Circuit breaker tripping immediately

[thewholebit]

Greetings, gentlemen.

This one has me bumfoozled - I hope you guys can start me in the right direction. 88 Force 85 hp. My circuit breaker trips immediately when I turn the ignition key. Every time. I very temporarily bypassed it to see what would happen, and the motor did crank. When I bypassed it, the screw that holds the circuit breaker on got real hot, so I backed off and disconnected the battery.

Bad circuit breaker? Some sort of grounding issue? Lost.....

Thanks, guys.....

 

[foodfisher]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

Dead short?

 

[thewholebit]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

Dead short?

On one of the wires in the harness coming back from the ignition switch?

 

[Jiggz]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

The ckt bkr mounting bolts should never get energized let alone get hot. When ignition switch is turned to ON position two things happen, it disconnect the white stop CD wire from ground and then turn on auxiliary power. Did you or anyone recently did any work with the ignition or electrical wiring? This will make troubleshooting easier by walking back instead of doing the whole nine yard! Let us know.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

The mounting screws getting hot?? New one for me!!
There must be a short somewhere.
Check the battery cables for a grounded out lead?
Try switching the circut breakers around.

 

[gm280]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

Not know sure if you know how to use a volt/ohm meter (DVM, VOM, Analog Meter, etc.) or not, but if you do, now is the time to get it out. You need to trace the wires from the ignition switch to their respected places and disconnect them (one at a time) to see which one is shorted to ground. Once you know which wire it is, trace it and see exactly where it is pinched or shorted to ground and fix it. The ignition switch should never have that amount of current flowing through it. You may even have to change out that switch as well... May be damaged internally now...

 

[thewholebit]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

The ckt bkr mounting bolts should never get energized let alone get hot. When ignition switch is turned to ON position two things happen, it disconnect the white stop CD wire from ground and then turn on auxiliary power. Did you or anyone recently did any work with the ignition or electrical wiring? This will make troubleshooting easier by walking back instead of doing the whole nine yard! Let us know.

In fact, discovered all this while replacing ignition switch and harness, which is used......so, what you guys are saying is making sense. Thanks so much!

 

[Jiggz]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

There are two wiring versions for the 88-85HP. You might want to refer to one of these diagrams. The drawings might looks bad on the screen but are readable when enlarged and/or printed.

 

[thewholebit]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

Well, I'm back again. I replaced the whole ignition wiring harness with a new one. Same thing. Circuit breaker trips as soon as a turn the key. I posted something wrong earlier - it wasn't the screw that holds the circuit breaker in place that smoked - it the one to the left of it that connects to the black ground wire just above it. Can anyone think of anything I've missed? Much obliged.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

Pics?

 

[foodfisher]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

Wire could have been changed so don't go by color. Trace it back to the other end and be sure it "is" ground.

 

[thewholebit]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

Pics?

Absolutely. Phillps screwdriver is pointing to the screw that is smoking on me.

 

[thewholebit]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

Wire could have been changed so don't go by color. Trace it back to the other end and be sure it "is" ground.

Following the advice that you gentlemen are providing - have discovered that there is no blue magneto wire on motor to match up with the one on harness, yet two white??!!

 

[gm280]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

Well, I'm back again. I replaced the whole ignition wiring harness with a new one. Same thing. Circuit breaker trips as soon as a turn the key. I posted something wrong earlier - it wasn't the screw that holds the circuit breaker in place that smoked - it the one to the left of it that connects to the black ground wire just above it. Can anyone think of anything I've missed? Much obliged.

STOP! Don't buy anything else until you verify the actual problem. Throwing parts (and money) at a problem is not a good way to fix things. Have you actually checked the circuit breaker itself for being faulty? They don't last for every. And being how you now have changed so many things, the CB could be the problem. You need to test it and see. Set up a little circuit with even a light bulb and take that circuit breaker and install it in the test circuit and see what happens when you turn on the power...

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

it sounds like you have wired the ignition switch wrong and the ground wire is a little unhappy when you shunt 12v down it (smallest wire melts first so when you bypassed the breaker something has to give). On the back of the ignition switch can you list the terminal letters and color of the wire attached to it.

B=
I or A=
M=
M=
S=
C=

if the ignition looks right then disconnect the I or A terminal wire that's going to the dash gauges and test.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

The black bottom lead is the ground wire in the harness,I think it goes to the solenoid.Then back to the dash.Not sure where it goes from there.I can't find my wiring diagrams.

 

[thewholebit]

Re: Circuit breaker tripping immediately

it sounds like you have wired the ignition switch wrong and the ground wire is a little unhappy when you shunt 12v down it (smallest wire melts first so when you bypassed the breaker something has to give). On the back of the ignition switch can you list the terminal letters and color of the wire attached to it.

B=
I or A=
M=
M=
S=
C=

if the ignition looks right then disconnect the I or A terminal wire that's going to the dash gauges and test.

B=Red
I=Black
M=Blue
M=White
S=Yellow
A (this is in the middle)=Green

Thanks for helping!


Edit: Dear, God. I hooked the ground wire to the back of the ignition switch..... this is embarassing.

 

[Pells]

is there a way to test the ignition switch to find out if this is causing the circuit breaker to pop. I am having the same issue.

 

[GA_Boater]

is there a way to test the ignition switch to find out if this is causing the circuit breaker to pop. I am having the same issue.

Start your own thread. This one is 7 years old.

Closed.