New boat owner needs help

[Tikitgvr]

Ok guys I am new to the world of boating and need some help. I bought a boat this week. It is a 1995 Chaparral Signature 240 with a Marine Power 350 in it. Anyways the guy I bought it from said it needed a new starter, so I bought one Saturday and installed it. Today I bought 2 new batteries and installed them. When I tried to start it, it acted like a weak battery or maybe like the starter was strong enough, then my negative terminal got real hot and smoke started comming out of the battery on that side. I traced the wire back to make sure it was an actual negative and it does go to the block. Now the only thing I had extra was a "jumper" cable from negative terminal to negative terminal. My question is why would the negative terminal get that damn hot and why would it smoke? Is the starter not strong enough? West Marine gave me one starter and Oreillys gave a different number for the same brand starter..Thanks Guys, Mike.....

 

[emcm0025]

Hi Mike,

Welcome to the forum, im not that all clued up but in electrics it sounds like you got a short some where or maybe a cross over on the starter, try taking the starter off put the old one in with the new batterys and see what happens, but have a second person with you one to watch and one to turn the key. Hve you checked your duel battery selector switch?, and the master on switches the red key ones.

But im not all that clued up but those are just my views.

Someone will no doubt be along with proper indepth help

all the best

Ewan

 

[Tikitgvr]

The old starter is shot so its of no use. As for the switches, the only one I am familiar with is the big one that reads 1 all 2 for battery selection. Someone mentioned that it may be bad cable and that I should try replaceing those, so I am going to try that also...

 

[davedpc]

If the battery terminal is getting hot this must be the place in the circuit of high resistance thus i would replace the terminal. Starter motors can take about 400 amps or so to turn the engine so the small contact from jump leads are insufficient. Put the old s/motor back on and keep the old as a spare.

 

[chuckaduck]

change the main heavy duty cables from the battery to the starter chances are they are duff also on some boats there are heavy duty fuses in that circuit and they corrode also clean the battery terminals

hope this helps and welcome

 

[volvopaul]

Firstly does the engine turn over by hand, try socket on front crank pulley to see if engine is free before trying other starter or cables etc.
Went to one like this with supposedly flat battery turned out it was seized solid after sitting all winter, bores full of water.

 

[duncan]

my starting point too - sounds (on info given) as if the starter is drawing current but unable to turn.

given it's a new one I would start with the crank rather than the SM.

if you are lucky it will be raw water cooled and a seized (rusted) raw water pump.......however that may of course simply be the start.

I have to ask - why did you buy a boat without at least running the engine? if I was faced with the suggestion it's all fine except for the starter I would go out and get one before paying a cent!

 

[Tikitgvr]

First why did I buy the boat...Well for what I paid for it, even if I end up putting a motor in it I will still have less thatn 15k in it. The motor is a 2003 Marine Power, the Trailer is a 2005 and the boat is a 1995 and I only paid 3500 for it. As for the motor, yes it turns. After inspecting the cable, the negative cable that got hot was melted in a spot. Also got to looking at all the wiring and pulled these out:

These wires ran from the battery switch box to the little box next to it that reads undervoltage, combined, and overvoltage. Well the undervoltage light was lit and that seemed odd to me seeing how they are new batteries. As you can tell the wires melted together so I am hoping this is my problem...

 

[Tikitgvr]

Ok guys after paying a little more attention I think my motor is rusted up. There is slight movement but not much. I cant get to the crank pully because of the fresh water flush on it. Does anyone know how this is removed? I have never delt with one so I dont want to tear it up. Also, does anyone know any tricks that will free it quickly and easy?

 

[compie1]

remove all sparks, pour WD-40 in sit overnight, try to turn by hand with biggisch wrench, should work. as soon she turns around WD-40 again untill its getting better, new sparks & test, otherwise rebuild...

 

[Tikitgvr]

YEah thats what I was afraid of lol...I dont mind the rebuild, wife is just pissed we may miss this weekend..Question though, If I have a reverse rotation motor and a standard rotation starter, would that cause this?

 

[duncan]

you are assuming bores - I would favour the raw water pump being rusted round as my first possiblility. logic would be that the bores get oil and aren;t exposed to sea water but th epump is!

remove raw water pump and take it from there

 

[oldgit]

Remove the raw water pump and even if it is solid with rust it is normally only the vanes which corrode and wedge tightly in the casing..Bash off the rust and pump may then spin freely and pop it back in with a new gasket.Provided shaft and seals are not damaged causing it to leak it may give you a bit more service before you have to buy a new one.Purchased a Mercruiser with same problem on the pump,removed crud and it was still functioning when boat was sold several years later.

 

[Tikitgvr]

OK guys, I removed the spark plugs and the exhaust manifolds and found ALOT of rust. I am assuming by the amount of rust that it is seized from the rust. I sprayed the hell out of it with PB blaster. I will she if it turns over tommorrow.

 

[overdrawn]

Hi there and welcome.

As the boat is cheap enough I believe your best option is to do the job properly and get that motor sorted out thoroughly.

I believe many of us have spent much time,money and blind hope,then ended up getting the wallet out again and doing the job properly anyway having wasted valuable boating time getting no-where!!!!!!!!

Good luck and remember "BOAT = Bring Out Another Thousand" /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[Tikitgvr]

Well I am putting a new motor in. Also found out that the outdrive I have (yamaha) is not made anymore and that you can not get parts for it, so I have been advised to get a new one of those also why I have the motor out.