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Boat will not start/turnover with key

J

j0vian723

New member
Boat: 92 Prowler

Engine : [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]evinrude
88 hp 1994 e88tsl[/FONT]





[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Situation:[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]I
Purchased this as my first boat off of Craigslist. I did not know
what to examine when purchasing the boat to make sure it functioned
properly. I had the guy start it up and show me it runs with the
rabbit ears attached. I asked him to put it into gear and show me the
prop spins. He said it was bad for the engine to do that without it
being in water so I did not get to see the prop spin. I did however
crank it up again my self before purchasing it. When I got it home I
tried to crank it and it turned over several times and then would not
turn over at all. I replaced the starter and after several tries it
cranked up and stayed running after it got warmed up with the rabbit
ears attached. The engine was not squirting water at the back . I let
it run for about 15 minutes to see if it would stay cranked and if it
was getting hot. With the engine off I tried to shift the boat into
forward and the engine would not shift gears and it was very hard to
move the shifter. I tried to shift into reverse and the shifter was
stuck and wouldn’t go any farther and I pushed on it harder and it
popped and the handle got stuck in between reverse and neutral. I
took the controls apart and it had a broken shifter and a sticking
shift cable. I replaced the side mount control box with ignition
switch and cables with a top mount control box with ignition and
wrist safety switch. The engine will not turn over but I can hear the
choke switch engage when I press it in. It would still not shift and
the shifter was very hard to move. I could not move the shift rod
with my hand into forward or reverse. I traded an old jet ski for a
parts engine and purchased a repair manual and a crap load of
specialty tools. I slowly took the foot off of the foot of the parts
engine and took the gear box completely apart for practice and got
the gears out of it for a possible gear replacement for the engine on
the boat. During this time I also replaced the seats the carpeting
and patched several cracks on the transom and other areas of the boat
with fiberglass resin. I then took the foot off of the engine on the
boat and founder the shift rod to be froze up. I lubricated the shift
rod and worked it up and down until it shifted freely. I replaced the
water pump and gaskets and went to put the foot back on the boat. It
took several tries and a few days to get the foot back on because the
shifter was out of alignment. I measured the shift rod height and
adjusted it several times until it aligned with the shift rod locking
pin then I put the shifter in forward and the shift rod into reverse
and mounted the foot back on and lifted and adjusted the shift rod
with long pliers putting it into forward gear and aligning with the
locking pin and then I was able to insert the shift rod locking pin
into place. I verified that the engine and shifter now smoothly
shifts into forward neutral and reverse and the props turns the
correct way each time it is shifted. I noticed that one of the pins
in the big red plug had come loose and was not making a connection so
I traced the wire and spliced it outside of the wiring harness making
sure it was getting a connection. I also noticed that one of the
spark plug wires had broken so I replaced all of the spark plug
wires. Every time I made a repair I would try to crank the boat using
the key and it would not move but I could hear the choke click when
pressing it in. At this point I am unsure what to do next as I assume
this is a electrical connection problem between the controls and the
engine. I don’t know how to use a multimeter well enough to check
the start switch. Please advise me on what to check next.[/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Problems
addressed:[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]stuck shift rod[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]waterpump[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]unclog water tube[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]recarpet boat[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]replace controls[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]replace starter[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]replace spark plug wires[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]replace seats[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]patch fiberglass[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Problems
still needed to address:[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Glue on small piece of carpet[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]repair rusted steering rod[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]patch fiberglass on back[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]patch other cracked fiberglass area[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Reconnect fuel line[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]reconnect and rewire bilge pump[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]reconnect and rewire speedometer[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]reconnect and rewire horn[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]reconnect and rewire lights[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]replacetrailer jack[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Fix electrical problem keeping boat from starting / turning over
bolt down seats[/FONT]
 
Will it turn over if you use a small jumper wire from the battery side of the solenoid to the small ( yellow wire I think ) terminal on the solenoid ?
 
I dont have a schematic , I will look for one on google if I can determine the model number. Im going to try the small jumper wire and get back to you. Thanks
 
I tried the big red wire jumpered to the yellow wire and it didnt do anything. The voltage between the red and yellow is 0.0 with the key turned or not. The voltage between the top and buttom 2 big red wires on the selenoid have 12.6 volts and when I use a jumper the starter kicks in. Does this mean the selenoid is bad?

link to images
http://imgur.com/a/E62u6
 
Last edited:
I havent had a chance to recheck it. I did not understand your instructions learly but i believe I already tried it when I tested the voltage from the big hot wire at the top to the black wire on the selenoid and got nothing with the key turned or not. I figured I would order the selonoid replacement since it was only 23 bucks on amazon prime with one day shipping so it should be here mon or tues. Even if it dosent sole the problem I figured it will be one less part I will have to replace later?
 
ook, got the selenoid installed. got more out of it than i thought i would. My favorite saying is "
theres always more than one thing wrong." Now I have power while the switch is turned when I test the yellow wire and the big red wire I get 12.5 v . I also noticed that there was a broken black wire hiding behind the selenoid. It appears to come out of the big red connector.
 
Look at the RED wires connected to the starter solenoid. Connected to one of the smaller RED wires will be a fuse holder that retains the power fuse leading to the ignition switch. You did mention that the fuel primer solenoid operates when you push the key in so that fuse should be okay..... but humor me and check it anyway.

There is a safety switch within the control box whether the control setup is the standard control box or a console setup. The purpose of this safety switch is to eliminate voltage to the starter solenoid when the engine is in gear. This switch can be adjusted slightly.... and if adjusted whereas its plunger IS NOT pushed in by a cam lobe when in neutral, voltage via the ignition switch in the START position CAN NOT engage the starter solenoid.

Easier explanation..... Voltage (12v) at "B" (battery) terminal of ignition switch when in START position is connected to the "S" (solenoid) terminal of the ignition switch, and is passed to the Safety Switch. If the Safety Switch circuit is open, the voltage cannot be passed to the starter solenoid.

Voltage test.... Assuming that 12v is present at the "B" terminal of the ignition switch. In the START position, that same voltage should be present at the "S" terrminal. Is it?

Now, at the starter solenoid, in the START posiiton, 12v should be present at the 3/8" nut terminal that engages the solenoid (not the 3/8" ground nut terminal). Is it? (Volt meter between engagement terminal and any powerhead ground). On older models, the wire that engages the solenoid has always been "white" but I assume that on your 1992 model, the color is now Yellow or Yellow/Red.
 
The other day I got out there to play with it again. I peeled the tape off of most of the wiring harness. I tested each wire to make sure each pin in the big red connector got a contact with each corresponding wire at each side of the big red connector. All the wires verified that they had a connection. I found some of the terminals in the plud
g to be covered with a sticks residue so I cleaned the contacts. Still no joy. I got a little frustrated so I decided to hook the fuel up and try to jump start the starter bypassing the selenoid. It turned over several times and one time almost even started. Then the starter began to spin instead of engage the flywheel. I figured it was hot since I had seen this new starter do that several times before after trying to crank it several times. However after doing some research I believe the starter may have a damaged bendix gear . The battery was 95 percent charged and still spinner. So I believe I may need another starter.
 
By the way, in answer to your question I did check the fuse and it was indeed good. I cannot try the other stuff yet as I blew the fuse in my multimeter.
 
Hi i have a similar problem but does not happen all the time and power trim n tilt does not work when this happens as it seems no power at all.
Motor is a Johnson 70hp 2 stroke 1985.
 
back to the 88 problem....we want to help you but this problem requires about 15 minutes max of troubleshooting instead of a try this and try that approach that you are taking....kimcrwbr and joe furnished you with all the info needed to troubleshoot the problem....if you do not understand it then i recommend you take the boat in to a shop and buy an hours time....it will be cheaper than throwing parts at the problem..... i say this respectfully
 
Good news, I took your advice and posted on craigslist that I needed a marine mechanic. I got a guy to come out and look at it and the issue keeping it from starting with the key was that the black wire needed to be attached to the engine to make a good ground contact. He only charged me 50 bucks and tested the compression and everything. Three cylendars were at 150 and one cylinder was 130 . All I need to do now is dump the old gas at the dump, hook the gastank back up, drain the carbs, flush the carburator, replace a fuse, and a minor tweak or two with the steering and I should be good to go . I need to remember to renew the registration after testing it out.
Thanks for all your help.
 
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