2000 717 GTI Parasitic Draw

[JI Rider]

Hello Everyone, I have been working on a parasitic draw on my 2000 seadoo GTI for some time now. I have narrowed it down to a YL-RE Wire that comes from MPEM pin number 1-2. This wire is the positive wire feeding the Starter Solenoid coil. It measures about 9MV with a 12MA current flow. I can count on having a dead battery if it is parked for about 2 weeks.

The red battery wire has a small spark when I touch the plus battery terminal and there is a faint clicking noise coming from the Starter Solenoid.

My question is: Does anyone have a schematic of the MPEM box? Has anyone had this problem before? I have replaced the rectifier, battery, MPEM Box, and tightened all wires in this circuit. If I could get my hands on the schematic for the MPEM Box I might be able to figure this out.

Unit starts, runs, and otherwise is a good machine. Just cant keep the battery ready. I also know I can add a battery switch but I would rather fix the problem.

Any Help would sure be appreciated.
Dave

 

[Drdiesel1]

What happens when you unplug solenoid ? Load gone ? What if you use a
toggle switch and an overlay wire to control it ?

 

[artr]

I am not aware of schematics for the internals of the MPEM box, only the schematic in the shop manual that shows connections around it. There could be a couple of reasons for the small voltage you are measuring on the YE-RE wire. It could be due to some dirt/corrosion on the pin connections between that wire and the RE-PU wire which is +12V from the battery. Disconnect the MPEM connector 1 and the connector to the rear electrical box that has those wires and inspect/clean the male and female sides of the YE-RE wire on each end. Disconnect the battery before doing this to insure you do not short anything out. With the rear electrical box disconnected you could also measure that there is an open circuit between the solenoid connections for the YE-RE wire and the top terminal that is connected to the battery +12V. If there is any resistance there then the solenoid should be replaced. If all those things do not resolve the problem (since you already switched the MPEM box) then I would go with battery switch solution you proposed or a smaller switch on the YE-RE wire itself to disconnect it when you leave the ski off for long periods.

 

[JI Rider]

What happens when you unplug solenoid ? Load gone ? What if you use a
toggle switch and an overlay wire to control it ?

If I unplug the solenoid the draw goes away. I thought about doing a work around and installing a toggle switch as you suggested but I would rather find the root cause. I was really hoping to find a schematic of the MPEP with this post. It almost seems like something has lost its path to ground and I am getting leakage to ground through that coil. Without a schematic I am blind.
Thanks

 

[JI Rider]

If I unplug the solenoid the draw goes away. I thought about doing a work around and installing a toggle switch as you suggested but I would rather find the root cause. I was really hoping to find a schematic of the MPEP with this post. It almost seems like something has lost its path to ground and I am getting leakage to ground through that coil. Without a schematic I am blind.
Thanks

I am not aware of schematics for the internals of the MPEM box, only the schematic in the shop manual that shows connections around it. There could be a couple of reasons for the small voltage you are measuring on the YE-RE wire. It could be due to some dirt/corrosion on the pin connections between that wire and the RE-PU wire which is +12V from the battery. Disconnect the MPEM connector 1 and the connector to the rear electrical box that has those wires and inspect/clean the male and female sides of the YE-RE wire on each end. Disconnect the battery before doing this to insure you do not short anything out. With the rear electrical box disconnected you could also measure that there is an open circuit between the solenoid connections for the YE-RE wire and the top terminal that is connected to the battery +12V. If there is any resistance there then the solenoid should be replaced. If all those things do not resolve the problem (since you already switched the MPEM box) then I would go with battery switch solution you proposed or a smaller switch on the YE-RE wire itself to disconnect it when you leave the ski off for long periods.

Sounds like the disconnect switch is my best option at this point. Thanks

 

[artr]

What happens when you unplug solenoid ? Load gone ?

When you unplug the solenoid the current you measured (12mA) will not flow but do you still see 9mV on the YE-RE wire that goes to the solenoid? If you do then use a switch. If no voltage on YE-RE wire without solenoid connected then replace solenoid.

 

[Drdiesel1]

When you unplug the solenoid the current you measured (12mA) will not flow but do you still see 9mV on the YE-RE wire that goes to the solenoid? If you do then use a switch. If no voltage on YE-RE wire without solenoid connected then replace solenoid.

Yeah! That's why I was asking him those specific question. It's the only answer, IMO!

I would try a different solenoid and if that didn't fix it, I would add the toggle switch to that wire.
I would also check the other side of the solenoid for corrosion creating resistance. Diso the battery
and check for resistance to ground.

 

[BrianMoore]

Google "digital switch low voltage when off" and read the AI generated answer. Digital switches doesn't go all the way to zero or all the way up to supply voltage. They just get close enough to both to cause things to operate correctly. I wrote functional tests for commercial airplanes. When we were testing for correct electrical connection from a black box to a 24 VDC solenoid, we used <2 VDC as low and >18VDC as high.

 

[burtshaver2021]

Yeah! That's why I was asking him those specific question. It's the only answer, IMO!

I would try a different solenoid and if that didn't fix it, I would add the toggle switch to that wire.
I would also check the other side of the solenoid for corrosion creating resistance. Diso the battery
and check for resistance to ground.

I was going to post, that I’ve seen a thread where the draw was a corroded MPEM terminal. I know nothing about electrical but I did see that