Melted Stator and Regulator - Next steps?

[jhawker23]

I have a '95 115 Mercury.

I was on a two mile run back to the dock and was headlong into white caps the entire way so it was a bumpy trip. As I approached the cove, the temp alarm went off intermittently. I was peeing water with a strong output. I loaded up and was at camp in less than 5 minutes. After about 10 minutes I smelled an intensely putrid burning odor. I then see the white smoke rolling out of the engine.

I took the cover off and the stator was bubbling, the regulator burned a hole through its bottom.

So I've received the new regulator and put it on. I'm waiting on the stator. In the meantime, I "cleaned up" the stator, cutting away all of the melted material and sanding back to original size. I had resistance out of the stator within specs. I put it all back together and thought I could just bypass the stator and pray for a start. But I get no spark. I've tried it completely disconnected. I've tried it with both yellows disconnected and the blue/white and white/blue connected.

I've got 12.5 V at the battery and 11-12 V during crank.

This engine also has an adapter in-line out of the stator.

Is there more troubleshooting I can do to find faulty components while waiting for the stator? Of course we'd like to enjoy the lake on the 4th but by the time the stator arrives, there won't be much time to get additional parts.

If I smoked the stator and regulator to that point, are there some high percentage components that would also be damaged?

 

[jhawker23]

I have a '95 115 Mercury.

I was on a two mile run back to the dock and was headlong into white caps the entire way so it was a bumpy trip. As I approached the cove, the temp alarm went off intermittently. I was peeing water with a strong output. I loaded up and was at camp in less than 5 minutes. After about 10 minutes I smelled an intensely putrid burning odor. I then see the white smoke rolling out of the engine.

I took the cover off and the stator was bubbling, the regulator burned a hole through its bottom.

So I've received the new regulator and put it on. I'm waiting on the stator. In the meantime, I "cleaned up" the stator, cutting away all of the melted material and sanding back to original size. I had resistance out of the stator within specs. I put it all back together and thought I could just bypass the stator and pray for a start. But I get no spark. I've tried it completely disconnected. I've tried it with both yellows disconnected and the blue/white and white/blue connected.

I've got 12.5 V at the battery and 11-12 V during crank.

This engine also has an adapter in-line out of the stator.

Is there more troubleshooting I can do to find faulty components while waiting for the stator? Of course we'd like to enjoy the lake on the 4th but by the time the stator arrives, there won't be much time to get additional parts.

If I smoked the stator and regulator to that point, are there some high percentage components that would also be damaged?

 

[gm280]

I can't help but get the feeling that your rectifier/regulator shorted out and therefore allowed battery voltage to toast back through the stator like a direct short to ground. Why your ignition is out is a real guess. But if the battery took out the regulator and rectifier and stator I guess it could have effected the power pack as well... I would look at the trigger assembly being how that is associated with the electrical system... But that seriously is only as stupid guess... IDK :noidea:

 

[gm280]

a duplicate post...

 

[jhawker23]

Sorry, didn't know if it was more applicable to a manufacturer specific forum. I dont know how to delete a post, is it a function of the moderator?

 

[jhawker23]

Can I bypass the regulator and stator to eliminate those as the problem?

How do I test the trigger asmbly?

 

[NYBo]

The stator provides the power for the ignition system unless the motor has a distributor and coil setup. What kind of ignition system do you have?

 

[jbcurt00]

Merged the topics for you J

Please try to confine your topics to just 1 forum, rather then multiple topics about the same problem in multiple forums.

Thanks

 

[Texasmark]

You have two coil circuit (stators) under the flywheel. One is the battery charging circuit which uses 6 coils the output of which are the two yellow wires coming from the stator and an ignition coil circuit separate to itself. Both are powered by magnets under the flywheel and are mounted separately. You don't necessarily have ignition problems if the battery charging circuit quits as long as you have adequate voltage from your battery to operate them. Guestimate on the minimum battery voltage to have triggers would be a minimum of 9 volts.

Looking at your ride home, first off, the pee comes from the exhaust manifold water jacket on the Port side of the engine.......follow the hose. This cooling water passage is separate from the regulated water for the cylinders. You can have a powerful pee and your cylinders can be overheating.

There is a thermostat that starts opening at 143F (stamped on the bottom of the pellet that is part of the stat) and allows a limited amount of cooling water to pass through the main block when running at low rpms. When you advance to 2500 (service manual number) the water pressure from the impeller unseats a larger valve that is pressure regulated, not temp regulated. This valve is designed to provide adequate flow through the engine to maintain the block temp around 150F.

The OT pellet is set for 195 (service manual number) and upon closing at that temp and above sends a short circuit to ground for the warning horn. The horn sounds a solid tone.

If you were experiencing an over temp condition due to a defect with the popoff you could have heated your rectifier/regulator to an abnormally high temp which could have caused some of the silicon devices internal to it to short...usual failure mode for over temp. That would be your smoking gun.

There is no protection for the two yellow wires going to the charging circuit stator and if the rectifier or regulator short out, current from your battery could over heat the wiring after you shut off the engine and very well could have caused your smoke and resultant visual failures.

You could test the rectifier with an ohm meter but it's a little difficult to walk you through it. Better to show you but I'm not there.

Get yourself new parts. I think I'd do this as a 2 step process:

1. Pop the flywheel and visually look at the two circuits. If the one with the 6 coils and exits in the two yellow wires appears to have contacted the other circuit or burned the output wiring through to the conductor....shorted out essentially then you probably need to get both stator circuits. Otherwise just work the bugs out of the charging circuit and then go after the triggers.

2. Get on here and under the "Boat Parts and Accessories" heading, get into the repair parts section where you should find access to Seloc brand service manuals. You can rent time on the www or buy one and wait for it to get to you. I rented mine and it was perfect.

Go to the trouble shooting section of the manual and after you install your new stator and rectifier/regulator module, perform the continuity (ohm) tests and then after you get everything back together if the engine starts, do the voltage testing. If the engine won't start, go to the ignition section of the manual and perform the resistance measurements. If any are wrong follow their trail to see what is causing the problem...the trigger stator or a problem in the CDI wiring loops.

Want more, ask.

Mark

 

[jhawker23]

Texasmark, thanks for the excellent response. I appreciate the thorough explanation. I'll hold for the stator to arrive and move forward from there. Hopefully the stator and regulator replacement will be everything necessary.

There's an adapter in-line of stator output. Is there a way to determine if this needs replaced prior to receiving the stator? It does not come with the adapter.

 

[Texasmark]

Texasmark, thanks for the excellent response. I appreciate the thorough explanation. I'll hold for the stator to arrive and move forward from there. Hopefully the stator and regulator replacement will be everything necessary.

There's an adapter in-line of stator output. Is there a way to determine if this needs replaced prior to receiving the stator? It does not come with the adapter.

Show us a picture of what you are talking about and try to make it in focus. Don't know anything about an adapter unless you are talking about bayonet plug/sockets where you connect the wiring on the modules together.