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89 Johnson GT 200 Charging Issues...

J

jason17

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As I know the system on this boat is not designed to charge the battery per se, however maintaining the voltage is still an issue reguardless. It all started July 2014, was out on the lake cruising and I happen to see the needle spiked out on the volt gauge. If I could guess, 17-18 volts. Pulled the engine cover and the coil windings we pretty hot, most likely the cause of the shiny gooey stuff on the top of engine. Since than I have replaced the stator and regulator/rectifier. Now it's been a year or two and every 2-6 months the voltage gets out of hand again. The new parts are aftermarket CDI components. I am currently working on sending the regulator/rectifier back for warranty again for like the 3rd or 4th time. The sketchiness of the charging system has led me to install a quick disconnect for the yellow stator wires, so I can do it on the fly. Now I have contacted Marineengine.com to possibly return the CDI for an OEM regulator/rectifier. Hopefully this will take care of my problem. I have checked so much on this engine that I'm looking for some help. I have a Exide Stowaway 27 dual purpose marine battery, no wing nuts anywhere. Checked grounds and all other connections. I was interested in how much power my boat actually consumes and if everything is on including live well pump and bilge pump with fish finder and FM radio blasting and it maybe hit 3 amps. Without the bilge and live well on its about 1.5 amps. I have checked output of amps from the boats charger right at the engine and have never seen more than 7 amps out of that thing. Even when the volts were getting out of hand, the amps seemed to stay at 5 - 20% capacity. I read another forum talking trash about CDI's regulator and describing the same issue I'm having except the post never had an ending. The guy never came back and said, screw it I'm just going to not have a charger, like I soon will...
 
you probably have a rectifier only charging system on that engine...if so the output is unregulated and if you use a maintenance free battery (sealed) you will have the overcharging problem..16 + volts..you need to go back to a battery where you can add water etc...
 
i did have a Walmart maintence free battery a year ago, but was advised by CDI to purchase exide stowaway battery. It is the maintenance type, so I must service it every 3 or so months.

Faztbullet, You would choose Sierra over OEM? Guy I work with says Sierra is junk too, but they do have a limited lifetime warranty. I don't want to be replacing this thing all the time, it's not a quick job.

i just don't understand how a system so simple could cause me so much headache.
 
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I use Sierra first as it has the lifetime warranty and I get paid if it fails...and I have very few problems with Sierra.
 
So I've gone through about 4 regulator/rectifiers on the old 89 Johnson GT200. Each would last a few months before starting to throw 16+ volts at the battery. It got annoying enough that I put a quick disconnect on the yellow stator wires so I could just pop the top and disconnect and proceed on. I was using a cdi regulator Assy. Everything else on this beast is cdi. Power pack, stator, timer base. What charger do I get next? I contacted tech services at marine engine and they said cdi was their top seller... I'm stumped how such a localized system could fail so much. The cooling ports in the chamber where the regular sits into are clear, I've replaced the thermostats just because. Water pressure is good... Ugh :mad:. I'm tempted to place a clear glass over the hole and start it making sure no air is getting trapped at the top to remove the possibility of overheating.
 
Test for running hot, Place hand in the telltale stream,can you keep it there indefinitely? If yes she's fine. Place hand on heads for a six second count if you burn your fingers it's too hot. A reading of about 160 on digital infrared gun is a normal temp.
 
Test for running hot, Place hand in the telltale stream,can you keep it there indefinitely? If yes she's fine. Place hand on heads for a six second count if you burn your fingers it's too hot. A reading of about 160 on digital infrared gun is a normal temp.
Click to expand...

Sorry but this will tell you nothing as its a water pump indicator and just tells you water pump is functioning, it has nothing to do with cooling system. The heads will be hot as they run almost dry unit water bypass valve on throttle is opened. Disconnecting the yellow wires on stator will cause it to overheat and fail!!! Replace the impeller with a Mallory brand as they pump more water due to material difference.
 
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