honda electrical problem

L

lloyds

New member
I have encountered an electrical problem with my honda 50 on my 16' cruiser. This weekend I took it out to test my new permatrim and now the tach and the tilt/trim indicator don't work. The nav lights within them work but not the actual functions. I have checked the two fuses on the engine, the 10 amp and the 15 amp (as I recall) and they are alright. I moved the tilt indicator actuator arm by hand and it is free but doesn't register. Are there any additional fuses on the engine that could possibly be causing this? I also checked the fuse box on the back of the dash and they are alright, and all wires are secure without corrosion. Any other suggestions of where to look would be appreciated. I am taking it in for service in a couple weeks but would really like to be able to take care of this myself.
 
You might want to check the battery voltage...with the motor running (at hight idle) and without the motor running.... to see if the voltage regulator fried.... My 2003 Yamaha all of a sudden quit showing anything at the tach.... one minute it was fine, next all that was there was a 0....

The voltage regulator burned out... I was on a trip.... so I had to wait to repair it.... the regulator cost over $200 alone... I found one on EBAY for $40 and it works just fine..... should last the life of the motor... it's kinda rare that they go out...

Joel
SEA3PO
 
lloyds":1kwxz3f6 said:
I have encountered an electrical problem with my honda 50 on my 16' cruiser. This weekend I took it out to test my new permatrim and now the tach and the tilt/trim indicator don't work. The nav lights within them work but not the actual functions. I have checked the two fuses on the engine, the 10 amp and the 15 amp (as I recall) and they are alright. I moved the tilt indicator actuator arm by hand and it is free but doesn't register. Are there any additional fuses on the engine that could possibly be causing this? I also checked the fuse box on the back of the dash and they are alright, and all wires are secure without corrosion. Any other suggestions of where to look would be appreciated. I am taking it in for service in a couple weeks but would really like to be able to take care of this myself.
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Lloyd,

Have you done any maintenance where a set of wires might get cut or have a hole drilled through them (don't ask how I know about this sort of thing)? Have you looked at the wire bundle coming out of the engine and up to the instruments for any fraying or indications of a break? If it was just the tach, I would suggest that you try resetting the switch that selects the number of cylinders, but with two instruments out I suspect that is not an issue. Is there a wiring schematic/diagram in your owners manual?

Steve

Steve
 
Lloyd, is it just the indicator? Does it move (I.E. does the engine tilt) when you press the switch both on the throttle control and locally on the engine?

Charlie
 
I have done all of the above (made the potential mistakes that is). I moved the battery while I was doing all this. I will go back and look at the wiring loom. I believe the regulator is okay as I bought one of those inexpensive battery condition indicators some of you picked up at Walmart and at rest I have about 13 volts and when I fire it up it starts to climb. And really climbs when I go to fast idle, up to about 14.5 or so. I believe that indicates that that system is all working. But I did blow the fuse on the front of the engine when I accidently cross connected the battery cables after I moved the battery. I should have taken that second look to make sure but thought I had followed my plan. When I turned the switch the fuse blew. But I replaced that fuse, and swapped the other one around with the spare, they both looked okay. I have no idea what the other one is for but will look at the diagram tonight.
 
Charlie, both buttons tilt the engine fine. That all seems to work. Everything seems to be in order except those two guages. I have had a problem with the tilt guage before, but I believe the lever had bound up. When I moved the lever up and down it seemed to get the guage working again. That was a year or so ago. I wonder now if both guages get their power from the same place and are in series. Doubt it but you never know.
 
lloyds":2dndc919 said:
Charlie, both buttons tilt the engine fine. That all seems to work. Everything seems to be in order except those two guages. I have had a problem with the tilt guage before, but I believe the lever had bound up. When I moved the lever up and down it seemed to get the guage working again. That was a year or so ago. I wonder now if both guages get their power from the same place and are in series. Doubt it but you never know.
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Lloyd, on the 90 wiring diagram the signal source is a series parallel circuit. Series from the engine, then splits to parallel somewhere downstream in the wiring loom.

Steve
 
I looked at the back of the tach and it is really hard to get at. Might just have to pull it out. On my boat it is mounted directly above the steering wheel, which puts the back behind ahd steering and the wiring from the tilt guage. I did see a bar-appearing thing near the top of the tack. From a distance it looked like some kind of computer port with silver receptacles but I will put on my glasses tonight and look at it closer. As for the series to parallel, that sounds a little tougher to get at. Almost all the loom is behind the inner liner. I hope it is something simpler than that. Thank you all for your help.
 
lloyds-

Is the tach a digital display (liquid crystal charcoal gray digits on a medium gray background) or some kind of analogue unit with a needle or something similar?

Same question regarding the trim meter- digital or analogue?

Some, even maybe a majority of electronic (but not simple electric) units, sensors, and displays are polarity sensitive to the point of not only not working when reversed, but the circuitry never recovers from the reversal, be permanently fried.

Hopefully, the fuses protected your units.

Best of Luck and Wishes!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Both guages are analog. Needle. I have potentially fried both of them in the brief moment I turned the key on. I checked the wiring loom last night and nothing I did interfered with it. I was hoping there was another fuse on the engine somewhere that I missed.
 
Please just check the tightness of the connections to the batteries. Please just do it even though you are sure that's not the problem and do it with a wrench not just your thumbs..
 
I don't know if it's related to your problem but on a Honda 50 I once had the little doodad on the plastic lever get itself outside the part of the engine bracket with the result that when I tilted the engine it forced the lever past it's end stops on theposition transmitter. Result is no indication because it's waaay off scale.
You can check by loosening the tiny screw at the top of the lever and pulling it off the transmitter body. Then you can spend 20 minutes looking for the spring and the screw that you dropped when the spring flew off.

Seriously, if you rotate the transmitter spindle with you fingers you may get you indication back and then all you need do is replace the transmitter.

I don't recommend re-using it as this seems to destroy some end stops inside it and it's one of those things that will come back again.

Hope this helps.

Merv
 
I will be sure and check these items. Thank you. I am confident of the battery connections but will recheck as well. I have a 12 volt outlet wired direct to the battery and have cross checked the voltage with the voltage at the fuse panel and they match so I am pretty sure they are okay. I also had a thought last night that when I pulled the steering tube part way out of the engine bracket I might have pulled something loose where the loom enters the engine. They are all bundled together. Have to check there as well. Is there any way of testing the meters if I pull them loose and out of the dash?
 
I went over every terminal on my boat. The screws were loose, the crimping on the eyelets were loose, the battery was loose. Infact, there wasn't one terminal on the engine or cabin that I didn't have solder and heatshrink or screw tight. The boat was new by the way. I had a long talk with several people about this already. I sold a 22 year old boat to get away from those problems. A good inspection of everything will save you from being stranded or needing a tow. Don't trust anyone. :amgry And the new trailer that the boat was sold with dog-tracked a foot to one side because the axle was bolted down incorrectly. Just another day in Michigan. :cry: I still love my boat though. :D
 
Upon delivery of my new Cdory, the tac was not working. After looking for all the things that were not the cause, it was found that the hole that the wires pass through into the cabin and under the counter was left raw and the wiring harness wires for the tac became stripped and shorted.
If you have checked the tac and both ends, then this is what I would look at. The problem was never seen. The routed harness was bypassed with a new harness run in the open and when everything ran correctly the harness was replaced. The hole was also fitted with a protective edging to prevent chafing over time.
 
I am going to re-state a request that is probably borderline annoying but here goes again. These threads are very helpful in describing what may be the cause of a particular problem, but I notice time and time again that they peter out eventually with no real explanation of what suggestion actually solved the problem. Please, once the tach and trim meter start working again rejoice and be merry, BUT report back as to what the solution actually was! Thanks for your consideration.
 
I will definitely report back what the problem was. I see the same thing sometimes and it leaves me hanging. I haven't been out there this week to crawl through it all as it is cold outside. This weekend it is on my to do list for sure.
 
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