SoCal Jet Boats
Tech Talk => Engine Mechanical / Electrical => Topic started by: CHROMEY on July 01, 2013, 01:47:02 PM
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so last week this problem started.....was driving back accross the lake at night and around 3k in Rpms motor started missing, gauges on dash started freaking out -volt meter was peging to both sides of the gauge and all lights were flashing
i backed out of throttle a bit and everything was fine as i got to the nowake area, put it on the trailer with no problems........
so come this last saturday night...starts up runs fine idle around a bit ..so far so good...hit the edge of the nowake area roll into it and again @ 3k everything is freaking out,,drop rpms to under 3k and all is well. tried to rev over the 3k mark several times and no luck same issue.... just over the 3k something is shorting out? :banghead:
tonight im going to hook up the hose and see what she does in the trailer
i checked out the connectors in back by engine..look ok and tight, checked the battery connections..all good, alt belt is on looks ok, grounds to block are tight.......
maybe something under the dash????
any help in brain-storming would be great...thanks in advance :beer:
boat info:
466 ford, 1 wire alternator, unilight dizzy (no msd box),1 new deep cycle battery, new starter solenoid..anyother info needed just ask
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ok the regulator on your alt is over charging . the other thing you can check is your ground to the motor.
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agree with above statement
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:o HMMMMMMM?
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You sure you don't have a bad ground on the old tug boat.
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Well....i found a broken wire to alternator..for starters
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did it cut out when you rev'd it on the trailer over 3k or was it only under load?
i'd try duplicating the problem before fixing the alt wire....that way you know if you fixed the issue or not when you fix that wire.
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For you to understand what the problem may be, you must first understand what is going on in the alternator.
For the alternator to work it needs to be "energized", for that to happen it needs to have an excitement wire. For the one wire pieces of crap, they need to have an internal connection to the field of the regulator, this is literally done with a small conductor from the battery lead to the regulator. So it wont happen with those, the battery will just simply run down until it is dead.
If the battery lead is not hooked up to a 12V source and the field is left "wild" to the ignition,there is no voltage regulation and some really cool stuff starts to happen.
The regular old Delco Remy alternator can make as much as 300 volts if left "free", this is not DC voltage, but rather AC. This can blow out the diode trio and potentially blow up a battery if left unchecked.
When I had the shop, the first thing we would do to a customers boat when they had an electrical problem was to disconnect the alternator and run the engine on a dyno. The charging system was then checked out, many times it is either a ground issue, a bad diode trio or a failed regulator, I have seen very few brushes wear out and only one failed stator in over 15 years.
EDIT;, I guess I owe an explanation of why I dislike the single wire kits.
The one wire alternators cannot take into account the voltage drop generated by most boats electrical systems, the way they should be wired is so the field or "reference" voltage should come from the dash panel, this ensures the alternator generates enough juice to offset the drops from the long wire runs and questionable electrical terminals.
I am also not a fan of the ammeters found in many older boats... Ditch them for a quality voltmeter IMHO.
GT
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thanks for the imput boys...
i found the broken wire @ the alternator while pokeing around, the wire pulled out of the connector and looked like it was grounding out on the spark arrestor shield on the back of the alternator ..left it disconnected and fired up the motor / reved it a few times over 3k on the trailer seemed ok..... i put on a new connector to the alt wire i will fire it up again tonight after work and test things out with my meter....
not sure if this is related but...
i have had intermittent problems with the circuit breaker popping @ the back of the wire harness
as well as the ignition switch...i would switch it to the on position and get no power across the gauges after multiple tries and than it would start???
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thanks for the imput boys...
i found the broken wire @ the alternator while pokeing around, the wire pulled out of the connector and looked like it was grounding out on the spark arrestor shield on the back of the alternator ..left it disconnected and fired up the motor / reved it a few times over 3k on the trailer seemed ok..... i put on a new connector to the alt wire i will fire it up again tonight after work and test things out with my meter....
not sure if this is related but...
i have had intermittent problems with the circuit breaker popping @ the back of the wire harness
as well as the ignition switch...i would switch it to the on position and get no power across the gauges after multiple tries and than it would start???
Sounds like a low quality or severely worn Ignition switch, Ive seen them do some interesting things- motor cranks but no fire and a hot at the dizzy, Going over waves/wakes and have a intermittent stumble, etc.
X2 on a good ole NON ONE WIRE alternator.
The 37A alternator, wired right, puts out plenty of power for a squirt boat.
Dan'l
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Sounds like a low quality or severely worn Ignition switch, Ive seen them do some interesting things- motor cranks but no fire and a hot at the dizzy, Going over waves/wakes and have a intermittent stumble, etc.
X2 on a good ole NON ONE WIRE alternator.
The 37A alternator, wired right, puts out plenty of power for a squirt boat.
Dan'l
X2.....Had that keyswitch problem before a couple times...... :banghead: :banghead: When yu actually tear one of those buggers apart, amazing how cheap the are inside.......
Ray