Boat won't start. Please help.

[Lee18]

I was hoping someone can help me. My 2013 AR190 won’t start. The battery tested fine at 800 CCA. What I get when a turn the key is one clunk sound and that’s it except for a low grade hum and the loud alarm saying check engine. I am not positive I have the battery connected correctly. Forgot to mark the connections when I took the battery out for the season. There are five wires. I know the main positive and main negative but the other three I’m not so sure about. I think there are three wires connected to the negative and to connected to the positive. One wire has a Fuse attached to it. Does that one go on the positive or negative? Any other help or suggestions would be much appreciated. And one more thing, my battery terminals heated up so much that I burned my finger trying to disconnect the positive cable.

 

[Julian]

Hot wires means something is wired wrong!

Wires with fuses are positive wires.

You will have blown fuses with it wired wrong.

Post photos and we can walk you through it.

Then label your wires for future reference.

 

[Lee18]

Thanks. I will take some photos. The fuse did not blow. I had the fuse wire on positive along with the main cable. I had the main ground cable on the negative plus 2 other wires that I don't know what they are for.

 

[Beachbummer]

I have an older boat, but mine are color coded if I remember correctly.

There should be a thick wire going to the computer and from the computer to the starter. That wire should be going to the battery switch or to the positive terminal, but not to the negative terminal. Some negative wires ought to be going to the engine grounds. A positive cable should go to the master switch. It's pretty late hopefully others will be able to assist tomorrow, I'm sure someone with your same boat can snap some pictures. If you recently unplugged all, that's likely it.

 

[ZGhost]

You probably had incorrect hookups reversing some positive and negative terminal cables, I am not sure of your specific year and model cables setup but I am sure someone here with the same boat will chime. My advise for you is to post a picture of your wires/setup to help others see and be in better position to help you.
The other thing, once you finally figure out the right cables and hookup, you probably need to change the fuses you blew up. Don’t feel bad, many have done so including myself.

 

[Lee18]

Thanks. I will get photos. BTW, the fuse did not blow which surprised me.

 

[the MfM]

Thanks. I will get photos. BTW, the fuse did not blow which surprised me.

Or you haven’t found the right fuse yet

 

[Lee18]

True but the fuse on the cable that connects to the battery did not blow. It’s possible a fuse blew somewhere else that I haven’t seen.

 

[Julian]

Thanks. I will take some photos. The fuse did not blow. I had the fuse wire on positive along with the main cable. I had the main ground cable on the negative plus 2 other wires that I don't know what they are for.

There are multiple fuses in the boat, so lets not rule out a fuse problem just yet.

 

[the MfM]

You could have a bad/loose/corroded connection at the battery.

 

[Lee18]

The connections are right and the terminals are clean. However, that does not mean I connected the cables correctly.

 

[anmut]

How about some pictures of your battery and the connection.

 

[Lee18]

Working on that. I’ll get that photo as soon as possible. Thanks.

 

[Lee18]

So battery was fine but... The engine wouldn't start but seemed like it wanted to. All it would do is clunk one. Shook the motor pretty violently. I took out the spark plugs and checked for water. There may have been a little but nothing to worry about. I kept starting the motor on and off and at about the 10th time it went BANG. Scared the crap out of me. Seemed like something that was frozen broke loose. Put the plugs back in and it started right up. Did the 5 sec test several times and it seems fine now. Any idea what may have caused this? Wonder if I can expect any problems down the road. My mechanic didn't know what it was or why it did that.