honda 130 relay won't work- help!

[Sirius]

This is what happend. I just bought a boat with twin Honda outboards. They are BF 130A 4 strokes. Both are 98' models. The problem is that the main engine realy will not work. The guy who just sold me the boat odered the relay for the motor 2 times, and both do not work. I have tested the good/old relay on both engines and both engines work. When I put the new/ordered relay on neither engine works. The number on the relay is the same one as in the parts manual, but there are some smaller numbers that are diferent. Both have the same part manual number written in big letters 38580 ZW5 004. Here is where they look diferent. The GOOD ONE has written MAIN RELAY ASSY-DC-12 v -8-H-21 IMANSEN. The BAD ONE has written >PBT-GF30 <EXT DC 12 v >EP< 4 D 23 IMANSON. I called the Honda dealer in Hawaii and they said that the relay is the correct one and there should be no problems with the small lettering. Does anyone know how I can get this thing to work correctly. Is there some special trick to getting new relays to work correctly on your engines? Is there a way to test to see if the new relays are actually not defunct? Any advice would be much appreciated. I am out in Micronesia so getting parts and help is a bit tough. Thanks, Chris

 

[rodbolt]

Re: honda 130 relay won't work- help!

if they work on the other engine its not a relay problem. it may be the ground circuit for the relay or the control circuit to the relay that is bad.<br /> good luck and keep posting

 

[hondon]

Re: honda 130 relay won't work- help!

Roger that.Check all grounds and primary connections and when you feel you are done ,check and clean again.

 

[cp]

Re: honda 130 relay won't work- help!

Chris23 - If I read what you're saying correctly, you had one engine that runs (A) and one that doesn't (B). When you take the relay from (A) and swap it into (B), (B) runs OK. Putting the relay from (B) into (A) causes (A) to not run. If that's correct, then you've definitely identified that the relay originally in (B) is bad. Doesn't seem that you have a problem in either engine since both (A) and (B) run OK with the relay from (A).<br /><br />So the previous owner bought two replacement relays, but neither of the replacements work in either engine. I don't know about the different numbers on the relays, but it seems unlikely that Honda would blow it and twice provide the wrong relay. There are checks that you could do to verify the new relays are good, but they're a little long and complicated. Best bet would be to get a Factory Service Manual which would show you diagrams of the relay and how to check it.<br /><br />Before even going that far though, suggest you put one of the old relays next to one of the new relays and closely examine them and their connectors. Look for any jumper that may be present between terminals on the old relay that is not present on the new relay. The white/black wire shows as tied to the white/yellow wire in the schematic; maybe in '98 they did that at the relay, and in later years they did it somewhere else? Also check the 'other side' of the connectors that the relay connectors plug into. Good luck.