Engines stalling?

Rabidfish · Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 11:21 am Post subject:

I have been watching this thread and have another thought... ( Read: Beggining of the sermon! )

There is simply no substitute for good maintenance! AND... there is only one way to check a battery connection. Here is how we do it.

Remove the battery cables from the battery. Clean the terminal ends. Don't be wimpy. clean the beejjabbers out of them! Use a wire brush, or even a file. Then clean the battery terminals. Reassemble the cables... ( now... think about this... The largest battery cables go on first. Why? Larger cables are needed because they draw more amperage. Installing them first eliminates having to draw that current through more connections. ) hence... The cables go on, largest to smallest... Wing nuts are OK, so long as they are tightened with a tool. If you can get them off by hand, then they were NOT tight. NYLocking nuts are better, but I prefer either a "star" lockwasher. My first choice is a locking "flanged" nut. Once you have everything tight. Use a anti corrosion spray to keep the terminals clean and corrosion free.

Now you have successfully "checked" your connections! If you don't do this every spring, you are asking for trouble. We fight this issue all summer long, and we are in fresh water! I can't imagine how anyone in salt water could go without doing it! ( Sermon ends now... )

Craig

oldgrowth · Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 12:53 pm Post subject:

Sea Wolf · Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 2:22 pm Post subject:

Craig-

Thanks for the informative answer! I susspected you'd have to have SOME voltage to power the ECM and the injectors. And the starter drops the voltage when the circuit is closed, just as expected.

Kinda knew there must be some hope of starting an engine with a "somewhat dead" battery, otherwise they wouldn't include a rope starter with the Owner's Manual!

On the other hand, one could always make a noose out of the rope and hang onesself, kinda like Joel's (Sea3PO's) suggestion of having a "Wallas Knife" to cut your throat when the stove croaks! Too funny!!!

Hey Dan!....Howa bouta Suzuki seppuku sword for......................!

Thanks, again for the great information, Craig.

Joe.

Mason C. Bailey · Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 11:28 am Post subject: Final Report on Engines Stalling

First off, thanks for everyones responses concerning my engines stalling. I have finally had enough spare time to go through all connections, fuses and battery terminals. Here is what I found; both batteries and connections were clean and tight. I cleaned them anyway, greased them and retighten them. A 20 amp fuse holder, located about a foot away from the starboard battery had some corrosion and the fuse was a bit loose in the holder. This is one that had caused me some problems in the past and I believe the one that would make all the electronics go out. I recleaned this one and crimped it a bit to make the fuse fit tight. Along side this fuse holder was a second one with a 10 amp fuse. This unit was completely corroded and when I attempted to remove the fuse, it fell apart. Obviously these watertight fuse holders are not water tight. I replaced the fuse holder with a new one and bought 2 additional spares as well that will remain on board the boat.

There is no way to duplicate the problem until likely next year at Neah Bay but everything appears to be in good shape now. Since the boat is going back in the water this weekend, I sanded down the bottom paint and recoated that. Time to go crabbing and summer/fall salmon fishing.

Thanks again everyone, McNaughty III

Falco · Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 1:51 pm Post subject:

McNaughty III:

Thanks for the follow up.

You might try dumping the fuses in the Garbage Dump at Neah Wink

and installing one of these waterproof units, sized for your system:

http://lookleap.com/fisheriessupply.com/a6

Mason C. Bailey · Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 2:18 pm Post subject: Engines stalling

Falco,

Those units look very nice, but they didn't show the 10 and 20 amp ones that I need. I think another possibility would be to re-run the wires completely from the battery into the cabin and place the fuses inside where it is always out of the weather. But then again, this might be a stupid question but isn't everything fused at the fuse box anyway? Isn't this redundancy?

McNaughty

Falco · Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 2:41 pm Post subject:

They offer a 25A, but no 10A. Not sure how you are rigged up, but my 22 has a single 50A breaker of this type for each battery set (10 AWG cable feeder to two distribution panels upfront). You might consider referring to the table here:

http://www.boatus.com/boattech/cable.htm (See "Overcurrent Protection")

to size the breaker(s) you need. Do you really need two "overcurrent protectors" as in your current set up?

As to location: best to place a breaker right next to the battery as the intent here is to "trip" any power surge from the engine/battery assembly before it travels up the line(s) to your bulkhead -- burning all the way. I was in a boat where this happened once and the heat is tremendous and doesn't stop until the wires are burned through...

The link above also recommends this.