I just went ahead and purchased a new one. Installed it, ... same problem.
At this point, I thought that maybe it had been wired wrong. When wired as the picture above, the boat will not die. I removed both wires from the 1 and 2 ports, and started it. It started fine, and volt meter read 12 V. I decided to change my wiring of 1 and 2, and see what happened. To my surprise ... it works. The engine starts and stops just fine with the key, and I see 14 volts on the volt meter.
Today I looked up the wiring to be sure I wasn't setting myself up for trouble, and I saw that according to images I find online, the old way was the correct way to wire it. Can anyone give me any guidance?
2) Second issue I had on the lake was that it turned to the left very easily, however, it took more effort to turn it to the right. What causes this. I don't notice it when the boat is out of water, but it takes a lot more muscle to turn right, while turning left the wheel just moves freely. Any ideas?
Thanks guys. I'll get some pictures of the boat when it's done and post it so y'all can see the transformation.
