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2003 bf90a power problem

J

jason atlantis

New member
hey guys new to the forum, i have had this motor since 03, i bought it new. Just recently i went to start it and nothing..silence...so i pulled the batt. When i put it on the charger it read 85 and hit 100 in less than 30 min. wow thats a good batt. put it back on and still nothing. so i push the trim button on the shifter, and nothing..everything is dead. So i walk back and hit the remote tilt on the motor no movement but i can here a ticking or snapping noise commin out of this cigarette size black box!! so i move it a little bit and wham power..tillting starting running fine... turn it off and it happened again. to the box off and looked into it. it looks like relays or something? all wires and connections look good. HELP. which book should i get?
 
I suspect that your battery cables might be corroded inside and you're not getting adequate amps. Try bypassing the cables with a set of jumper cables and see if that fixes the problem. If so, replace the cables.
 
still nothing...its like i lost the ground or something, and how can it work perfect, everything powered up great, and then everything on the boat is dead. wouldnt the engine starter tick too if it was the cables?? it goes dead...i mean it is either perfect or totally dead. it happens when the boat get trailered or bounced around. if it is running and it happens, it runs fine till you shut it off. call me crazy but i am sure a couple of years ago i googled something about the motor and posts came up about a short in the remote tilt control, now i cant find anything about it. going to go chase those leads, and thank you for helping!!
 
ok just went out and tried to jump, sure i got leads correct,nothing total silence, however, i wiggled the box everything came on, when i started it the red(positive) lead got hot on the battery?????
 
What box did you wiggle? You simply have a bad connection somewhere. Probably a ground wire. You just need to track it down. The first thing I would do is remove the terminals from the battery and clean both the terminals and connectors thoroughly. I don't know how the 90 is set up electrically, but typically there is a main power fuse. Find that and check the connections and contacts. You just need to go on a thorough bug hunt.
 
Jason,

You said "everything on the boat is dead"....

To me, that means nav lights, radios, etc do not work, as well as the engine.

If that is true, Chawk is right on about checking the battery connections. If you have a battery switch....you may want to remove that and check the connections on the back...probably very corroded. It might also be the switch itself...

If it is just the engine, the wiring diagram at the end of the owner's manual may help you in your troubleshooting. http://marine.honda.com/pdf/manuals/31ZW0605.pdf

I know it is for a 1992, but the circuit diagram is clearer in the 1992 download than the 1993.

Mike
 
THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!! i run my engine alone on its own batterey, my dash is on its own bank along with the stereo and everything else. i have seen to much go wrong with fishing all day with everything on. So i mean both tilt controls and the starter, when i say everything. i found my manual and omg this diagram is crazy!!! i think it is in the ignition control module. inside are two sealed breaker looking things. gonna work on tommorow will posts back.
 
Stay with the basics.

The starter and the tilt are not controlled by the ignition control module.

The battery cable ground terminates near the starter. The positive lead connects to the starter solinoid. Get a test 12v test light (if you do not have a voltmeter) and see if it lights connecting between the ground lead and the terminal on the starter solinoid.

There is no fuse inbetween. So if no voltage, you have cable problems. If you have voltage, operate the tilt switch and see if the voltage stays near 12v or the light stays brightly lit. If it does the same thing when you try to start the engine, then you probably have a bad cable or bad battery..

The good news is....that nothing works right now. It is easier to find the problem that way.

Mike
 
started opening things up...what i found is that by following this nightmare of a wiring diagram, it is the control relay box that is making the snapping ticking noise. it only makes the noise when everything goes dead. so when everything is good, no noise. then for no reason, everything dead and that small black box ticks. this has been happening on and off for a few years. getting more frequent as time goes by. now it is almost every time, well every time it gets trailered and bounced around. i cant find a good shop around here, more than 2 hours to any hond dealer, last drop off they told me everything was fine. dont you love how the problems never act up in the shop, only offshore!!!! thanks again for all the great directions and help!!!
 
The ticking is a very typical indication that there is a bad connection or bad cable, as Chawk said. The trim and the starter are two separated circuits, but come together at the battery cables.

The ticking could be caused by a bad connection because the connection is letting enough current to flow through it but no enough to operate the trim motor. When the trim motor tries to operate and it does not have enough current, it will steal current away from the relay and turn the relay back off and nothing works. It is more technical than that, but I think you get the picture.

Putting a test light at the end of the battery cables should tell you, one way or the other. Until we know what happens then, it is only a guessing game. Need to narrow things down.

Mike
 
ok..went out and check batt with volt meter, and 12.74 at batt and 12.67 at starter, testing original stuff. havent changed anything. when i hit the tilt boutton it went to 11.2 and everything evens sounds better. kept hitting raise and lower, working great and even sounding better. no snapping.how in the world??? started looking around. last night i disconnected the batt to open the control relay box and check its ground(has its own for the box itself) well i left the control relay box ground off(disconnected). when i hooked the ground back on, well with everything open i could see arcing on my ground(by the starter) and that box is snapping(sparks!!!)and the problem was back instantly. I dont understand how it would work perfect with the relay control ground disconnected. i could understand if the prob stopped and so did the tilt control, but the tilt works like it never has before with that ground disconnected. has that ground somehow become live and thats why its making my grounds spark?? somewhere in that relay are lines touching that shouldnt be???thank you for all your help!!!
 
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Doing your tests at night make a lot of sense....you can see sparking better.

More questions....is your boat an aluminum boat?

To me, your battery cable is still suspect. Does the same thing happen when you try to crank the motor?

If you think the trim relay box is causing the problem, disconnect all the connectors going to it and see if the motor cranks ok. It is always possible that something in the box or the trim motor itself has an internal short to ground. It is a totally independent circuit, so without it, everything else should work.

You just have to keep eliminating things.

Mike
 
Arcing on the ground at the starter??! Arcing means electrons ionizing air to maintain current flow. That says to me that the connection where you observe the arcing in not a complete one. In other words, if you see arcing at a ground connection, it is a loose connection. Did you investigate that ground after you saw that? That is THE main ground for the engine block and needs to be C.L.E.A.N. and TIGHT.

As far as "it "worked perfect with the relay ground control disconnected", that may not be all that unusual in that electrons will tend to seek ANY ground to keep flowing and ofttimes a GROUND FAULT can be present and a circuit will still seem to "work perfectly" if there is an alternate path the electrons can find to ground. This happens frequently through POSITIVE sections of some circuits that are "dormant" or not being utilized. Then, when the power to that circuit is applied, the ground gets "taken away" and your "perfectly working" circuit suddenly doesn't work anymore. Many "intermittent" electrical problems follow this scenario.

Just the ramblings of an old man,
Hope I didn't muddy the water any further for you.
 
not at all.. everything thing you guys bring to the table is so helpful, and much apreciated!! sorry i took so long to get back, was spearfishing at san clemente island for a few days. looking at night is a great idea. as far as the snapping noise, it is only when all power is dead. like everything works good, turn it off, restart...nothing..dead silence, no ticking, no trying to crank, nothing, like there is no batery in the boat. that is when you push the power tilt button on the side of the motor and it snaps. no movement in the tilt, only snapping. i am gonna clean all leads and grounds, and yes i have a 18ft alumaweld stryker...all aluminum
 
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